waach episode 62

We're back, and just in the nick of time, too. After much soul searching and scouring hours of video tape, turns out it's our fault the Canucks play has been so bad lately. Ok, maybe not, but tonight the Canucks look to turn it around against the St. Louis Blues. It's gameday on the return of WAACH.
listen here

Saturday: Game Day vs. Kings and more

First of all, it's a sad day as Canada lost one of it's greatest broadcasters today. Don Wittman was one of the best CBC had to offer, from NHL and CFL to curling and the Olympics, he was one of the greatest voices in Canadian sports play by play. He lost his battle to cancer this morning, but leaves behind fond memories and great calls (Pavel Bure in overtime, anyone?). RIP.

The Canucks look to build on a strong comeback that almost was in Detroit as they take on the Kings at GM Place tonight. Good news as it looks like Mattias Ohlund may be ready to return after missing 11 games with concussion symptoms. He has been sorely missed, and the Canucks record in his absence proves it. The Canucks find themselves in 3rd in the NW Division, tied with Minnesota and 1 point behind the 1st place Calgary Flames who hammered the Kings last night 6-1. Roberto Luongo will be in net for the Canucks tonight, while the Kings will likely go with J.S. Aubin after Jason LaBarbera gave up 5 of the Flames' 6 goals in just 2 periods.

The rumor mill (you know, where people speculate on trades that never happen thanks to the CBA) has Vancouver and Calgary interested in Mats Sundin. The Leafs have to realize they are almost at the no hope point for this season, and dealing Sundin and getting some help for the future has to be done, lest he walks away for nothing after the season. While if there is a deal it probably wouldn't happen until closer to the February trade deadline, I for one wouldn't mind seeing Sundin here with the kind of season he is having.

If there was any doubt about the "character" of Chris Pronger, it should be laid to rest after his appearance on the Jim Rome radio show this week. The story goes that they had a "Chris Pronger Furniture Burning Day" and that the fans of Edmonton, so ungrateful for Pronger's willingness to honor 1 year of his 5 year contract before demanding a trade, burned his baby's crib among the other items.

"Yeah, there's obviously a few things that didn't set well with me, for instance, taking the furniture that I had in my house and burning it, and having a ‘Burn Chris Pronger's Furniture Day,' that really did sit well with me very much," Pronger said.

"They burned my kid's crib and things like that. When you hear stories like that, it doesn't sit well." Just one problem. It never happened. I don't know who the bigger douchebag is, Pronger for telling the blatant lie, or Rome, who has always been such a classy broadcaster (and I apologize for setting off your sarcasm detectors) for making it worse by claiming Oilers fans broke into the house and stole the furniture. Thanks to Mr Brightside on CDC for the link.

Ottawa is happy to have Jason Spezza back in the lineup, problem is his linemates are now down, Dany Heatley will be out up to 6 weeks with a shoulder injury and Daniel Alfredsson is out with a hip flexor... and that means that 3 of the East's big guns will miss the All Star Game now that Sidney Crosby is out with a high ankle sprain...

Brendan Morrison will be filling in for Tom Larscheid on the radio broadcast of tonight's Canucks game, which can be heard at http://www.team1040.ca

Canucks vs. Blues Gameday thoughts...

The Canucks are on the road for an afternoon tilt with the St. Louis Blues today, and they find themselves in the thick of a 3way logjam for top spot in the Northwest with Minnesota and Calgary. The Canucks have dropped 2 straight after losses in San Jose and at home to Phoenix, hopefully Roberto Luongo and the boys can end this little skid today and beat the Blues. The Canucks have sent Mason Raymond back to Manitoba, and recalled Rick Rypien. Maybe it's a response to the Canucks inability to handle the physical play of the Sharks and Coyotes, and the feisty Rypien will certainly help in that department. Players like Jeff Cowan, Matt Cooke and Ryan Kesler will need to step it up in the physical end of things, and Cowan especially will need to avoid taking penalties like the double minor Jovonovski suckered him into in the game Friday night. We get another look at Kris Beech today, as he plays his second game since being acquired on waivers from Columbus. He was certainly involved in the game against Phoenix, but it may be a couple games before we really get to see what he is all about. I like the idea of putting him on a line with Markus Naslund though, it will help see what he can do. It certainly seems like the Canucks are missing Mattias Ohlund, as their recent drop in quality coincides with Ohlund's neck injury... Lukas Krajicek will likely be a gametime decision, after missing Friday's game with the flu. Bottom line is we haven't won in St. Louis in 4 years, and the Canucks have lapsed into some lazy habits that are costing them games. The call up of Rypien is the 1st message sent by coach Alain Vigneault, and you can believe should the Canucks turn in another lackluster effort, he will make sure they get it by other means. The Canucks head to Columbus on Tuesday then up to Detroit on Thursday for an opportunity to get back at the Red Wings after a couple disappointing losses earlier this year. Congrats to Henrik Sedin for being named to the West All Star team, though many feel it was a surprise that Daniel wasn't named, either in place of or in addition to Henrik.

Around The NHL:
-Big win, Big Loss: A nice late goal from Daniel Alfredsson gave the Senators a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings last night in Ottawa, but it was a costly one as they lost Dany Heatley with a separated shoulder. He is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.
-Will that be paper or plastic?: Leafs fans will be reaching for bags to cover their heads after that California road trip, but the most frustrating thing must be the revelation on HNIC last night that they decided against hiring Scotty Bowman as team president because he wanted complete control over the hockey operations. The audacity and ignorance that this decision shows is simply par for the course from the ownership group of the Leafs, and the real reason why the team continues to get worse. They have guys who know less than the fans getting their hands mucky in the operation of the team, something that never works.
-Calling Cujo: Calgary and Toronto San Jose are being mentioned among others as teams interested in acquiring Curtis Joseph. I can't see him going to the Sharks, as they have absolutely no intention of letting Nabokov have a night off (get the feeling this will come back to haunt them come playoff time?), and while some Leafs fans may like the idea of Cujo's return to T.O., he is not the answer to their problems. Calgary seems like a logical fit, as Kiprusoff has struggled this year, and they have a 0 experience backup. Can Cujo get it done though? Who knows, but if the Flames should take another skid, I wouldn't be surprised to see him show up in Cowtown.

Mike Keenan's travelling apology show

It's match #5 of the Canucks and Flames tonight at the Saddlesoredome in Cowtown, and two things are becoming apparent: 1) Mike Keenan and Mikka Kiprusoff are headed for a showdown that GM Darryl Sutter will have to solve, and 2) Keenan has a book FULL of excuses for why they have dropped 4 straight to the Canucks.

"The first game here was in overtime and went their way," said head coach Mike Keenan. "The second game here, I thought Roberto Luongo (who made 36 saves) probably won the game for them. The third game, I thought there was an indiscretion in league scheduling -- we played a 5 o'clock game (in Vancouver) after we had played the night before (in Edmonton). They sat and they were rested. I didn't think -- and I still don't think -- that's what the competition would want in the NHL.

"Then we outplayed them fundamentally in the last game (Thursday at GM Place) but they were able to find a way to win. We gave up 20 shots -- that's a pretty good road game. Everybody knows that Kipper (Miikka Kiprusoff) didn't have his best night. What are you going to do?"

He is trying to put a rosy little spin on it, but what it boils down to is in a head to head battle of goaltenders, Luongo has simply been better, the Canucks best players have been better than the Flames best, and good teams will find a way to win. I love the quip about the "indiscretion in league scheduling". Is that like the "indiscretion that saw us play in Edmonton then fly to Minnesota the next night (and win, behind a Markus Naslund hat trick)? You would expect Mike Keenan of all people to not want to BS the fans of Calgary, but to serve this up as though it were a valid reason they are 0-4 against the Canucks is insulting to the Flames' fans intelligence. And that is saying something. Sure they may win tonight (we played last night, so we get to use the excuse, right Mike?), but it's been a great season so for for the boys in blue, so celebrate tonight, and all the best in 08 from all of us at WAACH!

Avalanche 3 Canucks 1

Kind of disappointing to see the let-down in the 3rd, but I have a feeling that this is still a very tired team, and it sure looked like it in the last period. Perhaps a little bit of an emotional dip after the big shootout win the night before in Phoenix, but still as Canucks fans we have little to complain about. We have 44 points, are in 4th in the West and our goalie is playing even better than he did last year. I would also like to point out that the Philadelphia Flyers now sit in 13th place in the East. Yes they are 2 points out of 8th, but it is encouraging for the bet I have against my buddy from work, that we head into the Christmas break with an 8 point lead.
We are taking a little break from the podcasts (as you may have noticed) but should be back and ready to go on Saturday. We will update the blog though while we are in Kamloops.

To all the listeners, and everyone who stops by the blog to see what we have to say, Laurie & I wish you all the best this holiday season, make sure it's happy and safe. Go Canucks Go!

If I could have just one wish...

(With sincerest apologies to Steve Martin)

If I could have just one wish, it would be that this would be the year the Vancouver Canucks finally raise the Stanley Cup.

If I could have just 2 wishes, the first would be the Canucks winning the Stanley Cup, and the 2nd would be that all hockey announcers would stop saying "Boy, I bet he'd like that one back" after a goalie lets in a soft one, because it drives Laurie crazy.

If I could have just three wishes, the first is the Canucks and the Cup, the 2nd is banning 'Boy I bet he'd like that one back' forever, and the third would be for the Calgary Flames to have to deal with the kind of injuries we have had this year.

If I could have just 4 wishes, the first is the Cup, 2nd is no more blatantly obvious statements, third is a rash of injuries for the Flames, and the 4th wish would be for the Flyers to get a taste of their own medicine.

If I could ... hmm.

You know what? I think I will stick with 1 wish. Ok, two. But that's it.

episode 60 and 61

Episode 60: the No Panic Episode here
Episode 61:Did I or did I not tell you this would happen? Ok, I don't think anyone predicted Jason jaffrey and Mason Raymond would have the kind of game they did, but the Canucks marched into Anaheim and left with another win over the defending Cup champs. No time to sit and admire it, they've got those pesky Sharks tonight, pregame show right now on WAACH

here
or here

The Penalty Shot

Will bring the post-game wrap up later... in the meantime here is the penalty shot of year, the reigning mvp vs. the best damn goalie in the NHL

Hockey School: Keep your head up

A little karma for his elbow throwing? I like to think so...

Episode 58 Canucks vs. Penguins pregame

It's sad that the NHL's schedule geniuses allowed this to happen, but the day has finally arrived: In his 3rd season in the NHL, Sidney Crosby is finally in Vancouver to play the Canucks. Can Sid the Kid and the Penguins sweep Western Canada, or will Roberto Luongo stand tall for the Canucks tonight... Canucks and Penguins pregame show right now... on WAACH

LISTEN HERE


Also I will be co-hosting NUCKS TALK radio live this afternoon, so make sure and check it out, We go online live at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern time. I mean hey, you really didn't want to watch the Leafs again, right?