Accused of Racism on Halloween!?!?

I don't understand people sometimes.  The whole point in dressing up on Halloween is to be someone other than yourself.  Whether they dress up as monsters, athletes, or rock stars, these are all forms of flattery....and should be taken as such.  Not racism.  In the case of Raffi Torres, a former canuck,  he decided to go as Jay-Z last night and has since been acussed of being racist mainly by people on social media!  Unbelievable!  If you haven't seen the photo yet, here it is.

Obviously, Raffi wasn't born a black man.  He used make-up to color his skin.  But don't we all do that on Halloween when we color our skin white to look like a Zombie or green for Frankenstein?  Why does color have to matter?  ITS HALLOWEEN!!!!  I say give Raffi a break.  It was just a form of flattery and race had nothing to do with his costume. 

Just saw a tweet from Kevin Bieksa regarding this issue and he addressed it in his own witty way!  I hope the Elves don't get angry.

Canucks Fright Night at the PNE

So, I got home from the BC Lions game late and couldn't sleep so I went on Facebook to check things out.  Around 3am one of my friends messages me and says he has an extra wristband for this event. Apparently all season ticket holders get to meet up with the Canucks between 4-5pm exclusively and get autographs, talk with them and take pictures with them.  So of course, I jumped at this chance.  I've been wanting to meet Kevin Bieksa for a very long time and I finally got to today.

Before Fin and the Clown opened up the gates to the Canucks areas, my friend's little 2 yr old son, James, was set free from his stroller just as Fin came down from the swings and he went running towards him almost like a magnet.  (Thats not James in the pic above, just some random kid riding the swing).  As if on cue, Fin picked him up and took him up on stage to help with the countdown.  It was great.  I even got a pic taken with Fin afterwards.  He was the last major sports mascot I needed to get my pic taken with.  Love that damn Orca. 

I took a picture of the Canucks Legend so we could find the players.  They were all spread out in pairs except for Henrik, Luongo and Kesler.  They had their own stations.

 
I first met up with Mason Raymond and Keith Ballard.  Then headed over to Alex Edler and Byron Blitz.  It was the first time I had met Blitz since he's been here.  Edler is such a super awesome person.  Loved talking with him.  Then headed over to Chris Higgins and Maxim Lappiere.  Congratulated them on their excellent night!  So impressive.  Great guys!  Walked around a bit more and ran into Cory Schneider and Andrew Alberts.  Loved talking with Cory...he's so down to earth!  Walked a bit further and saw Lu.  Got in line and received a voucher to make sure we got an autograph from him. We waited maybe 15 mins to see him. That was the longest we had to wait for any of the Canucks.  He was very popular but the line did move fast considering.

With time running out, I headed to Bieksa's corner.  He had Sulzer with him.  I strangely had butterflies in my stomach while standing in line.  That never happens to me no matter who I meet.  I am NOT a puckbunny but I am female and he's just too damn hot to ignore. I really didn't know what to say to him when I was up.  His looks are just too damn distracting. So I took a pic with him and got him to sign my canuck shirt that had his name and number.  Took a pic with Sulzer as well and then headed out to find my friends as they darted off to find Burrows in the other corner of the PNE while I visited with Bieksa. Unfortunately, they were unable to meet him as time had run out.  They said Burrows was paired with Steve Pinizotto.  I felt bad that they weren't able to meet him as it was his finance's favorite player and they had his Jersey with them.   But it was still a great experience.  So thank you, my friends, for thinking of me for this event!  Even though we didn't get to see all the Canucks, it was great meeting the ones we did.

One hour is just not enough time to meet everyone and unfortunately they had another engagement that night.  Kesler was throwing his annual "Halloween Party" at his place right after the event for his team mates. I hope they had fun.

 This is what he had to say after the event on twitter.

Kesler even tweeted a photo of his costume.

Gotta love his spirit! Happy Halloween Kesler and to all the Canucks! :)

What a Weekend!

It was a jam packed weekend with tons of action from our BC Lions and Vancouver Canucks on Saturday!  Followed by a Canuck Event on Sunday.  So let's get started...

Saturday was Halloween game night which means to expect the unexpected.  I rode on the skytrain to downtown sitting next to a giant 6 foot red Telletubbie.  I was scheduled to work at the BC Lions game that night and next door the Canucks were hosting the Washington Capitals.  There were tons of great costumes out that night. At the stadium I saw 2 hari christnas dancing and singing "Go Lions Go" with their tiny symbols, 4 Blues Brothers, 2 guys dressed as felion cheerleaders, the cast of CATS, Jimi Hendrix, a baby bunny, 2 monsters, an angel, a Norse warrior, a mummy, a couple of star wars troopers and rode back on the skytrain with Batman and Superman at the end of the night.  Oddly, that made me feel safe.

It was a strange game in that it featured two players who were pulled out of retirement because of the excessive injuries to the players on the team.  I really wasn't sure how they would fare.  But our Lions came out roaring and ended up winning the game 29-20.  With this win, the Lions have won the season series against Edmonton and have the edge.  Same with Calgary.  This is good as the Lions, Eskimos and Stamps are tied in a first place finish with all teams with a record of 10-6.  If the Lions win their next game against the Montreal Allouettes, the lions will be first in the West.  The win was great, the crowds showed up in droves and there was minimal fighting.  I ran into the player's wives in the bathroom in our area of the stadium for CAT team.  They were all excited that there may not have to be anymore travelling with this win.  Cross fingers.  The excitement is brewing.

The hardest part of having a BC Lions game on this Saturday, was that the Canucks were also playing in the building next door at Rogers Arena.  The CAT team were looking for updates on the game and all I had on me was my Ipod Touch and so contacted my trusty facebook friends and family to keep me updated with the score as the night went on.  They didn't disappoint. As the scores kept coming in, I kept updating my co-workers with the scores on the team radio.  It was amazing that both teams won against tough opponents that night.  Good Luck to our Leos on Saturday when they take on the Allouettes!  Of course, I'll be there too. ;)


Canucks

The Canucks had been accused of playing without any heart and basically half-assing it out there in the last two games.  Lu was criticized as usual and blamed for the 3-0 shutout to St. Louis.  This was a game that would show their true colors.  We could all tell the Canucks were close to getting it all working like it was before in the playoffs.  We were right! Except that it wasn't our 1st or 2nd line that came scoring first!  It was our 3rd and 4th lines!!  Alex Edler, Chris Higgings, Maxim Lappiere each had 2 goals on the night and Henrik Sedin scored to make it 7-4.  Kevin Bieksa, Dan Hamhuis, Ryan Kesler, Dale Weise, Daniel Sedin, Janik Hansen, Manny Malhotra and even our newest import David Booth all got on the score-sheet with an assist or two!  The main offense from the Caps came from Alexander Ovechkin with 2 goals.  The crowd at Rogers Arena got really into it and enjoyed jeering Ovechkin with "OOOOOOOVVIIIIIIIII" chants..not once but TWICE throughout the game.  Lu redeemed himself with an awesome game changing save on Ovechkin on a point blank shot and the crowd loved it.  This is what Canucks hockey is all about.  The Caps have now lost twice since they started out from the East 7-0.  Edmonton handed them their first loss and the Canucks just whipped them last night with a second loss.  I have a feeling this will be the Stanley Cup Final contenders at the end of the year.  Once all our boys get their scoring gears going, we're gonna be unstoppable just like before.  After speaking to the boyz at Fright Night today, they all expressed that it was all up from here.  They want to build on it...I could feel the excitement and energy from them.  This is our Year. Believe.

Our Newest Canuck, David Booth was on After Hours last night.  Here's his interview if you missed it.  Enjoy! :)

Re-Cap so far this week

Is it Luongo's fault?  Do the 99% really want Schneider?

Canucks played the Edmonton Oilers last night and lost 3-2 in game they should have won. Lu let in 3 goals on 14 shots and was pulled in the second period.  Cory Schneider came in to close the door on the Oil.  The Canucks had another offensive night with alot of shots on goal but were unable to get the win.  After the game, a lot of fans thought it was Lu's fault for not keeping the boyz in the game earlier.  They seemed to play with a lot more confidence with Schneidz in net.

Then the Canucks played the St.Louis Blues with their back-up goalie, Elliot, going head to head to our back up goalie, Schneidz.  Canucks lost again but this time we didn't even score once!  Ended in a 3-0 shutout win for Elliot. We thought our boys would come out shooting and with alot more energy than they actually did.  But to no avail.  They were lethargic at best.  It seemed as though they were waiting for the puck to come to them rather than having to actually go after the puck.  The defencemen were horrible, especially my Kevin Bieksa.  It just wasn't his night.  He was missing passes around the boards, not picking up his men in time and the list goes on.  He ended up being -2 for the game and is a -9 in the last 10 games so far. The HamJuice reunion did nothing to help it.  But it wasn't just him.  Everyone on the team is not playing up to their potential.  There was alot more puck hogging by our star players who probably should have been passing to team mates who could shoot or were in better position to do so.

There were a lot of mstakes being made, especially on the powerplay which didn't last long as they somehow managed to counter-act them.  This team needs to get back to their stellar playing abilities that we all know they are capable of.  Even the goalies.  Although we lost tonight, I still thought Cory held it together for us tonight and gave our team a chance to win it.  All this showed is that this team has bigger issues to deal with than its goalie problem tonight. But then again, it is October.  Canucks had almost the same stats last year.  Lets see if they can generate some energy and luck on Saturday and get Booth and Kesler going.  Cross fingers people.

I also noticed the lack of Ballard's hip checks tonight.  There were none.  I wonder what happened.  I was getting so used to them every night.  I did find the Ballard hip check highlight on Darcy Hordichuck from last week so I will show you that.  He didn't even have to try!  Take that Darcy!

On another note, the Grey Cup Volunteer positions have now been filled.  Thanks to anyone who volunteered.

Speaking of the CFL, our BC Lions have announced that due to the ongoing list of injuries on our team, they will be bringing back two players from retirement.  Ryan Thelwell and Neil McKinlay.  Thelwell played for the Leos from 2001-2006, then signed with the Calgary Stampeders from 2007-2010 before announcing his retirement. McKinlay played for the Winnipeg Bluebombers from 2004-2009 before he went into retirement. One is now a teacher and the other is a firefighter who hasn't played in a few years.  This should be interesting.  Good Luck on Saturday Leos, sounds like your gonna need it!

Grey Cup Volunteers Needed!

If you want to volunteer for the Vancouver 2011 Grey Cup Festival, you still can!  There are still lots more positions available.  Orientation will be starting soon for most areas but if you get your name and info in soon, you will be called.  These are the positions still available :
  
Volunteer Position

Access Control
This team of volunteers will ensure personnel access to restricted areas and will maintain crowd control and flow where necessary.  Volunteers will direct the public to their access points and will require excellent knowledge of the event and its procedures.   Volunteers in this area will need good communication skills, be friendly, able-bodied and willing to assist behind the scenes.  Please note: many of these positions are outdoor.

Airport/Hotel Hosts
These volunteers are event ambassadors for out-of-town arrivals and provide assistance with event and transportation options.  Some volunteers will be posted in hotel lobbies to provide the same assistance.  Volunteers in this area will need to have a good understanding of the event and what is being offered to out-of-town guests.  These volunteers should enjoy talking to people, should be good problem-solvers and should be knowledgeable about the city of Vancouver. 

Alternate
This team of volunteers will lend support to various departments requiring assistance. Volunteers should be friendly, have flexible schedules and be willing to help out wherever necessary. If you like a job with variety, this is the role for you.

Festival Events
This team of volunteers will assist in the smooth operations for various events during festival week including: TELUS StreetFest, Vancouver Sun Fanfest and the Scotiabank CFL Experience. Volunteers in this area enjoy crowds and are comfortable in a party atmosphere, have good communication skills, are friendly and are willing to assist where necessary. Please note: some positions will be located outdoors. 

Parade Marshalls
This team of volunteers will assist in the staging and execution of the parade and will assist in the dispersing of parade participants in addition to managing the crowd along the parade route.  Volunteers for this team should be friendly, outgoing, safety-oriented and take direction easily.  This is a family event. This assignment runs from 6:30am – 1:00pm on Saturday, November 26, 2011.

Site Crew
This team of volunteers will assist in site preparation and maintenance at various venues throughout the festival and will work primarily behind the scenes.  Volunteers in this area must be able-bodied, enjoy a flexible work environment, working behind the scenes producing various events and be friendly and willing to assist where necessary.  Please note: this is an outdoor position.

Transportation
This team of volunteers will offer support to event personnel as they transport people and equipment between the various venues and shuttle routes as required.  Volunteers in this department are required to be at least 21 years of age, provide a drivers abstract and have a full license (no Class 7 novice (N) licenses). In this department, we need drivers in addition to general assistance.  Volunteers in this area must be punctual, have knowledge of the city and be friendly, patient and willing to assist where necessary. 

Volunteer Support
This team of volunteers will support event staff and the volunteer team by providing them with office-related support, including staffing the volunteer lounge and assisting with food distribution. Experience in telephone answering and information distribution is a valuable skill for this department. Volunteers should be friendly, helpful and have a good sense of humour.

If any of these positions interest you, fill out the Volunteer Registration Form asap!

Crazy Sports/Wedding Filled Saturday

Today was the motherload of all days for me! Sportswise, Canucks played a rare 1pm afternoon game against the Minnesota Wild and won 3-2 in overtime.  The more games they play, the better they look.  Kesler doesn't look like he's having any problems re-adjusting without having attended training camp.  It was slow at times, but picked it up when they needed to.  Lets hope this just keeps getting better. The game winning goal came from Sami Salo.  Here is the video evidence of the winning play.

Then the Vancouver Whitecaps played their last season match at BC Place vs. Colorado Rapids.  They closed the season out with a 2-1 loss with the only goal coming from Alain Rochat.  I was supposed to be working at the match but skytrain's schedule was erratic with their track maintenance this weekend and I had to be at TWO wedding receptions after the match and wasn't sure I'd make it back home in time from downtown.   It was a fun year with the Whitecaps but also very challenging.  I hope this club improves next year as we all saw the potential is there to be the best.  Good Luck next year Whitecaps! 
This is what Joe Cannon had to say after the match.

The BC Lions also took on the Hamilton Ti-Cats and ended up licking their wounds 42-10.  Their 8 game win streak had come to an end.  They are now home preparing to take on the Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday, Oct 29th.  I will be working at that game.  The Leos have suffered alot of player injuries in the last couple of games and I'm hoping there is enough depth and character on this team to get them through the next game.  If the BC Lions win on Saturday, they will be in first place as they would have won the season series against them.  SO, lets cross fingers and say a little prayer that our Lions will prevail.

This is a ritual performed by the Rugby team before every match called the "Haka".

For those who follow Rugby, another sports team I was following was the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team.  They played the final match last night at 1am against France.  It was a close match and ended in a 8-7 win for the All Blacks. So congrats to the All Blacks.  I'm sure my cousins in NZ are having a blast celebrating their win.  If you don't know what tournament this was, it was the Rugby World Cup 2011.  It started with 30 teams and finally after 2 months, it all came down to France and New Zealand. It was 24 years ago when the Kiwis won the Cup last.  As my Aussie cousins would say,  "Good on ya!"  I only wish our Canucks could have ended our 40 yr drought of the Stanley Cup earlier this year. 

Speaking of Canucks.....

THE CANUCKS TRADE

David Booth on the left and Steven Reinprecht on the right. 

Mikaeel Samuelsson was "supposedly" out with his injury and Marco Sturm was "supposedly" a last minute change and didn't skate with the team either.   A press release was announced following the game that both Sturm and Samuelsson were both traded to the Florida Panthers for LW David Booth, Centre Steven Reinprecht and a third round draft pick in 2013.  I have to be honest, I haven't heard of either of these guys before so it was hard to make a judgement call on my part if this was a good trade or not.  But after much research on both players, it seems as though we got the better end of it.  I'm excited.

Here is a video I found on youtube that I found interesting regarding the trade.

I will be watching the game vs. Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday as this will be the first game Booth will suit up for the Canucks.  I hope this line dominates...nicknames such as the "American Express Line" or the "Americano Line" are already being dubbed by hopeful fans...but you never now what will happen and who will play with who unitl it happens.  Bring on Tuesday!

Canucks First Win at Home

It's about time! The Canucks for the first time played like a cohesive unit and won a decisive game controlling the play from start to finish!  Pekka Rinne didn't last long in net as the Canucks were able to get 4 goals past him within the first 20 mins of play.  Andres Lindback started the 2nd period in net for the Predators and kept most of the Canucks arsonal at bay only allowing one more goal in the net.

It was great to see Ryan Kesler get a goal against the team he dominated single handedly in the playoffs last spring.  Not only does this give him confidence but gives the rest of the team confidence and secondary scoring behind the Sedin line.  Dale Weise scored his first goal in the NHL.  I like this guy.  Not only does he bring toughness to the game but he has great skill on the ice along with some speed.  I'm sure we'll be hearing his name more often as the season goes.  Higgins got his goal as well.  He's been the best Canuck out there on most nights working away and making plays.  Always great to see him get rewarded.  Sedins are always a threat on the ice...so creative in their play making.  Banking the puck off Rinne's back was sweet.   Keith Ballard had another awesome night with blocked shots, hip checks and back checking.  He's totally outplaying Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis right now.  Love him.  Keep it up Ballard! Roberto Luongo looked good in net.  Not great, but good.  He didn't let in any bad goals...the one that did get in was kinda tricky.  Bad bouce off the end board.  But overall, great performance by the Vancouver Canucks.

Now let's hope they can build on this win.  The crowd at Rogers Arena were happy.  They had the wave going at one point and then gave the Canucks and Luongo a standing ovation when the game was done.  Well played Canucks. :)

Next game is against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon.  I won't be able to watch as I will be working at the last game of the season for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the next building over, BC Place.  Nor will I be able to watch the BC Lions play Hamilton Ti-Cats.  Good luck to all 3 BC teams though!

BC Lions Volunteer Wrap-up Party 2011

So today we had our BC Lions volunteer wrap-up party.  This takes place at the Surrey Training Facility every year.  It starts out in the boardroom where we sit and eat pizza and drink our pop and have delicious baked goods and then it carries over to the Lions workout and locker rooms downstairs.  Our tour host for the evening was the former Lineman and Captain turned Director of Community Relations for the club, Jamie Taras.  In the past years when he's given us the tour, it was usually a very short visit with us, but today he stayed and answered alot of our questions.  It was nice to have him there to explain alot of what we see and hear about the team and how it works.

This is the door to the Boardroom where we sit and eat pizza.

Once all the eating was done and Jamie arrived, we headed downstairs for a tour.  We stopped in the weightroom where he talked about how the team practices and their schedules.  He also answered any questions we had about the BC Lions that we were curious about.  He answered them all and he was pretty honest in his answers.  Then we moved on to the Locker Room. This is where we had to answer Jamie's trivia questions about the CFL and BC Lions in order to win a prize.  There were 24 volunteers and only 12 prizes.  He asked 4 volunteers to stand at a time in front of him while he asked a question.  Some were easy multiple answer questions others were hard with no multiple answers at all.  I bombed out on my first two tries (knew the answers but too slow) and got it on my third.  The question I got right was simple. "Who is the starting quarterback in the CFL for the BC Lions in 2011?"  I answered: "Travis Lulay" and he gave me a high-five for being correct.  He tried to psych everyone out by saying it was a "trick question"...lol, whatever.  Anyways, I went to the prize table and picked up a BC Lions Blanket.  We also got a signed shirt by our favorite player and mine was Geroy Simon for the 2nd time.  I'll get Travis Lulay next year. ;)

Here's the blanket and signed shirt.

After the trivia was over I went over to him and asked a question.  I told him that I had gone downtown for the Raise-a-Reader day and wasn't able to find any BC Lions representation anywhere.  Was wondering why there was no one there?  Jamie answered that he was there! They had originally put him outside of Granville station but then Kesler came over and he had tons of people around him so they moved him to another location which wasn't so nice.  He said that he was by the Waterfront Skytrain area...Gastown.  He described it as the "shadier part of downtown"..lol.  I asked him why there was no notice of where the players would be like the Whitecaps had done on facebook and twitter so people could find them.  He answered that it was short notice and they didn't have time.  Oh well....a missed opportunity.

Jamie Taras is a great guy. If you ever get a chance to meet him, you'll agree.  The first time I saw Jamie was shortly after I moved to my new high school.  Him and Lui Passaglia were there to talk about drugs.  To "Say no to Drugs".  That was back in '94.  The year they won the Grey Cup.  I told him about it a couple years ago.  He laughed.  But do say hi to him if you ever see him.  He had to leave shortly after the Locker Room tour was over to go home and tutor his son in math!!  Awwwww..

Here's the pic he took with me.  He wanted to pose if front of his old locker. How sentimental. LOL.

All in all, it was a fun night. We're gearing up for the next home game now...Oct 29th vs. Eskimos.  Should be an awesome night! Hope to see you all out there! I'm dressing up for Halloween at the game. :)

Forever a Canuck

Last night at Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Canucks honored Rick Rypien's memory with his family in attendance.  His best friend on the team and also one of his pallbearers, Kevin Bieksa,  presented a Canucks Jersey with Rypien's number to Rick's brother, Wes Jr. Rypien.  He then hugged all the family members and held on to Shelly Crawford, Ryp's mother.  That was a hard moment for both of them.  Neither wanted to let go.  A video was then shown of Rick's life from his childhood to his NHL career to the song "Superman" from Five for Fighting.  The song was perfect.  It was an emotional night for all the fans, players and family of Rypien.   The Canucks organization also donated $50,000 to a fund that will help children to deal with Depression.  The Canucks wore the number #37 on the back of their helmets and will do so for the rest of the 2011-2012 year in his honor.

Rick Rypien was a popular player in the city of Vancouver.  He played for the Manitoba Moose with Kesler, Bieksa, Raymond and others for many years and they all played together in the NHL for Vancouver.  They were friends as well as teammates. His popularity started rising as fans started to appreciate what he brought to the team every game night.  His jersey's were flying off the shelves.  He was known as a fighter and someone who would go to battle for anyone on his team.  No matter if they were a foot taller than him or not, he stood up to them for his team.  He was involved with the local charities and gave his time to children.  I never met him personally, but from what I've heard of about him, he had a great heart.  

Rick embodied  Courage, Honor, Integrity, Humility and Passion.  He had the Heart of a Canuck and will forever remain a Canuck.  Rest in Peace, Rick Rypien.  You will be missed by a city who loved you.

Rick Rypien Ceremony

Roar you Lions Roar!

Andrew Harris on the run. Picture taken from BC Lions website. 

BC lions win 29-18 to make it their eighth straight!
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have been elimiated from making the playoffs thanks to the BC Lions.  I thought this would have been an easy win, but it wasn't so.  Got to give the 'Riders some credit.  They had the lead up until the 4th quarter when the BC Lions decided to take charge and end it with two touchdowns.  It was a slow game to watch with only field goals being exchanged by both teams.  I was really hoping the Lions would be able to pull off a win cause for awhile there, I really wasn't sure.  But then they picked it up and turned up the heat on the 'Riders.  It at least gave some of my friends in Sask a glimmer of hope after the horrible outings they have had in the last few games.  Arland Bruce and Harris lead the way with the endzone romps in the 4th and Paul McCallum consistently kicked field goals to keep the boys in the game.  I love this team.

If you ever wondered what the BC Lions fight song is, here ya go!  Sing it the next time your at a Lions game!

C'mon and roar you Lions roar

Thats what a Lions roar is for
From the mountains to the sea
You are the pride of all BC
RAH RAH!

So buckle down and play the game You'll lead us on to football fame

We love the L
The I The O, N, S

C'mon and roar you Lions
Roar you Lions Roar you Lions roar

RAH RAH RAH!

I have my BC Lions volunteer party at the BC Lions Surrey Training Facility on Wednesday and will be updating again after that.  Can't wait for my Geroy Simon signed shirt. :)

Ballard's Lovely Hips

After watching the game last night a couple of things come to mind that I want to talk about.  One of them is the 5 second appearance of Darcy Hordichuck before he got hit by Keith Ballard.  The second part is the "Brat Pack" line.  So lets's start with the first item on the agenda!

Is anyone else loving the recent play of Keith "Hips" Ballard as much as I am??  I love his hip checks...especially in last year's playoffs when he sent Jamie McGinn of the San Jose Sharks cartwheeling over Ballard's hips and hitting the ice hard!  Here's the evidence:

Now, since Darcy Hordichuck had been traded to the Oilers, he's been talking smack about the Canucks, about how much he's gonna make our team pay.  I especially didn't like the comment he made after the Stanley Cup Final about how he was glad that Boston won cause it gave his job as an enforcer a relevant position in the league again.  He was talking smack about how much he was going to enjoy playing his old team and how he was going to abuse the Sedins.  Kevin Bieksa didn't put too much concern into that as he explained that Darcy was just trying to get his brand new team and fans behind him and excited that way.  Bieksa said he'd tell Darcy he won't sell his car to him if he keeps being annoying on the ice.  With all that being said, it gave me great pleasure to watch Darcy get Ballard lined up for hit and end up on the receiving side of  Ballard's lovely hips mid-ice.  Darcy was knocked down to the ice with what was later identified as a knee injury in the dressing room and didn't return to the game after ONLY spending  5 seconds on the ice on his very first shift.  He also tried to fight Fedoruk in the last game they played in the Pre-Season and lost badly to him as well.  So much for the punishment he was going to unleash on Vancouver.  What a loser.

Here's a picture of that last fight.  I wish I had a video of him getting nailed by Ballard's hips last night. :)

Edmonton is one of those teams that has loaded up on top picks in the few years because they rounded out the bottom of the standings.  With these top picks has emerged an exceptional line dubbed "The Brat Pack".  This line consists of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and the newest #1 top pick from Burnaby BC, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.  Nugent-Hopkins was originally the Canucks top pick but was sent to the Oil shortly after. These three boys put on quite a show last night causing havoc for many players on the Vancouver side.  Nugent-Hopkins was credited with a hat-trick last night, although I do believe it was Hall that knocked it in with his stick on that last goal.  He's only played 3 games and already has 4 goals on the season.  Every shift this line came out with speed, determination and great skill.  Our boys looked slow trying to keep up with them and obviously weren't successful in holding them back but still managed to pull a win out of their hat.  Even the Canucks had to appreciate the very young Nugent-Hopkins.  This is what Bieksa had to say after the game. "We got one more goal than he did tonight. So I guess Canucks beat Nugent-Hopkins 4-3."

Bieksa's such a boss. :)

Canucks lose to the Red Wings

Yes, I know..we lost another one.  But this time, it wasn't so bad.  The score can be misleading as the Canucks actually put on a pretty good show at times and Cory Schnieder, although giving up two goals, was pretty solid in net and gave his team a chance to come back.  Cody Hodgson scored a goal right as the buzzer sounded to end the 2nd period.  It was so close that they went to Toronto for review to confirm that the puck had not crossed the line by the time the clock ran out.  He was 1/10th of a second off.  Sucks.  Could have started the 3rd 2-1.  Oh well.  Then in the second period our best chance would have been the wide open net after Howard when down that Alex Burrows was unable to put away instead hitting the cross bar

And what the heck is up Alex Edler's sticks breaking?  Three times in one game and he broke two more the other night?!?!  Someone get this boy a real hockey stick to play with.  He obviously started working out this summer to have such a hard shot!  His old sticks can't take the beating anymore!

All in all, it was a good effort by the guys and I'm feeling good with Schneider in net.  So far, Lu's SV% is .855% and Cory's is .935% on games played so far.  Keep it up Cory. The Canucks were outshot 37-25.  Canucks could have used more shots, shots, shots, shots, shot shot...shots!  I'm sure Kevin Bieksa would also agree with me.

Heres the video.

I also found a couple other videos I wanted to share with you starring our witty Canuck as of recent.

Canucks Open Practice, Oct 8, 2011.
Kevin Bieksa commentating on his team mates on the shootout portion.

Kevin Bieksa's comments on Kesler's Nude pic in the ESPN magazine.

We Love You Long Tan

I was at Bell Pitch downtown tonight for the second to last game of the season where the Vancouver Whitecaps pulled off their very first back-to-back win of the season!  Thats right folks, the 'Caps won another one tonight with a score of 2-1 against DC United who were hoping to come out of this with an easy win to gain a playoff spot.  However, the Caps weren't so willing to give up this win.  The crowds were still coming in thru the doors when the first Whitecaps goal was scored by Camillo.  Thats another reason i'm glad there are TV screens up at the Gate entrances.

I was positioned at Gate A again with my volunteer partner of  3 yrs, Margo.   Together with a few Langara College interns, we gave out programs and answered questions and helped people find their way to their seats.  I met more of my Season Ticket holder families from our Swangard days and they were even saying it was like our family was reunited again!  It certainly did feel like it.

Bobby Lenarduzzi was signing autographs for his new book "A Canadian Soccer Story" on the second level and vowed to stay and autograph until the last person in line was done.  Gotta love him.

For the second half of the match, the volunteers and I went and sat in our area below the media box between Sections 204-207.  The roof was open again tonight and thank god it didn't rain.  It was extremely chilly inside however but the view of the moon right above the open roof with dark clouds shadowing it at times was beautiful to see thru the sparkling lights.  We stayed there with the Whitecaps Youth Team around us.  They get to come in and watch the games for free if they have their passes with them.  Great bunch of young guys.  The best goal of the night was obviously when Long Tan scored the second goal and what also was the winning goal of the night.  DC United came back with a goal but it was too late.

Eric Hassli substituted Long Tan towards the end of the game to a standing ovation in appreciation for Long Tan.  Then the cheers for Eric Hassli started ringing out from the Southsiders corner.  He is obviously a favorite among them.  Can't blame them.  He's had some pretty amazing goals this year.  One in particular comes to mind against the Seattle Sounders.

Close to the end of the game, we all headed back to our gates to say goodbye to everyone leaving and then headed downstairs to the East Airlock to give in our reports of the day.  The people left happy and smiling. My fellow volunteer, David and I talked to one fan waiting for skytrain who was amazed they won back to back...she said that it felt like the season had just started for this young MLS team.  Hmmmmm...maybe they should have moved into BC Place sooner.  Hopefully they can earn their last win of the season on October 22nd against the Colorado Rapids.

One thing to note is that with this win, the Vancouver Whitecaps are no longer at the bottom of the MLS League.  They have surpassed the New England Revolution for the 17th spot.  Woots!!

Can't believe there's only one game left.....feeling kinda sad now.  Come out and support your Vancouver Whitecaps at their last match of the season.  I'm sure they won't disappoint.

Canucks Not Feeling the Brotherly Love in Philly

OK...so game number 3 didn't go so well.  It was Luongo's second game out and our first road game loss.  I don't want to jump on the "Trade Lu Now Bandwagon" right now like everyone else.  It's only been three games into October.  But the high scores are starting to concern me.  It's kinda like the 8-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final...it stung then and it still stings when he lets in more than 3.   For a world class goalie, the expectations we have in this city are high and require that he win the Stanley Cup here. Anything less than that is not acceptable.  I wonder if he is up to the task this year or if this may be Cory Schnieder's year to shine and take that number one spot away from him.  We definately need a solid goaltender who can catch with his glove and stop pucks from going into the net on shootouts. He's also started doing this belly flop thing lately when trying to stop pucks.  It isn't working. This being said, when Lu is in the zone, he is amazing to watch.  Just like in the first game of the Stanley Cup Final.  I just wish he could be in that zone more often.

The Sedins on the other hand have recognized that they need to be better and have been piling up the points for those who have them in their hockey pools.  They combined for 4 points tonight. Kevin Bieksa FINALLY fought for the first time this season against Hartnell in the first period and I wasn't home to watch it. Bummer.  Mr. B won of course.  Mikael Samuelsson scored on the power-play which went 2-7.  This is not good.  Our power play needs to connect more often than that for a team that is this highly skilled.  I seriously can't wait for Ryan Kesler to return as I know he is the missing puzzle to all the Canucks woes so far.  But I want him to come back healthy and ready to turn on his beast mode when needed.  Not before that. So, he can take his nude pics in the ESPN magazine and travel with the boys on the road in the meantime to keep his spirits up and if nothing else, to motivate the boys to do better, until he comes back to us.

Lets hope the Motor City will be a little bit kinder to us tomorrow.  Who knows, "Shneidz" might be in the net for that game.  He's certainly earned it.

BC Lions defeat Calgary Stampeders for 1st in the West!!

Well, technically we are tied for 1st in the west as we share the same amount of games and wins at 8-6.  But BC has and edge in that we've won our season series with them 2-1.  So, in reality, our Lions are leading the Western Conference.  It was a thrilling game right down to the final second.  The Leos looked like they had control in the 1st half with a 24-17 advantage only to have the Calgary Stampeders come back in the second half and take the lead in the last few minutes of play. Thanks to a missed field kick by Paul McCallum, Calgary's Larry Taylor took advantage of the situation and scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter taking the lead, 31-30 as you see below on the big screens placed in the concourse at BC Place.

In the dying seconds of play, the Lions offence were able to make amazing plays to get to them into field goal range for McCallum.  After losing the last field goal attempt, he made sure he got this one right for his team.  Fans were stuck to the screens in the concourse like glue and the fans in the bowl area stayed put until they saw the end of this nail biting game as it came down to the last 3 seconds.  Once confirmed it was a good goal, the kicker fell backwards and was dog piled in excitement by all his team mates.  Very reminicent of the Alex Burrows goal against Chicago that exorcised their demons and he was dog-piled on by his team mates.  The fans in the stadium erupted....high fives, cheers and horns were blown as people left the building.  It felt like Canucks fever all over again.

To see Paul McCallum's amazing dying seconds kick watch  McCallum kicks 53-Yarder for the Win

Our Lions battled hard tonight against a very strong team and made the Leos work hard for that number one spot.  Hard to think that in the first two months of football season, our Lions were at the bottom of the heap in our division and two months later we're now at the very top.  Nobody could have seen this coming.  We have the hottest team in our league with a 7 game win-streak! Lets hope it just keeps getting better for our boys in Orange.

BC Place has fixed the food and beer shortage and have provided proper stanchions for lineups so its easier to move around at halftime without having to walk through lineups.  There were 30, 672 fans tonight to cheer on our BC Lions.  Come down and cheer them on in person, I promise the experience will be worth it.  The Lions deserve your support!

Canucks Open Practice

This morning was the Canucks Open Practice sponsored by BCAA.  Door opened at 9am and practice was slated to start at 10am.  This gave me an hour to find all the trophies around Rogers Arena and take pictures with them for a donation.  Once this was done, I went to my seat and watched the Canucks practice.  Joey Kenward was hosting as he did last time with the addition of Assistant Coach, Rick Bowness explaining on the microphone to everyone what types of drills they were running and why.  It was great to see Ryan Kesler practicing with the rest of team again.  He looked like he was a bit sore after awhile but he showed his skill in many of the drills.

The practice was only for an hour and a bit and it ended with a shootout for obvious reasons.  Luongo needed to work on this a bit more.....Joey Kenward called on Kevin Bieksa to shoot first and then had him commenting on all his team mates as they took their shots.  He missed his own shot on Lu and when Joey asked him what he thought about his shot, Bieksa replied "They won't be calling on me for a shot."  The best was when Mikael Samuelsson took his shot and got it past Lu.  Bieksa then commented "Where was that shot the other night?  We could have used it." lol.  Reffering to Samuelsson's missed shot on Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night during the shootout.  At the end of it, Bieksa thanked everyone for supporting them and hoped that everyone had a great time at the practice as much as we have had looking at Kesler's nude picture.  You knew he had to get a dig in there somewhere.  Thats why we love him so much.

Vancouver Whitecaps 1st Win on Bell Pitch downtown @ BC Place!!

I'm excited for the Vancouver Whitecaps! They have won their first match at BC Place...this will make it their 5th win this year.  The win came against a team that they were originally scheduled to play in July but due to an insane amount of rainfall at Empire Stadium, was forced to cancel the match for another time.

Real Salt Lake City fell 3-0 to the Vancouver Whitecaps tonight.  I was unable to go due to feeling under the weather since the weekend home openers at BC Place but am trying to get better for this weekend's Lions game.  Eric Hassli was not playing in tonight's match due to a one game suspension from receiving too many yellow cards. 

The first goal came from Camilo on a penalty shot and the 'Caps were up 1-0 before halftime.  The second goal came shortly after the match restarted after halftime on another penalty kick by Camilo to make it 2-0.  The third goal came from winger, Nizar Khalfan to seal the deal with a 3-0 win in front of a hometown crowd of 20,113 fans.

From what I hear, the crowd was loud and energetic and the Whitecaps were hungry for a win on home ground after losing to Portland on Sunday night.  The fans are amazing and always so loyal to the Whitecaps even though they haven't won a ton of games.  I hope this continues and our team evolves next year to somewhere near the top of the standings instead of being dead last. 

The next game is on Wednesday, October 12 when they will host D.C. United at Bell Pitch downtown at BC Place.  Come down and support your soccer team. I'll be there! :) 

Canucks Season Opener vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Hockey Is BACK!!

It felt like a long summer but in reality it was a short summer.  Four months ago our Vancouver Canucks fell to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final of Game 7.  Canucks came back this year in better fitness condition than any other year with only one thing in mind. REDEMPTION and are focused again on our holy grail, THE STANLEY CUP!!  This year its do or die.

The team for the most part came back in tact with only a couple major guys on the injury reserve.  Ryan Kesler is expected to come back sometime in November now that he's been cleared for contact after undergoing hip surgery in the summer and Mason Raymond will be out indefinatley with a broken back that occured on a play in Game 6. Of course, because Erhoff  left to play for the Buffalo Sabres, Raffi Torres is with the Phoenix Coyotes and Tanner Glass chose to play for Winnipeg this year, there were some spots for new guys this year.  With the addition of Marco Sturm, Aaron Volpatti, Dale Weise and with Cody Hodgson filling in for Kesler on the 2nd line, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. 

The first test was tonight!  It was a magical night as our Vancouver Canucks took to the ice and the President's Trophy, Western Conference trophy and all the individual trophies were showcased in front of an almost sell-out crowd.  Also the "Heart of a Canuck" campaign kicked off and many heros who emerged after the riots broke out after Game 7 were honored.  This included first responders like Police, Fire and individuals who tried to defend our city that night as well as the people who initiated the Clean-up efforts the day after.

The game itself started out kinda rocky for our Canucks as the Penguins had control of most of the first period.  Canucks ran into penalty trouble as Kevin Bieksa headed to the box for Matt Cooke's first power play goal.  Can't really blame Bieksa as it was a good play and a bad call by the ref.  The second goal of the night also came from Cooke shorthanded from between Bieksa's legs and beat Luongo on the glove side.  Lu's weakest side.  As the game progressed you could see our team started to come on with some great chances and were gelling alot more.  The final score of this game is not indicitive of how well this team played.  Canucks should have been up at least 6-3 by the end of regular time.  However, that's not how it went.  The Sedin twins, Alex Burrows, Bieksa, Lapierre and others all had great chances to put this game away in the third period but were not able to.  Unfortunatley, after one overtime period it was a 3-3 stalemate and so a shootout took place to decide the ending of this game.  Lu himself would have told you that he hates shootouts the most as its his weakest part of his game.  I wasn't expecting a big win here but I was hoping and praying that maybe it would happen.  It was not meant to be tonight.  Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin made sure of it.

Overall, our boys played a great game tonight showing their fans that even with only playing together for 2 pre-season games, they can still be a threat and I'm sure that given more time to play together, they will be a formidable team...and don't forget that our spark plug and most aggressive player will return to play in November.  I really missed 'Kes' tonight though.

I'm excited...HOCKEY"S BACK!!! GO Canucks Go!!!

ESPN Body Issue 2011 - Ryan Kesler

This is Ryan Kesler.  WOW.  Enough said. Happy Wednesday! :)

Welcome to Bell Pitch Downtown

"Would you like a Program??"

So today was the Whitecaps turn to have their first game inside BC Place.  The Whitecaps revealed the new soccer specific roof which comes down to cover the 4th level which isn't being used (as seen in the above pic).  We were close to a sellout with  just over 21,000 fans.  Compared to Friday night's football game of 50,213, there were no long beer lineups and there were plenty of hot dogs to be eaten.  It went pretty smoothly.  My volunteer partner and I were positioned in the Season Ticket Holder entrance at Gate A.  This suited us fine as we used to be the Ushers at Swangard Stadium and had known many of our members.  It was wonderful to see them again after being at Empire Stadium since April. It felt like our family was reunited again.

Bob Lenarduzzi and some officials were outside the Gate before doors opened for the Official Opening of BC Place for Whitecaps.  Once this was done, the fans were let in and were free to look around and get familiar with the Stadium.  Overall, everyone seemed to like it.  The roof was also opened this morning as the sun was out and shining bright. You can see in the pic below that the roof material gathers into the middle area when its open.

This is a view from the 4th level between the second roof panels.

Here's another look at the roofing panels.

The Portland Timbers won this match 1-0.  They had a legion of fans in one corner of the bowl where they were dressed in green and dancing in rhythm and chanting in tune.  Our Southsiders were barely audible...in fact, I never saw them cheer.  It was very unusual.  Oh well....we may have lost another one but the atmosphere and love of soccer is what brings the fans to the matches.  No complaints like Friday and everyone left home in a good mood even though we lost.  Gotta love soccer.

Volunteers Needed

Currently Recruiting for World Jr A Hockey Challenge in Langley

Besides the Grey Cup coming in November, I will also be volunteering for this event.  Hockey Canada and Langley Events Centre are hosting the IIHF World Junior A Hockey Challenge in late October and are currently looking for volunteers.  It runs from November 7 -13.

Individuals are needed as team hosts, media runners, game presentation assistants, scorekeepers, statisticians and more.

If you'd like to put your name forward or just want more details, send an e-mail to:

 volunteer@langleyeventscentre.com

Grand Re-Opening of BC Place and Lions are 2nd in the West!!

WOW!!!  Another win for our boys in Orange!  33-24 against the Edmonton Eskimos....at least they were a bit of a challenge unlike Saskatchewan last week! haha!

The Grand Unveiling  of BC Place was held before the gates were to open on the 3rd floor of the building and lucky me, that's just where I was positioned for the first hour and a half.  It was a mixture of Whitecaps and Lions players and Management holding a very long ribbon that Cristy Clark was to cut.  I took pictures of them as they marched out of the forum to outside of the gates where they were to cut the ribbon.

Once this was done, the BC Lions players were taken away in golf carts to get ready for the game and the gates were officially open. The lions fans were very curious and anxious to get in to take a look at what their 563 million dollars got them.  I gave out maps, answered questions and helped people find their way to the 4th and 2nd floors where they were seated.  At one point I turned around and saw an old favorite of mine, Pat Quinn.  Some people had spotted him and were taking pics with him so I took one of him as well.  Always love seeing Pat at sporting events.  Reminds me of the "Gentle Giant"...for those of you who remember that show.

So, once the game started and people were for the most part seated, I headed to my alternate position on Level 2.  The crowd was massive and usually while the game has been on in the past, the hallway is pretty quiet.  Not tonight.  We had 50,213 people in the building tonight!  The lines for beer and food were crazy and constant.  This is where I thought adding all those extra TV's came in handy.  Everyone was able to watch from the lineups they were in.  The ATM's were even co-operating tonight! Unreal...that never happens at a Lions game.

At half time I went up to the 4th floor to find a friend and get his impression of the building as it was the first time he had seen the inside.  He thought it looked great as well.  The only thing I hadn't thought about was that with the roof open, the stadium did become somewhat cold.  I know I was freezing and so were some of the Ushers who hadn't thought about wearing a jacket either for this game.  In the past because of the dome, the air was still and that made it hot inside the stadium everywhere, in the stands, hallways and anywhere else!  Looks like we're gonna have to get used to the "fresh air" now.....it was nice however.  Here's a pic I took with the roof off.  Amazing.

When half time ended I went down to the 1st floor of the building for break with all the other volunteers.  We sat and watched the game on our big TV and cheered on our Lions as they defeated the Eskimos in Lion fashion.  We used to be able to hear the crowd cheer and feel the rumble of the feet on the bleachers by our area but not anymore.  If we hadn't seen the touchdown with our own eyes on TV, you wouldn't have known the crowd was cheering.  Kinda eerie if you ask me.

The 50,213 people who came to celebrate the re-opening of BC Place and to cheer on our Lions went home very happy and in some cases, were also extremely drunk.  It was a good night had by all and I get to do it all again on Sunday with the Whitecaps!