Posted on January 24th, 2012 by Larry "The Nucks IceMan" Johnson
I first watched Christine Sinclair when she was just 19, at the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship, played in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium. She finished with 10 goals, won the Adidas Golden Ball, was the Golden Shoe winner for her 10 goals, and tournament MVP.
I must confess that I am not a soccer aficionado, because growing up in Alberta I played hockey, baseball and football, and only a bit of soccer during P.E. at school. What I have come to admire is the talent that soccer players possess – especially Sinclair.
During the 2002 FIFA Championship I found myself learning the rules of the game on the fly, and got very involved in the cheering as a Canadian supporter. Losing to the US 1-0 was indeed a bitter pill to swallow, but this just cranked up the juices to see more. Read more »
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Posted on January 22nd, 2012 by Larry "The Nucks IceMan" Johnson
With the steady play of Vancouver Canucks Chris Tanev yesterday against the San Jose Sharks, the picture of the defense just became a whole lot clearer. Now if that had been his first game as a pro, it would have been a different picture, but after watching him for 33 games I concur with management that he can play in the top four on D. If my memory serves me correctly, this was the first time that he has played in the top four and he didn’t look out of place beside Alex Eder.
Last night I kept track of a stat that you normally wouldn’t hear about in a game. It was how many times Tanev was able to clear the defensive zone with one pass without giving it away. I counted nine outs and only one giveaway, and that one was in the third period. Even when he knew he was going to be drilled into the boards by Joe Thornton, he chipped the puck out along the boards. Read more »
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Posted on January 18th, 2012 by Larry "The Nucks IceMan" Johnson
There are three Vancouver Canucks that are currently being paid a combined total of $10.9 million, for arguments sake, let’s call it $11 million.
From lowest to highest they are: Manny Malhotra ($2.5M per – 1 yr. remaining), David Booth ($4.2M per – 3 yrs. remaining) and Keith Ballard ($4.2M per – 3 yrs. remaining). I’m going to deal with them one at a time. So first – Manny.
At the time of this writing Malhotra has 13 points (4G, 9A) in 47 games, is a +/- minus six, has one game winning goal, total ice time is 611 minutes, 15th on the team in Hits, third in the NHL in face-off percentage (57.8) but 50th in total face-offs taken. He has played, what seems as a majority of his ice time – on the fourth line. Read more »
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Posted on January 16th, 2012 by Larry "The Nucks IceMan" Johnson
After the lump of coal that the Canucks served up on December 23 against the Calgary Flames, they figured they would reproduce it again – just in case you missed it. Last night against the Anaheim Ducks, the Canucks put on a performance that warrants a refund to at least the ticket holders that were in attendance.
Are you telling me that as a full season ticket holder, that I don’t get a refund for a no-show by the team that was on the ice replicating the Canucks? Come on Mr. Aquilini, you’re in the construction business. So, if you built a development that was below standard and had problems, you wouldn’t repair it or knock something off the price?
Well, that game last night wasn’t even close to the entertainment value of the price of those lower bowl seats that you charged me.
In other words, the tickets weren’t worth the paper they were printed on. What happened to the team that’s built on the Detroit model of consistency? Where’s the pride amongst these overpaid athletes that are always telling us what a tremendous job they have, and how fortunate they are to be playing in the NHL? Read more »
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Posted on January 12th, 2012 by Larry "The Nucks IceMan" Johnson
A top nine forward that can play and is tough.
Mike Gillis on TEAM 1040 radio said that the Canucks are looking to add some toughness in the form of a forward that can play on either of lines one through three. My comment on that is – what took you so long? Now hold on a minute Mr. Gillis, before you go scouring the league – what about Dale Weise?
Here’s a player that has great speed and has shown he can score at the AHL level. In 194 games he scored 57 goals to go along with 54 assists, and we have already seen that although he’s not a great fighter, he will drop the gloves with most who ask.
He has yet to play any extended time on the second or third lines, so just how do the Canucks know whether this 23 year old, drafted in round four – 111th overall, is not another Alex Burrows or Jannik Hansen in the making? Read more »
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Posted on January 7th, 2012 by Larry "The Nucks IceMan" Johnson
This game had everything that you could want in a play-off game, except it was a regular season one in January. Right from the drop of the puck the Bruins displayed their intimidating physical style of play like a pack of wolves, attacking in groups. It’s pretty obvious that the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins do not like each other and it didn’t take long before the fights began.
At the 3:54 click of the clock a scrum took place by the benches, as Alex Burrows was changing, and from there it was gang warfare. Nathan Horton took on Dale Weise and I have to admit I was wrong about what I previously said about Weise. He more than accounted for himself in that fight, and throughout the game played a real physical style. In fact, he was the most physical Canuck on the ice.
All the players on the ice got involved in the melee, including some that weren’t, like Milan Lucic who appeared to come off the bench. That’s what the referees thought also, as Lucic received a game misconduct for leaving the players bench. Read more »
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