June 2010
25 posts
4 tags
Free Agent Frenzy?
Most hockey fans anxiously await July 1st. Not because it’s Canada Day, but because it’s the official start of the summer free agent market. For many teams, this represents an opportunity to drastically change their fortunes. We, for one, will not be glued to the tube or on-line streaming coverage. We just don’t see this as a bumper crop. All that said, we’d like to...
9 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round Two CLOSED
As you would expect, things got a little heated in Round 2 of our little game determining the “toughest” Canuck ever. We will commence with Round 3 on Monday. And promise to pick-up the pace. This will end long before training camp.
Here’s a quick recap of Round 2 results:
1. In our most controversial match-up, Trevor Linden barely out pointed Ron Delorme. You, valued...
6 tags
A Bunch for Ballard
Wandering through the haze of our annual golf trip weekend, we’ve had plenty of time to ponder Mike Gillis’ latest work.
Our knee jerk response was that this trade was a knee jerk response. A panic move for a team that bowed out of the playoffs unceremiously due to, according to many, a lack of defensive depth. At first blush, this plays as 3 first rounders for a number 3 or 4...
11 tags
Harty Hank (Revisited)
Wow. We must confess that one had us by surprise. This is fantastic news and a real breakthrough for the Canuck franchise. We expected both the Hart and Ted Lindsay awards to go to Crosby and he wound up with neither. The Hart is voted for by the media and rarely winds up in the hands of a west coast player; our cynical view is that the eastern media must have split their vote between Ovechkin...
Anonymous asked: Do you think Pavel didn't make the HHOF because Pat Quinn is part of the committee?
Anonymous asked: Who is on your hall of fame ballot?
7 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round Two, Match Four
Presenting your final Round Two contestants:
Mattias Ohlund- Arguably the greatest Canuck defensemen ever, Mattias was (and still is) one of the league’s best bodycheckers. Along with Harold Snepsts, Ohlund was one of the few Canuck defense draft picks that ended up being key contributors to the team. While certainly not a heavyweight, Ohlund would drop the gloves when required and not just...
6 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round Two, Match Three
Today’s competition features two legendary defensemen, both big fan favourites…
Harold Snepsts - Here at CC, we have a serious case of man crush love for “Harooooooold”. And not because of his dashing good looks. Snepsts was a war horse defensemen, punishing hitter and a feared fighter. Forget about the giveaway to Mike Bossy in OT of game 1 of the ‘82 final, we’re talking about...
9 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round Two, Match Two
What do you mean by toughness anyway? Well, we’re going to let you, valued reader, decide. Though from our perspective, it’s not just the tendency to drop the gloves and pound someone. We’re thinking about that, of course, but also thinking about the ability to effectively play through injury, delivering devastating, but clean hits and going to the hard places on the ice and paying the...
4 tags
Boon or boondoggle, part 3
As a little interlude between rounds of our toughest Canuck marathon (thanks, by the way, for all your votes today), we continue with our draft day retrospective…
Boondoggle - The Canucks have often been accused in recent years of avoiding the WHL come draft time. And there may be some truth to that. We’re still investigating. But if it is true, after the 2000 pick of centre Nathan...
6 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round Two, Match One
Strap yourselves in, it’s time for Round 2. For those just joining us and wondering what’s going on here’s the preamble:
This got us to thinking about who is the toughest Canuck of all time? Are there any players on the current roster that might qualify for this title? What do you mean by toughness anyway? Well, we’re going to let you, valued reader, decide. Though...
17 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round One CLOSED
Okay, we’ve milked this for long enough - we’re on to round two. Thanks for your participation. A quick recap of round one:
Trevor Linden defeated Rick Rypien in a mismatch. Clearly, the voters are putting more emphasis on a balanced definition of toughness as opposed to pure pugilism. We applaud your discriminating taste.
Stan Smyl took out the much larger Jack McIlhargey in a...
3 tags
Boon or boondoggle, part 2
As we approach draft day (we know you can’t wait), we continue with more of our series highlighting the highs and lows of Canuck draft history.
Boon - In the shadow of the Hawks’ Cup win and the impressive post season performance of one of their depth defenseman, we present Brent Sopel. “Soaps” (have we mentioned our disgust for 21st century nick-names yet?) was a 6th...
4 tags
Boon or boondoggle?
With the next landmark in the NHL offseason being the entry draft, we will present for you Canuck draft stories, both the successful and the disastrous. Of course, in this town, it would seem that we’ve had much more of the latter, but until we’ve investigated that matter fully, which you know we will, we’ll aim to be balanced offering up both the booms and the busts. So...
4 tags
A Recipe for a Championship
No, we’re not talking about sending your franchise into the sh*tter for a few seasons so you can earn yourself some lottery picks and ultimately franchise players. Though the Penguins and Hawks would illustrate that is really the way to go.
The best way to guarantee playoff success? If not a Cup win, then at least a Finals appearance? Ensure you match up against the Vancouver Canucks at...
4 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round One, Match Eight
Thanks for your patience. And now, the final two entrants:
Donald Brashear - Donald has managed a lengthy career and it’s not just for his pugilistic nature. He’s proven he can play and the very sight of him in the line-up gives his team the leg up on intimidation. Brashear was dealt away from the Canucks at the height of his powers leaving a revolving door of wanna-be’s...
5 tags
Great Scott Gone
Yesterday it was leaked that Scott Arniel, coach of the Canucks’ AHL farm team (Manitoba Moose), had accepted an offer as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Today that news was confirmed by the Canucks. While it’s great news for Arniel, it’s sad news for the home team.
Arniel has successfully guided the Moose to great regular season success over the last four seasons...
4 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round One, Match Seven
We’re down to releasing the names of our final 4 contestants. We know the suspense is killing you.
Ed Jovanovski - “Special Ed” was almost the complete package with great speed, good puck skills, an often fiery disposition and quick heavy hands when it came to scrapping. “Jovo Cop” used his fleet feet to become a feared open ice hitter. Always a great teammate, he...
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So You Think You're Tough - Round One, Match Six
Today we present two fellows who were each undoubtedly tough, but in very different ways.
Gino Odjick- Easily one of the most popular players in Canuck history, the Algonquin Enforcer appeared on the Canuck landscape with a tremendous bang. And he never really let up. As Dave Semenko was to Wayne Gretzky, Odjick was the same to his little buddy, Pavel Bure. Off the ice, “Geeee...
7 tags
Anonymous asked: do you own any canucks jerseys?
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Vote for Cory
The Canucks have recently announced the signing of Cory Schneider to a 2 year deal. Many of the critical in Canuckville have wondered aloud, what is this guy still doing here? With Roberto Luongo tied up for the rest of our lifetime and refusing to allow his coach to let the backup get more than 15 starts per season, why haven’t we already dealt this guy? He’s a first round pick...
4 tags
So You Think You're Tough - Round One, Match Five
Today’s contestants (including the honourable mention) were from various 80’s Canuck incarnations. For all you readers born after that, we apologize. Crappy teams often required an abundance of tough guys…
Garth Butcher - The first time we saw the Strangler play was for the Regina Pats against the Victoria Cougars. To an impressionable young boy, Garth was a terrorizing force...
5 tags
Under the Radar
Nothing Mike Gillis does really falls under the radar in the this hockey mad town. As such, despite the Stanley Cup Finals starting on the same day, Monday’s signings by Gillis of 3 defense prospects did not go unnoticed and received some press in the local media.
The signing of 20 year old Yann Sauve, a 2008 2nd round draft pick, is no surprise really. He had a dominant season in...
8 tags
Figures and Facts
As we are prone to doing, while ingesting another hearty breakfast this morning and perusing the stats pages of the morning paper, we stumbled upon these brilliant observations:
FIGURE - Joe Thornton wound up a minus 11 for the playoffs, by far the worst on his team. Combine this with his performance at the Olympics where he was one of only 2 Canadian players to wind up on the negative side of...
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So You Think You're Tough - Round One, Match Four
We’ve altered the layout here to hopefully make our toughest Canuck marathon more pleasing to your eye. Yes, you’ll get nothing but continuous improvement around here. We are now up to Match Four, which means we’ve unveiled half of our 16 contestants. Keep those votes rolling in!
Here are today’s intros with video clips embedded in the poll question - how’s that...
