Page 33 | Rob The Hockey Guy | A Vancouver Canucks Hockey Blog

Mitchell and Kesler Altercation at Practice

December 11, 2009 Rob 0 Comments Game Recap, Rumours

mitchell_fight

Willie Mitchell and Ryan Kesler are fighting mad. Jim Jamieson is reporting that Ryan Kesler and Willie Mitchell almost fought this morning at practice. What is up with that? Usually this happens when a team is in the midst of a losing streak, not just right after a win. It also doesn’t usually happen with two assistant captains. Even weirder is that this is the second time that Willie Mitchell has been involved in something like this in the last calendar year. During an eight game losing streak last year, Mitchell was involved in an altercation with Mason Raymond. Is this a case of Willie Mitchell being a little chippy in practice? Or maybe there’s a rift in the dressing room. Either way, don’t believe the spin that’s sure to come, this is not a good sign.

Canucks Shopping Demitra and O'Brien?

December 8, 2009 Rob 0 Comments Rumours

demitra_obrien

Interesting stuff from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Among other things, Garrioch is reporting that the New York Rangers are interested in acquiring Pavol Demitra and that the Canucks are shopping Shane O’Brien. Interesting news on both fronts.

Superman That Hoe!

December 4, 2009 Binh Ho 0 Comments Game Recap

ufc-2009-undisputed-georges-stpierre-vs-bj-penn

Bieksa with the perfect GSP-like Superman punch! Bad-ass! (Thanks to reader KingKovalev4PM for the heads-up!)

Batter Up! Vokoun Gets Smacked in the Head and Other Great Slashes

December 1, 2009 Rob 0 Comments Injury, Special Feature

ballard_vokoun

What do you think Keith Ballard will say the next time he sees Tomas Vokoun? Probably going to be a little awkward I’m thinking. For those of you that missed it, here it is:

I don’t remember hearing much about this at the time, but it was very similar to this game between Slovakia and the Czech Republic with Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak in net:

Seriously, how do you miss the post by that much? Obviously they didn’t play baseball growing up, or maybe they did and took batting lessons from Rich Pilon (good thing Lemieux has Olympic caliber fencing skills):

Or maybe he got pointers from Teemu Selanne:

Now Ron Hextall, that’s who you take pointers from. He never missed his target:

Ryan Kesler December 2009 Calendar Wallpaper!!!

November 30, 2009 Binh Ho 24 Comments Wallpaper

Canuckz.com is back at it, bringing you another kick-ass calendar wallpaper! We present to you the December 2009 Calendar Wallpaper featuring Ryan Kesler!

1) Ryan Kesler’s just a bad-ass. A pro’s pro.
2) Heroes is a shiet ass tv show (and you should be ashamed if you’re still watching it)!
3) I pretty much followed this classic psdtuts+ tutorial (or at least tried to; it was pretty damn confusing and took forever to figure out some of the steps)!
3) Enjoy!

Download here (missing a weird resolution that you use that we don’t have? Post a comment to let us know and we’ll gladly add it!):

Wellwood is Terrible and Everyone Loves Him

November 27, 2009 Rob 2 Comments Game Recap

wellwood_tooth

How great was it to see Kyle Wellwood score his first goal of the season last night against the Los Angeles Kings? Sure, it was an empty netter, sure he needed two cracks at the empty net, but to have a game where the crowd chanted his name, booed the announcement that his goal earlier in the game would be credited to Tanner Glass and have a standing ovation for a meaningless empty net goal was pretty special. And Kyle Wellwood is a special character for Canucks fans.

He’s amazingly popular considering that it took him almost two months to score a goal this year (check out the jubilation on the Canucks message board) and has a mere 14 points in his last 67 regular season games! Lets face it, he’s been terrible and everyone loves him… including me! The guy is just too damn lovable. Maybe it’s cause he’s a little guy, maybe it’s cause he doesn’t like to workout and stay in shape, maybe it’s cause he uses a wood stick, but it just seems like he’s someone that people can relate to.

Wellwoodmania overshadowed the return to form of Alex Burrows. Burrows had a goal and an assist, was plus two and had seven shots on goal against the Kings last night. This return to form, not surprisingly, has coincided with the return of Daniel Sedin. Nice to see, because if the Canucks want to go deep in the playoffs this year they’ll need a potent top line.

“Welly” also overshadowed the amazing game by Roberto Luongo. He was simply spectacular, and has been very good for a few games in a row now. He hasn’t given up more than two goals in a game since returning from injury and has a .934 SV% in that time. Those are Vezina trophy numbers. Needless to say, the Canucks are at the best when Luongo is on top of his game.

So was the game against the Kings a blip on the radar or a sign that a healthy Canucks lineup will mean chalking up a lot of victories? Probably too soon to tell, especially since they haven’t played a road game since the return of Daniel Sedin. The Canucks still need to prove that they can win consistently on the road to improve their 4-8-0 road record.

Brian Burke's Son is Gay (Not That There's Anything Wrong With That)

November 24, 2009 Binh Ho 0 Comments Uncategorized

brian burke brendan burke

Brian Burke’s still a douche but he seems like a good enough father. Good for Brendan Burke too.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=4685761

These kinda ESPN articles are usually pretty good. If you’re a sports fan, you need to read the “Outside the Lines” series.

Canada Has a New Cheer! According to Pepsi That is…

November 21, 2009 Rob 0 Comments 2010 Olympics

pepsi_cheer

Have you seen the big Pepsi marketing campaign asking for Canadians to submit a new cheer for cheering on Team Canada in 2010? Essentially they wanted Canadians (or customers) to come up with a Canadian equivalent to “U-S-A U-S-A!” or “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!!!”. Well, it seems as though they’ve come up with a cheer. Canada, get ready for… “Eh-Oh-Canada-Go“.

Hopefully you haven’t leaped up from your computer with excitement and are continuing to read this blog. Seriously though, is that the best they could come up with? No chance in hell that this gets off the ground. It has about the same chance as this cheer sticking:

The cheer they came up with sounds lame, is too long, it doesn’t mean anything, in a nutshell: it’s just brutal.

Not that it ever had a chance. I’d be embarrassed if we used any cheer that originated from a Pepsi marketing campaign. This is one of those ideas that sounds good in a boardroom meeting with the Pepsi marketing staff, but in reality it would never work. So can we just stick with “Go Canada Go” please? It won’t sell as much Pepsi, but it’ll work a hell of a lot better.

Speaking of Team Canada, it’s interesting in seeing how hockey experts are picking much different looking rosters for 2010. Eric Staal and Vincent Lecavalier looked to be locks for the team in the summer. Right now, they look like long shots. How many people were picking Steve Stamkos and Ryan Smyth in the summer? Not many, but they’re being picked by many now. The pick that really seems to be en vogue at the moment is Jonathan Toews, and I just don’t get it. He’ll be a star in the future, but right now how does he supplant guys like Crosby, Getzlaf, Thornton, etc. on a scoring line or a guy like Mike Richards on a checking line? The best reason to have him on the team in my opinion would be because of his shootout prowess.

We won’t have to wait too much longer for the announcement of Team Canada, the decision will come on New Year’s Eve. In the meantime, enjoy the predictions.

Nazzy's Coming Out of Retirement! To Play in Sweden….

November 17, 2009 Rob 0 Comments Rumours, Signing

forsberg_naslund

It appears that Markus Naslund and Peter Forsberg will be returning to pro hockey together, playing for their hometown team of Modo in Sweden. The two of them are clearly very loyal to Modo, as they are reportedly going to play for FREE! This will mark the third (and presumably final) time that Forsberg and Naslund have played together for Modo. The two played together previously for Modo before their NHL careers and during the lockout canceled season in 2005-06.

sweden

The most interesting part of this new development could be the impact on Team Sweden for the Olympics in February. Forsberg has reportedly shown interest in playing in February but up to this point, Naslund hasn’t. He may or may not be interested, but if Naslund and Forsberg click well together in Modo, why wouldn’t Naslund want to have his swan song in the Olympics? It would mark his first return to play hockey in Vancouver since he last played for the team in 2008. He also missed the chance to play for Team Sweden in the 2006 Olympics, thus missing a chance at a gold medal. Consider further that Team Sweden doesn’t exactly have the best depth right now, and I think there’s an outside chance that Naslund could be in the 2010 Olympics.

Forsberg Update: "Thanks But No Thanks"

November 16, 2009 Rob 0 Comments Free Agency

forsberg_colorado

According to the Team 1040, Peter Forsberg has told the Canucks “Thanks but no thanks” in regards to him returning to the NHL. He will apparently return to pro hockey, but with Modo of the Swedish Elite League.

Too bad, he had potential to be a difference maker that could be acquired for nothing. At least he didn’t drag it out like Sundin did last year though.