That not so special moment.

As is the rite of Spring in Vancouver, that moment arrived, it passed and life goes on. I'm getting better at spotting the moment. That moment is the fleeting instant when the reality of the current season are replaced by hopes for a future success. In the spring of 2011, the moment for me was marked at about 7:45 PM PDT on June 15. Bergeron had just scored Boston's third goal of game seven and Boston's third shorthanded goal of the series. And for the 40th time the thought crept across my mind; "maybe next year."

The cup was not lost in that moment. It had been lost, in my opinion, back in game 2. I'll share those thoughts with you another time.

Congratulations to the Bruins. For the Canucks, I can't say "well done" just as I can't say "disaster." Mike Gillis has a task ahead of him. Gillis has met the enemy and he is us. Gillis needs to find an combination of players that foster an environment where the Twins can flourish when the compete level raises. Likely this means a fourth line with enough skill to play in a cup final. Players with enough grit or Power Play skill to deter the aggression of a play off opponent. Gillis needs to bolster the mind a fragile net minder. When the battle grew close the Bruins stepped up and the Canucks stepped aside. The spring of 2012 will tell us if the Canucks learnt from this painful experience. Or is this a team not able to win on the largest stage?

For Vancouver, we have met the enemy and he is us. The inappropriate mob response to Game 7 is unacceptable. It was unacceptable in 1994 and it is even more so today. As a community of fans we need to behave in a manner befitting Canada, Vancouver and the Canucks. The entire country has been tarnished by the actions of a few. In the science of mob situations there is often the, almost apologetic, explanation that "it only takes a few to turn the mood of a crowd." This may be conventional thinking on what happened in downtown Vancouver on the evening of June 15, 2011. We may also state that "the few" would have done this regardless if the Canucks won or loss. Isn't the exact opposite true? Isn't it the actions of the many that should turn the mood of the few? Indeed we met the enemy and he was us. We stood by and let the few allow the situation get out of hand. Shame on us. The spring of 2012 will most likely give Canuck's fans another chance. Vancouver: take that opportunity to justify our civic and team pride. Expo 86 and the 2010 Olympics set the example. There is no place for our sensless response to Game 7's in '94 and '11.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;

Home Ice Advantage

The adage goes "you are not in trouble until you lose on home ice." Tonight we see if the shift in momentum that occurred in Boston has lead to "trouble." It is like tennis, you need to win more games regardless of the number of points won. The lack of offence and leaky defence in Boston means that the series is tied 2 - 2; nothing more. It is 2 out of 3 with home ice advantage for the mug. The boys need to stay on the body, finish the checks and the odd powerplay goal (say 1 per 4 chances) would help. Mathematically the boys are two goals away from a successful campaign. Two goals plus two shutouts and it is over. Two 1 - 0 games on home ice? Why not. Back to back shutouts for Luongo? More likely than one half of the goal tending tandem on Jennings Trophy winning team giving up 12 goals in two games. I like our chances even if I suspect a Game 7 might be in our future.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;

Why Win in Calgary?

Daniel - 102 Points. Closest rival Corey Perry at 97. Chances are Perry will not get 6 more points than Daniel in one game. The Art Ross Trophy will go to Daniel. But if Daniel were to put up a big game this would also help to cement his votes for the Hart. Perry is the contenderfront runner. Henrick is the incumbent. If the twins put on a show at the Sadledome they give themselves a better chance to pick up both the Art Ross and the Hart.

Luongo - 38 wins. There are three with 37 including (surprise) Kiprusoff. Canucks win and Luongo is a contender for the Vezina. Tim Thomas will win but... with a win tonight Luongo will have the most wins in the league.

Plus / Minus - Kevin Bieksa. Tied with Toni Lydman at plus 32. Never heard this before and you heard it here first - Bieksa future Norris Trophy winner. Not this year and he needs to stay healthy for a full season. Most rank for the Norris based on points. But scoring is not the measure of the top defensive player in the league. Bieksa is slowly moving towards top D-Man distinction. Pretty good for a guy who was expendable, wasn't even going to be on the team when the season started, when Salo returned, etc... be on the ice tonight for a few goals to win the Plus / Minus race and Kevin Bieksa will take another step towards elite D-Man status.

Jack Adams Award - Alain Vigneault. Does the coach make the team look good? Or does the team make the coach look good? Having coached, I say the coach makes the team look good. Given Pittsburgh Penguins' success without Crosby, Dan Bylsma may be a lock for the 'best' coach award. AV's guided the 'Nucks to their best season ever. He has lead the team to more wins in a single season than Roger Neilson/Harry Neale, Pat Quinn or Mike Keenan. AV won the Jack Adams in 2006. Did he top that job? Sure he did.

Moe - go into the post season on a big win. Having momentum is a good thing when you look to be facing the defending Champions in the first round. Having mailed one in (they did that with the Oil (twice!)) is not the work ethic that a team needs to carry in to the playoffs.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;

With One Game To Go

09-Apr-11 @ 8:00

Tonight: Canucks play Calgary on HNIC. As with last year the Flames are officailly done. last year the Nucks put up a 7-3 Win at home which featured a stunning goal by Daniel. This yers game is in Calgary. Having put up a 5-0 win over Minny to close the home schedule, I suspect the game in Calgary to be less. Much less.

If the playoffs were to start tomorrow we would face the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round. With everyone from 9th place Dallas to 4th place Nashville as potential for the first round match up. The math is complex but the most likely candidates are Dallas, Chicago or LA. The lowest points in the West will be 97 - Dallas, Chicago or Anaheim. The lowest non Shoot Out west wins will either 36 or 37 by Los Angeles. we get the lowest points with the lowest number of non shoot out wins breaking a tie in points.

Before the end of the season (I guess I mean tomorrow) I will make a graphic with the match ups.

We are 16 wins away from the Holly Grail and none of those 16 games will be played before 13-Apr-2011.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;

With 7 Games to Go (and one less sleep)

26-Mar-11 @ 8:00

Last Night: Canucks were idle in Columbus last night. Getting ready for Rick Nash and the BJ's. We have 107 points. The Ducks beat the Hawks last night to swap 7th and 8th spot. More about that in a moment. The Flames and the Oil had a wild Battle of Alberta with Iggy and crew eventually winning in a Shoot Out. Still Calgary remains 3 points back of 8th spot and has Dallas ahead of them in 9th.

Teams are starting to be eliminated. The following teams can book team times for 10-Apr-11; Colorado, Edmonton, Islanders, Panthers and Ottawa.

If the playoffs were to start tomorrow we would face the oh oh Chicago Blackhawks in the first round. We look to be a far better team this year. They look to be no quite as good a team this year. May as well dispatch them early. We do have to beat San Jose, Detroit and Chicago or a hot team that just beat one of the west's top teams. The sooner the defending champs are out of this the better.

The other west matchups are: Detroit vs. Anaheim; San Jase vs. Nashville; and Phoenix vs. LA Kings.

The east matchups are: Philly vs. Buffalo; Washington vs. Rangers; Boston vs. Montreal (owwwah); and Pittsburgh vs. Tampa Bay.

We are 16 wins away from the Holly Grail and none of those 16 games will be played before 13-Apr-2011.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;

With 7 Games to Go

26-Mar-11 @ 8:00

Last Night: Canucks 3 Atlanta 1 for their 24th road win of the year. We have 107 points. The remaing games three are at home and four are on the road. We need to visit Columbus and Nashville to complete the current road trip. LA Kings will be at Rogers Arena on the last day of March. Then it is a few tussels with the other North West Divsion rivals, Edmndon twice, Minny once and close out the season in Calgary on 9-Apr-11.

On the individual front.

Points - Daniel 1st with 95. Henrick 2nd with 88.
Goals - Daniel 3rd and 3 behind Steven Stamkos. Ryan Kesler 4th with 40.
Plus / Minus - Dan Hamhuis 5th at Plus 29. Toni Lydman of the Ducks leads at Plus 32.
Wins - Luongo 1st with 35.
Save Percent - Luongo 3rd just behind Pekka Rinne and well behind Tim Thomas of Boston.
Goals Against Average - Luongo 3rd again just behind Pekka Rinne and well behind Thomas.

If the playoffs were to start tomorrow we would face the Disneyland Ducklings in the first round. We could get Calgary, Dallas, Anaheim or Chicago. At this point Detroit get's Chicago in the first round and based on recent history I like that idea best. The sooner the defending champs are out of this the better.

We are 16 wins away from the Holly Grail and none of those 16 games will be played before 13-Apr-2011.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;

With 8 Games to Go

25-Mar-11 @ 16:00

Tonight: Canucks Get Atlanta. We have 105 points and are up on everyone else. The Division is secure. The Conference is likely and magic would have to happen for the Canucks to not win the President's Trophy.

If the playoffs were to start this morning we would face the LA Ducklings in the first round.

We are 16 wins away from the Holly Grail and none of those 16 games will be played before 13-Apr-2011.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;

Which is the Best NHL Team?

After 53 games how good is this Canucks team? What do you measure against?

The best team ever, in the regular season, is arguably the Montreal Canadiens of ’76-77. That team only lost 8 games all season. They also had 12 ties for 60 wins in an eighty game season in an era when you didn’t get points for losing a shootout. Of the 160 points available to the Habs on day one of the ’96-97 season, they were able to pick up 82.5% of those points.

The team with the most single season wins ever is Detroit in ’95-96 with 62. Detroit tallied 131 points that season in which the league then played 82 games and awarded one point for a loss in overtime. Still no shootout. Detroit’s record was 62 wins, 13 losses and 7 ties. Of the 164 points available to the Wings on day one of the ’95-96, season they were able to pick up 79.9% of those points.

The most points your Canucks have ever earned is 105. This high was reached in ’06-07. At that time there were 82 games, points for overtime losses and points for shootout losses. Vancouver’s record was 49 wins, 26 outright losses, 3 overtime losses and 4 shootout losses. I’d call that 49 and 33.

With 29 games or 58 points remaining in the ’10-11 season, the Canucks could reach a theoretical max of 135 points if they were to win out. Totally unrealistic but would put the team in the discussion with the ’76-77 Habs and ’95-96 Wings.

To this point the team has been picking up 77.6% of the available points. This is 7% to 10% below the pace of the benchmarks set by the Habs and Wings. Unless this team was to tear up the rest of the season the discussions of best need to be shelved for a future campaign. Continuing on the current pace will put the Canucks at 119 points come season’s end. This would represent by far the highest point total by any version of the Canucks.

A few days back, I heard an interesting comment by an ex NHL’re with several cup rings. His comment was you do not go out and win a Stanley Cup. You position yourself so that the cup comes to you. We know that 96 points will get you to the post season dance. We also know that the combination of President’s trophy winners and Stanley Cup winner in the same year is more the exception than the rule. Teams that battle for the 6, 7 and 8 seeds in each Conference are often battle hardened for the second season. They already have the win at any cost mentality. Whereas President Trophy winners, with their playoff ducat punched early, often coast to the finish line resting key players. The occasional glimpse over at the other Conference to see where their President Trophy rivals are and the opps excuse me we won.

If the Canucks were to coast into the post season by playing .500 hockey from here on out their total would be 106 points. Interesting – one point better than the previous best. That version of the Canucks lost to the eventual cup winning Anaheim Ducklings in the second round.

Lots of possible outcomes are still in play for the ’10-11 season. This could be the best regular season team ever. This could be the best Canucks team ever. The lads could tank, Luongo or a Sedin could get injured; the team could struggle to 94 points and just miss the playoffs. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The important facts of today are: we are 9 points up on Detroit for the conference lead. We are 2 points up on Philly for the Presidents Trophy. If the playoff were to start today, we get the LA Kings in first round and home ice advantage for as long as we stay alive in the playoffs. We are 16 wins away from the Holly Grail and none of those 16 games will be played before 13-Apr-2011. Enjoy the regular season success. The real proof of best is yet to come.

Ciao,

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Tags: hockey; Vancouver+Canucks;Montreal+Canadiens;Detroit+Red Wings;