One Man Team - JAN.11.08
Entry posted by Sunny Dhillon
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<table width=75% align=center><tr><td><img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2007/09/sunny_blog.jpg" style="float: left; padding-right: 4px;">Imagine.
You’re at General Motors Place and it’s the final regular season home game for the 2007-08 Vancouver Canucks. The hated Calgary Flames are in town (just in case you’re wondering what that smell is).
It can all mean only one thing: it’s team awards time!
Willie Mitchell wins the Babe Pratt for best defenseman. Alex Edler takes home the Fred J. Hume as Vancouver’s unsung hero.
And before you know it, there’s only one trophy left to present: the MVP, the Cyclone Taylor.
A faint “LUUUUU” is heard somewhere in the upper bowl and soon resonates throughout the building.
Roberto Luongo starts skating towards the middle of the ice. He knows what’s coming. Unfortunately for him, so does Daniel Sedin.
<img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2008/01/jan0508_skills20_t.jpg" style="float: right; padding-right: 4px;" />As soon as Roberto’s back is turned, Daniel lunges off the bench with a steel chair, WWE-style.
A girlish shriek from Dion Phaneuf alerts Roberto to the coming danger… but it’s far too late.
Daniel drills Luongo with a chair-shot that can be heard from here to Ornskoldsvik.
As Roberto crumples to the ice, Daniel grabs the Cyclone Taylor for himself and races out of the building, diving headfirst into a moving Benz driven by brother Henrik.
Now let’s face it: this is the only way you can ever see Daniel touching the award for team MVP, right?
Well, it shouldn’t be. Daniel Sedin is proving he’s just as valuable to this Canucks team as anyone else, despite being left off the all-star team… again.
<img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2007/11/nov0907_canuckvsavalanche04_t.jpg" style="float: left; padding-left: 4px;" />Heading into play Thursday night, Daniel has scored eight times in his last eight games. The rest of his team has tallied just 12 goals over that same stretch, with two of those markers actually coming via the shootout.
Eliminate the shootout winners by Pyatt and Edler, and Daniel has accounted for 44 percent of his team’s goals since December 20.
Ilya Kovalchuk doesn’t score at that rate. Alexander Ovechkin doesn’t score at that rate. Heck, even Pamela Anderson doesn’t score at that rate (sorry Fin).
It’s not just that Daniel is scoring, though his five-game goal scoring streak is certainly impressive. It’s more that he’s scoring big goals.
His tally Tuesday night against the New York Islanders and Rick Dipietro tied a game that could very easily have slipped away from a deflated Vancouver team after Luongo gave up a softie early in the third.
Daniel’s marker the previous game, against the other New York team, provided Vancouver with some much-needed insurance as it gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead late in the third.
<img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2007/10/102607_caps03_t.jpg" style="float: right; padding-right: 4px;" />Daniel produced the first goal of the game December 31 against Calgary. Ditto against Anaheim on December 30. And #22, who now has 20 goals on the season, good for 19th best in the NHL, had the game-winner December 20 against Dallas.
Despite his heroics, Daniel’s only been in the three stars twice over this hot stretch. But that shouldn’t be too surprising. After all, this is Vancouver. We don’t celebrate offensive achievements here.
That would make it far too difficult to continue churning out stories day after day about how offensively challenged this team is, despite the obvious fact they have a sniper performing at a superstar level.
Perhaps swinging a steel chair is the only way Daniel will ever get some media attention.
Perhaps it’s the only way he’ll get the recognition he deserves
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