06/07 Season Review

After 18 regular season games we should be in great shape for the playoffs, but apparently our livers are the only body part that has been given a workout. After securing home-ice advantage for the first playoff round against the Oilers, a slower and fatter Canucks team will lace ‘em up for a chance to win the cup. Oh wait, there is no cup… only bragging rights over a bunch of high school kids. We’ve beaten these teams before so let’s do it again. According to Wade, once he’s back from his suspension he’s going to score a handful of goals each game anyways, so we should be fine.

After a long season, the team looks back fondly on those special moments that make the Burlington Canucks the ultimate CRHL experience. Who can forget all the touching moments with our favorite referee, our frequent screaming and yelling at each other on the bench, our uncounted goals, broken skates during breakaways, James’ response to the ref after being kicked out of a game, bloody noses, internet trash talking, ML playing net, pinching defenseman - no names needed, Arie’s stretchy pants, countless cases of dressing room beverages, massive bills at the Coachman, Joel skimping on the bill at the Coachman, hand-prints on Wade’s arse, Ken scoring a goal, Chris’s five shutouts, Mike’s 18 goals, Wade’s 44 penalty minutes, beating the Sharks, killer YouTube videos, and many more…

Anyways here’s a nice little video of Arie and Wade recapping our season. They might be a little influenced by our good friend and team sponsor Corona Breweries. Stay classy Burlington!

Recap: 2/24/2007 Canucks vs Titans

We tied the Titans 2-2. We sucked. We’ll do better next time. 'nuff said…

Recap: 2/16/2007 Titans vs Canucks

The Nuckers managed to pull off a 7-6 win over the Toronto Titans on Friday night. In an effort to get something resembling defense and goaltending in our game next weekend, the teams have decided to use a beach ball instead of a puck. Apparently, anything smaller than a beach ball was completely unstoppable on Friday night. The shots on goal were pretty much in the single digits, which tell the tale of what can go horribly wrong if the starting Canucks goaltender skips work and injures himself snowboarding on a Friday afternoon. Come on Chris, when’s the last time you heard of an NHL goaltender going snowboarding the day of the game? Where’s your game-day mental and physical preparation? Perennial rink-rat Mike stepped in between the pipes for us with only a few hours notice and managed to stop at least two shots, which was all we really needed. The goal-scoring machine known as the Canucks (even without our Injured/Suspended/Globetrotting/Snowmobiling linemates) knew that it doesn’t matter how many times we get scored on, as long as we get one more than the other team. It took a while to get the machine going however, as a shortage of men on the bench, combined with a pre-game diet of beer and cigarettes contributed to an embarrassing 4-1 deficit going into the final minutes of the game. With only 12 minutes remaining in the game, the Canucks scored goal after goal to tie up and pass the Titans. The opposition fought back though, and the lead changed hands a few times, until it seemed that whoever had the puck last was going to win the game. After the game-winning goal the buzzer mercifully went putting an end to one of the biggest debacles in Nuck history.

This game also marked the final appearance of Fu Manchu as a referee in a CRHL game. With his contract expired, different refs will be acquired for the playoffs and for next season. We’d like to thank Mr. Manchu for turning the B-Central into a complete cluster@#$%, and pissing off half the league - or at least anyone who was not potty trained in the last fifteen years. If any other team gets this ref again, there will be an official complaint sent to that team rep and/or the league. The CRHL rules indicate: “If one of the teams is not comfortable with the game officiates…”

Anyways, only one more game left till playoffs. The game is in T.O. @ 7:30 so we’ll carpool from the Coachman at 6:00.

Sorry Canuck fans, no video this week.

Recap: 2/9/2007 Canucks vs Predators

In our fourth match up of the year against the Predators, the Canucks once again played at the level of our competition and barely managed to squeak out a victory over a much less talented team. The 5-3 victory was only thanks to an all-out effort by Mike Smouter (a.k.a. “Sid the Kid”) who pretty much single-handedly won the game for the Canucks by scoring four goals. The team as a whole played like a bunch of Timbit hockey players scurrying around the ice chasing the puck in a pack. This is not the first time the Canucks have played poorly against teams in the bottom of the standings – it has pretty much been a theme through-out the season. While other teams beat these weaker teams by ten goals or more, the Canucks forget that just showing up does not guarantee a victory. Scoring a goal within the first 20 seconds, the Canucks decided it was going to be an easy game and then just sat down and waited for the buzzer to go, while watching the Predators hack away at pucks in front of our net. Now it may have been the absence of coaches, or star players such as Arie, Joel, James, and Rich, or the addition of a scorekeeper to the lineup, but we can definitely play much better. This writer is somewhat apologetic for being a bit harsh, but we only got two games left before the playoffs when the games actually count, so let’s start playing some stellar hockey!
Oh – and you’ll never guess what happened… Wade has surpassed the 40 minute penalty maximum. I don’t think anyone bet on Wade being the first to reach 40 ;) Granted, I’d say 30 of those minutes were moronic miss-conduct penalties handed out by a ref with a personal vendetta against number 16.

Anyways, here’s the video for this week. I’m a little disappointed in the way whatever band this is just butchered one of my all time favorite songs, but I guess Robert Smith and I will just have to live with it.

Recap: 2/2/2007 Oilers vs Canucks

Canucks played host to the Oilers on Friday night, and managed to shut them out 2-0 in an entertaining and hard fought battle. Each team had chance after chance, but both goaltenders kept it scoreless until the third, when as usual the Canucks woke up and started playing something resembling hockey. In the third, Chris shut the door to record his league-leading fifth shutout of the season, and since no one else felt like scoring any goals, Joel took the game into his own hands and netted two goals to secure the victory. Keep the wins coming boys!