Opmac's Hockey Report

Good post Benski, I also thought Ryper had a good game tonight. Opmac, if you make it your goal to watch one player critically all game, then maybe you shouldnt be watching the games. It's a team game, don't criticize one player just because he had a bad game. Also, you say that the entire 4th line outplayed by Buffalo's, so why, again, would you only criticize the one player if it was the entire line that was outplayed. Your argument about him only having one hit in a game is terrible, and you make your argument even worse by saying that the opposition tried to hit him more times then he tried to hit them. The guy has one bad game and he should be cut? Im sorry but everybody has bad games. You also say that he needs to step out of his weight class to fight. Well Im pretty sure that Valabik and Hall Gill are a little bit bigger then him. Lastly, the guy knows when to pick his fights, you can't go out there and fight every night. There's a time and place for fighting, and he knows when to drop the gloves. Yes Bolduc fought Scott, but did that bring a whole lot of energy to the team?

I also agree Rypien had a decent game last night.

I am grilling Rypien on the year he has had so far five-on-five, not specifically Buffalo. Buffalo was just a convenient example. I don't have game tape nor do I have time to review all the games each year.

I did not say he should be cut, I said he needs to sit on the bench for a few because he is not bringing energy to the team.

I am not advocating for Rypien to fight more, I am advocating for him to be more of a difference maker five-on-five or sit.

No, Rypien doesn't know when to fight. In the Calgary game, everything was going right for the Canucks. Because he got smashed open by Prust, he had to fight Prust, changing the momentum of the game. The Canucks were carrying the play, after the fight the Flames scored and we pretty much didn't regain our momentum.

I am not saying Bolduc brought energy, I am saying he is willing to fight John Scott because he had the small possibility of maybe beating him and impressing the coaches to keep his roster spot/lineup spot. But Rypien is constantly doing nothing five-on-five and he's getting a roster spot handed to him by Vigneault.

And my thoughts pretty much what BedBeats said.

One question, what does Rypien do five-on-five? Not what can he do.

Both RYpien and Hordi are essential parts of a winning team : A heavy weight and a Middle weight. Both have chances to change games and are absolutely essential to our terrific team

Hey, topics like this just show we have passion!!:D Same team!

Go Canucks Go!!

What a crock. Rypper led the team in hits last night, despite his lack of ice time. He had twice the # of hits as the next highest Nuck. As far as intimidation goes he drew the 3rd man in, penalty, while threatening a Blue so once again Opmac your post is craaap.

As far as that Hansen goes, he doesn't even belong in the NHL, let alone on the Nuck's 4th line. He doesn't hit, finish his checks and I bet he couldn't even beat Semin in a fight. Plus he has no hands, at least Bernier has hands of stone. Hansen should change his surname to Handless. The biggest problem with the 4th line is RJ's inability to win face offs. Due to that the 4th rarely starts a shift with the puck.

What a crock. Rypper led the team in hits last night, despite his lack of ice time. He had twice the # of hits as the next highest Nuck. As far as intimidation goes he drew the 3rd man in, penalty, while threatening a Blue so once again Opmac your post is craaap.

As far as that Hansen goes, he doesn't even belong in the NHL, let alone on the Nuck's 4th line. He doesn't hit, finish his checks and I bet he couldn't even beat Semin in a fight. Plus he has no hands, at least Bernier has hands of stone. Hansen should change his surname to Handless. The biggest problem with the 4th line is RJ's inability to win face offs. Due to that the 4th rarely starts a shift with the puck.

You are so clueless.

You are so clueless.

tell me more, oh well known Welly, Bernier, AV and 4th line hater. Fact. Rypper led the team in hits last night, fact he drew a 3rd man in penalty, fact RJ can't win 50% of his face off's. Is that enough clues for ya?

By ragging on the Rypper you are barking up the wrong tree.

What a crock. Rypper led the team in hits last night, despite his lack of ice time. He had twice the # of hits as the next highest Nuck. As far as intimidation goes he drew the 3rd man in, penalty, while threatening a Blue so once again Opmac your post is craaap.

As far as that Hansen goes, he doesn't even belong in the NHL, let alone on the Nuck's 4th line. He doesn't hit, finish his checks and I bet he couldn't even beat Semin in a fight. Plus he has no hands, at least Bernier has hands of stone. Hansen should change his surname to Handless. The biggest problem with the 4th line is RJ's inability to win face offs. Due to that the 4th rarely starts a shift with the puck.

Well...to be fair this blog was written in reference to the games he played since being back...and alluding to the strange 4th line combos that really do not make sense....especially with Hordi playing better Hockey than he ever has.

What you first mentioned is very true.....no need to slag Rypiens positives...its too bad we just dont see that night in and night out.

And about Hansen....i sure enjoyed it when he beat the crap out of Matt Cooke last season.

Of course Hansen belongs on the NHL level...the guy is still young, and by most accounts (a recent Georgia Straight article) works very hard.

I think people are missing the slow-burn evolution of the game...right before our eyes.

Most teams are icing very quick skaters.....not very much emphasis on huge checks and fighting, though those elements are still there.

We thankfully have some great skaters on this team....some have even improved from last year...and we are beating teams because of a hardworking forecheck built on speed.

Hansen factors into that concept very nicely.....as does RJ.

Every one of these comments should be directed at Wellwood. What does he do 5 on 5? Does he hit? Does he forecheck? Can he de-glove with the best of them? All of those questions can be answered with a NO.

Rypien deserves every minute of his ice time and can pump up the team at key points. What has Wellwood done to deserve ice time? Absolutely nothing.

Hordichuk has more hits with less ice time, so what? Rypien has earned his right to play at the NHL level, is still a force and can have game-changing fights and a damn good forecheck.

One question, what does Rypien do five-on-five? Not what can he do.

Im sorry, but his job is not to score goals or get points or be a difference maker in games, his job is to bring energy to the building, which he DOES AND CAN do. Don't say that he's useless 5 on 5 for stuff that he does not do when that's not his job. Also, he knows his role on the team and the fans know it too, well at least the fans at GM Place going crazy when he fights or makes a big hit!

I am not advocating for Rypien to fight more, I am advocating for him to be more of a difference maker five-on-five or sit.

You can't have a team full of difference makers, every hockey fan knows that. Now I'm not saying that Rypien is a superstar or a champion, but he knows his role on the team, and I think that he does his job pretty good.

Im kind of confused here too, because in your article, you explain that because it is the 4th line, that you dont expect them to score, but then you come on here and say that you want him to be a difference maker?

Also, no offense to you Opmac, you're entitled to your opinion. But is anybody else disgusted that the canucks would run this article on the front page? We should be supporting our team, no matter who we have, and this article does not show any support at all, everything about it is negativity aimed at one of our players.

Im sorry, but his job is not to score goals or get points or be a difference maker in games, his job is to bring energy to the building, which he DOES AND CAN do. Don't say that he's useless 5 on 5 for stuff that he does not do when that's not his job. Also, he knows his role on the team and the fans know it too, well at least the fans at GM Place going crazy when he fights or makes a big hit!

There you go. His job is to bring energy to the building. When he's not fighting, he's doing nothing five-on-five to bring energy.

What a crock. Rypper led the team in hits last night, despite his lack of ice time. He had twice the # of hits as the next highest Nuck. As far as intimidation goes he drew the 3rd man in, penalty, while threatening a Blue so once again Opmac your post is craaap.

As far as that Hansen goes, he doesn't even belong in the NHL, let alone on the Nuck's 4th line. He doesn't hit, finish his checks and I bet he couldn't even beat Semin in a fight. Plus he has no hands, at least Bernier has hands of stone. Hansen should change his surname to Handless. The biggest problem with the 4th line is RJ's inability to win face offs. Due to that the 4th rarely starts a shift with the puck.

Rypien had two hits. A number of other players had one hit. He had "one more" hit. He did not draw the third-man in penalty because him and Johnson never fought.

Im pretty sure that this brought energy to the building, and it does not look like a fight to me.

I think that this brought energy into the building... I could be wrong tho. Fans standing and cheering? Also, just so you know, both of these goals came 5 on 5.

Im pretty sure that this brought energy to the building, and it does not look like a fight to me.

I think that this brought energy into the building... I could be wrong tho. Fans standing and cheering? Also, just so you know, both of these goals came 5 on 5.

You are not getting it.

The point I am trying to get across is Rypien is not bringing energy to the team five-on-five consistently. He does it what? Once every ten games? Hordichuk is at least trying shift after shift, game after game.

Opmac its useless to get it into their thick skulls. The homer glasses are too tight.

Im sorry, but his job is not to score goals or get points or be a difference maker in games, his job is to bring energy to the building, which he DOES AND CAN do. Don't say that he's useless 5 on 5 for stuff that he does not do when that's not his job. Also, he knows his role on the team and the fans know it too, well at least the fans at GM Place going crazy when he fights or makes a big hit!

You can't have a team full of difference makers, every hockey fan knows that. Now I'm not saying that Rypien is a superstar or a champion, but he knows his role on the team, and I think that he does his job pretty good.

Im kind of confused here too, because in your article, you explain that because it is the 4th line, that you dont expect them to score, but then you come on here and say that you want him to be a difference maker?

Also, no offense to you Opmac, you're entitled to your opinion. But is anybody else disgusted that the canucks would run this article on the front page? We should be supporting our team, no matter who we have, and this article does not show any support at all, everything about it is negativity aimed at one of our players.

I wonder if Opmac was a bit stumped with this reply. She usually does not miss a beat but with this one she skipped right over it...

Ompac I actually understand what you are saying, and I feel the same way to a small degree sometimes but we have other guys that you can criticize too.

Anyway, we all have our opinions so lets agree to disagree.

As for being disgusted absolutely! Look at his face and hands. Its not easy to do what he does, and he makes front page being degraded...man the team is on a roll winning and we should keep crap like that off the front page.

Rypien had two hits. A number of other players had one hit. He had "one more" hit. He did not draw the third-man in penalty because him and Johnson never fought.

Gee I don't get it, 2 is twice as many as one and you said Rypien doesn't intimidate and there last night I saw him draw a penalty from a third party when he was intimidating someone else.

I just can't imagine what the Nux would be like without him. Face it for his league minimum wage, there isn't a team in the league that wouldn't want him.

The Nux will need Rypien, Hordi and Glass + SOB all available, to intimidate and possibly scrap, if they want to go anywhere in the playoffs.

I give up. I accept defeat.

I find myself repeating the same thing over and over again.

You guys are huge Rypien fans proudly with your Rypien button on, you guys will and can spin it in whatever way you want to defend your player. Human nature. Understandable.

But my bottom line is, Rypien needs to be more of a contributor five-on-five night after night. He's not bringing energy night after night. Hordichuk, he's had his off nights, but more often than not I see him trying to engage in plenty of physical contact. He's trying, I can see. The glass is rattling.

For the record, "he".

Opmac its useless to get it into their thick skulls. The homer glasses are too tight.

You don't need glasses to see this, or maybe you should take the blinders off.

http://www.youtube.c.../23/quqNYiQl4QI

Now that's a 4th line!