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Dissecting the 2011-12 Canucks Carcass – By Vincent

April 27, 2012 Rob 1 Comment Special Feature

Vincent is a mysterious friend of Rob The Hockey Guy. He fights crime by night, so we won’t reveal his last name. He is @stuff99 on Twitter.

Hi everyone, I am writing this blog as I listen to the Game of Thrones theme song in a circular loop. This makes blog writing sound even more epic than it already is. This is my first blog entry so go easy on me. Just pretend you’re AV and I’m your son, Aaron Rome. Now that I’ve got introductions out of the way here is my blog.

It has been a few days since Canuck nation felt the stench of defeat sink in so that we can take a look back and dissect this carcass called the Vancouver Canucks 2011-2012 season. Where did it all go wrong?

Well according to bandwagons the world basically ended during the month of October. They wanted Luongo lynched and fed to the wolves. Everyone’s grandmother started to panic but then they started to win in November. Then everyone became a fan again. While the team did not dominate like they did the year before, they got their wins.

The Rules of Trash Talking

April 26, 2012 Rob 1 Comment Random

About a year ago I began thinking of ‘the rules of trash talking’. It started at a Canucks game at Rogers Arena. It was a game late in the season during the Canucks assault on the National Hockey League. The Canucks were number one in the league, showing no signs of slowing down and were winning the game. And that’s when I heard two people behind me talking. A woman and a man were talking, she was a Kings fan and he was a Flames fan. They were running their mouth about the Canucks and weren’t making much sense. I had to say something, considering the fact that the Canucks had JUST beaten the Kings the year previous. [Rule #1, you can't trash talk a fan of the team that just beat you in the playoffs, you have NOTHING to say]

So the Kings fan says “OHHHH you guys are going to lose in the first round!” [Rule #2, you can't trash talk what you think is going to happen in the future. You can only trash talk what has happened or what is happening]

Luongo will waive his no trade clause

April 25, 2012 Rob 2 Comments Rumours, Trades

The Canucks got great news on Tuesday, as Roberto Luongo revealed that he is willing to waive his no trade clause. Now don’t get me wrong, Roberto Luongo is an excellent goalie and I believe in him, but having the ability to trade him as well as Cory Schneider is huge for the Canucks.

Luongo has handled the goalie controversy with a lot of class. He has often been criticized for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, but in this situation he has shown a great attitude. Luongo sounded humble and aware of the fact that Cory Schneider is an excellent goalie.

Rehashing the Cody Hodgson Trade: He wanted out

April 25, 2012 Rob 3 Comments Rumours, Trades

Interesting news in Canuckland on Tuesday. Mike Gillis held a press conference to address the state of the franchise. Gillis addressed a number of issues, the most intriguing was about the Cody Hodgson trade.

Mike Gillis confirmed what was speculated a lot at the time of the trade, Cody Hodgson wanted out. Gillis then offered up this tid bit: “I spent more time on Cody’s issues than every other player combined on our team the last three years”. Gillis also indicated that the plan was essentially to showcase Hodgson this year, giving him favourable ice time (time on the power play, starting shifts in the offensive zone, etc).

The 2012 Canucks Playoff Run – Where did it all go wrong?

April 24, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Playoffs

After a second straight President’s Trophy, not many predicted the Canucks would be gone in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Even fewer would have predicted that they would be gone in only 5 games. So where did they go wrong? Lets investigate.

To start off with, this upset is probably not as big of an upset as you might think. To start off, the Kings finished the year with 95 points. That’s more than the winner of the Southeast division (which isn’t saying much I know) and only 2 points back of the Pacific division winner. That point total was also earned in a more difficult division than the Canucks play in. So perhaps the gap in points between the two teams is not as large as it may seem. The Canucks are also much less of a favourite without Daniel Sedin in their lineup.

But still, despite this, the Canucks had the more impressive regular season, no doubt. But the Canucks and Kings were not the same teams in October, November, December and January as they were in February, March and April. The Canucks lost Cody Hodgson and added Sammy Pahlsson. The Kings lost Jack Johnson and added Jeff Carter and made a coaching change. The Canucks’ power play finished the season with impressive numbers but the last half of the season it wasn’t very good. Meanwhile, the Kings finished very low in goal scoring, but were scoring at a higher rate near the end of the regular season.

This is all hindsight of course, and despite this, the Canucks should have put up a better fight.

Kevin Bieksa Impersonates Ryan Kesler, Fools Reporter

April 21, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Playoffs, Random

Great stuff here from Kevin Bieksa. Apparently a reporter in Los Angeles (Mike Dunsmore from Fox Sports) thought he was Ryan Kesler, so he just went with it.

How the Canucks can erase a 0-3 deficit and win the series – a very positive article

April 17, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Playoffs

Let me start by saying that I don’t think the Canucks will win this series (ok maybe this article isn’t THAT positive). They’re down 3 games to 0 and that’s a near impossible deficit to erase. Even if they play excellent in the next four games, they’ll still need some luck.

But right now everyone in Vancouver is talking like the Canucks have already lost the series. Not so fast.

Will Cory Schneider Start Game 3?

April 14, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Playoffs

Alain Vigneault was a little out of character with his game 2 post game press conference. He went out of his way to mention that goaltending was not the problem in game 2. When asked about who his goalie would be in game 3, he sounded angry and said that he wouldn’t discuss it. Today, when asked who his goalie would be, he wouldn’t say. If you ask me, those are clues that Cory Schneider will start game 3.

What Happened??! Canucks vs Kings Game 3 Preview

April 14, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Game Preview, Playoffs

I think the whole city of Vancouver is wondering what in the world is happening to our beloved Canucks right now. It’s been a long time since we have seen the Canucks start a playoff series 2-0 (11 years in fact). The Canucks do not look like a powerhouse team whatsoever. They look like a team that has lost all confidence in two games.

So what happened? Well, in game 2 the Canucks outshot the Kings 48-26, but lost 4-2. I thought the Canucks played ok most of the game, but gave the Kings some absolute gifts.

What the Canucks need to fix ahead of Game 2

April 13, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Game Preview, Game Recap, Playoffs

First let me start off by apologizing to the hockey gods. This is not the first time I have apologized to them. I first apologized to them after game 6 versus Chicago last season. I apologized because I wrote that we should ‘get our brooms ready’ and that the ‘writing was on the wall‘. Then the Hawks blew out the Canucks in games 4 and 5, and won again in game 6.