NorthWest Sports Blog brings you daily features on Oregon, Washington State, and BC amateur and pro sports teams.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Mitch Dyck brings us up to speed on the storylines he’s watching for and delivers his winning game-day tips for the Avalanche vs. Canucks game tonight. He expects the special teams to get running, to win the defensive battles and for Van City to score early and often. Jason Garrison hasn’t been able to hit the net, Alex Edler has struggled periodically. They must be better tonight. “Bring their A Games!”
Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges Love Em Hate Em hockey blog. He recaps and rewinds the loss on Monday night to the LA Kings. Richard says the Canucks have a reputation for diving, which is weird because they don’t have either Anze Kopitar or Dustin Brown. Why’d Van City lose? Aside from Alex Edler’s two goals in the first two games, he and Jason Garrison have been black holes of offence.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Bryan McFarlane tells us today what Van city needs to do to achieve early season success for 2013. For starters he says increase the physical play. This has been lacking from Vancouver hockey for years. There are always glimpses of a physical resurgence, but it’s never sustained for any length of time. The addition of Zack Kassian last season was a great step in the right direction. Alex Edler and Kevin Bieksa can help here.
Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges Love Em Hate Em hockey blog. He recaps and rewinds the win on Wednesday night in a shootout over the Calgary Flames. Cory Schneider yielded five goals on 14 shots in a season-opening loss to Anaheim on Saturday. Recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Tuesday, 2009 first-round pick C Jordan Schroeder had 19 shifts in his NHL debut.
Richard Hodges previews the Calgary Flames vs. Vancouver Canucks Jan. 23 matchup. The key matchup Richard is watching is between the pair of first-round rookies in Jordan Schroeder and Sven Baertschi. Schroeder got the call up earlier this week after an impressive Canucks camp, and looks to finally have a chance to prove himself at the NHL level. The Canucks will go back to Cory Schneider, he of the 11.11 GAA and .643 sv pct.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Mitch Dyck reports today on the news going on in Nucks land after 2 games of the 2013 shortened season. The downside. Andrew Ebbett. For Mitch Ebbett has been non-existent, both at five-on-five and on the power play. He’s a -1 and has no shots on goal. Mitch thinks its early but says we got to see a little bit of what Zack Kassian can bring to the table.
Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges Love Em Hate Em hockey blog. He recaps and rewinds the loss on Sunday night in a shootout to the Edmonton Oilers. Internally, I can’t imagine this weekend changed anything for the Canucks’ long-term goaltending plans. Publically, however, it’s open season on the Roberto Luongo vs. Cory Schneider conversation.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Mitch Dyck reports today on the news that we’ve learned Canucks GM Mike Gillis and Alex Edler have reached an agreement and he has signed for 6 more years. Edler was in the last year of a deal that saw him making $3.75 million per season. His new deal is $30 million over six years, with an annual cap hit of $5million. Much less than what he could have gotten on the open market.
The Vancouver Canucks opened their 2013 training camp over the weekend, beginning a six-day sprint towards opening night on Saturday. While the absence of Ryan Kesler in Vancouver’s top-six provides opportunity for forwards to embrace new roles up front, the Canucks appear to have little room for competition on the blue line.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges weighs in with some burning question marks surrounding the 2013 Vancouver Canucks hockey club now that the NHL lockout appears to be over. Question 1. So what happens? Roberto Luongo told the Toronto Sun that he gave Mike Gillis “the green light” to do whatever he had to do, which could mean he’ll go anywhere or he’ll go anywhere on his shortlist or anything really. And we wait…
It’s time for another Coffee Shop post on the NWSB. Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges weighs in today with a fun post on the Best hockey playing province, NHL pro’s style. He’s long believed that a tournament of the provinces would be a fantastic idea. BC would have Jamie Benn, Milan Lucic, Evander Kane, Andrew Ladd, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kyle Turris, and Ryan Johansen for starters.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Steve Lee weighs in today with another post in our Moments In Time series. Kirk McLean, Roberto Luongo, and Richard Brodeur all had one thing in common, they all backstopped the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals and they all came up short of hoisting hockey’s holy grail. When you break down the elements, which netminder should be honored as the Vancouver Canucks all time best goalie?
