Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community
  • entries
    2
  • comments
    3
  • views
    5,616

The Luck O' The Irish Or Climbing Out Of Our Slump?


getHIGGYwithit

2,146 views

Columbus Vs. Vancouver. A seemingly easy game. The roles would seem to be clear when a 3rd place team plays a last place team. There should be a good team, and a bad team. There should be a visible difference in playing standards when the contestants are separated by 26 teams in the league standings.

But we knew better than that. None of us bought into that ‘it’s a sure bet’ hype. Being born and raised Canucks fans we were prepared for disaster. Our organization brought us up this way. We do not get suckered into believing what ‘should’ be or what makes ‘sense’. We know all of those crazy ideals are just mumbo jumbo.

We were ready for anything, and so we should have been. For it was March 17th, a day filled with green beverages, drunken mistakes, and crazy luck! Many teams in the league cashed in on the ‘luck o’ the Irish’: Colorado beat Lundqvist and his Rangers, the Leafs almost got a shut out against the Sens, and worst of all the Bruins won a game. *shiver* it’s just creepy.

The game between Vancouver and Columbus was mediocre at best. Somehow, the Jackets were battling harder than us to get the puck, but they still managed to make our lack luster ‘current team’ look good. The best example of this has to be the coast to coast goal by Edler. He literally skated down the ice like royalty. The Jackets politely moved to the sides of the rink to bow down to him as he went five hole on their stranded goalie. While the Jackets commenced an epic stare down on the ice trying to find one person to place blame, Nash was busy on the sidelines doodling in his sketch book trying to decide which city made his name look pretty… Captain. Detroit Nash…. Captain. NY Nash.

tumblr_m12etxpkvw1r55hrto1_500.jpg

While the Canucks did not play to the best of their abilities, there were significant improvements in their play. The biggest improvement came from the first line.

Mason Raymond: While anyone listening to the game on the radio may have thought Mason had his usually clumsy, constantly falling down regular game, they would have actually been wrong this game. Due to the Jackets goalies last name being Mason, and the incredible boring, monotone announcing that was CBC, whenever the goalie went down to stop a puck, listeners could have easily confused the Mason in net with our speedy little winger.

Maybe Mayray made a sudden recovery from his back injury, realized that he was skating with the Sedin twins, or simply got bit by a magical hockey spider, but anyway you see it, the guy wasn’t half bad. While he did take a few spills, Mason stood his ground with a new found confidence. He put himself in the right spots to receive passes from the Sedins, developed various chances on net, and was truly a good addition to the line.

One thing that has never been lacking from Mason Raymond’s play is his never give up attitude. He has proved it various times throughout his career, especially when returning this year after a serious back injury he acquired in the final series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Raymond’s puck battle in the third period to keep the puck in the attacking zone was purely a treat to watch. Raymond skated circles around the opposing team, entrancing them into a hypnotized state. Eyewitness reports say that the Jackets continued to look confused on the ice for several seconds after their encounter with Mayray. They reportedly were quick to leave the ice after complaining of hearing Kelly Clarkson songs humming on repeat in their ears.

The Sedins: After a 10 game scoring drought Daniel Sedin finally brought back some life to the 1st line. Whether or not his success was due to the color of his beard, or true talent is not yet determined.

Over all, the Sedins had a fairly good game but the real story that emerges here is this: now that the Sedins are back on the scoreboard: who should AV pick Mason or Burr. Battle of the bromance.

tumblr_m129dtNQ1N1r1wpru.png

Some may argue that since Mayray had a better game with the Sedins, that he deserves the right to stay and see what chemistry could develop. Others would say that Burrows is still a way better player than Mason, and has unmistakable chemistry with the twins. But once again we all know that what ‘should’ happen won’t, so I vote we don’t make any concrete decision here. We’ll leave it up to AV to decide. (plus that way: no matter what he chooses we can complain and not be called hypocrites) WHOS THE EVIL GENIUS NOW AV? Huh? Huh?

The Amex Line: Strong as always. Kesler is still in love with his wrist shot, Booth still loves snuggling up to goalies, and Higgins still experiences equipment malfunctions that always require him to lift his shirt up- but as he says no one really minds.

tumblr_m129iba4Oi1r5iwquo1_500.png

The Third Line: We saw less of the fearless Honey Badger this game, but this line was still strong all the same.

The Fourth Line: Zack Kassian had an excellent scoring chance on a break away pass. Unfortunately for Zack he forgot what a glove looked like, and only realized that he wasn’t looking at a net after he had gently handed the puck to Mason. Kassian was so embarrassed by his mistake that he disappeared into the abyss for the remainder of the game. Insiders have told us that they heard lingering whistle-y sobs from the locker room. Using our deductive powers, we believe it could only be our 6'4 Kassian. A man who was brought in to add intimidating force to the 4th line.

Picture3.png

Schneider: It turns out every red head found a way to get on the scoreboard today. Schneider’s assist on Edler's goal was extremely lucky, but than again as were most of his saves. While I am quite aware that goalies must leave their net to play the puck, I have to wonder if they can make a special rule that people named Cory Schneider aren’t allowed to. You have to be a complete idiot to say that Schneids is any good at puck handling. He makes Luongo look like a Sedin in comparison.

goaliesgiggle.jpg

I think we should all be kind of thankful that Schneider won, yet didn’t have a spectacular game. We can still maintain our love for Luo, and have our insurance in Schneider. Best of both worlds.

So now it’s road trip time. We’ll be making stops in Minnesota, Chicago, Dallas, and Colorado. Chicago should be a great game, which will hopefully fire us up. Nothing like a Conference rivalry to get you out of a slump! It’ll also be interesting to see what happens in Dallas. We seem to be having problems against the Stars, so seeing a win would be great for our confidence. In my mind, we will win this road trip if we see Bieksa do a Fiddler impression. Then off to Colorado for some Landeskoging. LETS DO THIS GUYS!

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...