Canucks vs. Predators

The Canucks played the Predators last night in what turned out to be the most entertaining game so far this season.  The Canucks and Preds combined last year for 14 goals.  This game alone, there were 11 goals.  Not only that, but other strange things occurred.Cory Schneider was the Canucks starting goaltender and Pikka Rinne was the starting goaltender for the Preds.  The game ended with neither of these goalies in net.  All 4 goaltenders played this game and it still ended in a 6-5 win for the Preds. The Canucks played great, probably the best I've seen them all year long and Kes looks like he's back on track again!

Cory let in 3 goals on 5 shots in the first period.  Cody Hodgson managed to get a goal to cut the lead to 3-1 before the first period ended.  Schniedz got the hook and we saw Roberto Luongo enter the crease.  This seemed to spark the Canucks and went on a four goal scoring rampage in the second to make it 5-3.  Rinne got the hook this time and Lindback entered the crease.  Before the end of the 2nd, the Preds managed to score twice to tie it up 5-5.

The third period was pretty exciting to watch as it seemed as though the next goal would decide the fate of this hockey game.  With a little over a minute left to go, the Preds made a great pass and put this game away.  Heartbreaking for the boys as it really was theirs for the taking.

The BC Lions were also honored and celebrated on the ice at puck drop for their Grey Cup win. I think Geroy Simon is the designated Grey Cup holder at all the events. I haven't seen anyone else hold it yet!

Here are some strange things that occurred during the game.

Kesler took a break during the game and decided to plank the net.

OK, so that was a bit misleading.  Here's video footage of what really happened.

The Green Men are baaaaack!  And also back to their antics.  Here they are giving Shea Weber a hard time in the sin bin with Naked Kesler.  You can see he's trying hard not to look or laugh.  I've missed our Green Men. Welcome Back!

Alberts hit Tootoo hard earlier in the game and so Tootoo decided he would return the favor later on only to come charging in on Alberts and miss him and hit absolutely NO ONE but the glass. OUCH!

In this pic it looks like Alberts is going for the choke hold, but don't worry folks, it was only a hit!

Oh! And Kevin Bieksa got a haircut! He's so hot! Here he is checking out the Grey Cup prior to the game. :)

Even though the Canucks lost, it was definately entertaining!  Our Nucks are starting to look like their old awesome self again.  Looking forward to Sunday's game against the Calgary Flames.  :)

Schneiderman does it again!

Last night my friend, Stefani, on facebook was selling her pair of tix for the Columbus game tonight.  She had to work unfortunately and wasn't able to make it, so I offered to take them off her hands.  Besides the fact that I've been dying to go to a Canucks game since this new season started.  So I met up with her this morning at a skytrain station and the deal went down.  We also go to catch up a bit.  It was great seeing you again Stef and thank you for the tix!!  (She reads my blog.) :)

So I met up with a friend for dinner for the pre-game meal at St. Regis downtown.  It was the fist time we had gone back since the Stanley Cup Final Game 7.  The waitress recognized me right away as I walked thru the door.  She said I could sit at any table and she even remembered my choice of drink!  Now thats great service!  I even showed her my picture with Bieksa...yes, you know which one.  Her reaction "OMG!!  He is sooooo hot!! How did you get that picture with him??" LOL.  We also talked about what happened the day of the riots.  She said as soon as they got word there were car fires in the area, they asked all the patrons to leave and they shut the place down.  I thought of them the day after when I did my little walk through of Vancouver and saw the windows boarded up.  Glad they were all safe inside. So, I waited for my friend to arrive and then we ordered dinner which came very quickly and we were able to get out of there in good time.  We walked down to the stadium and got ourselves settled.

We were seated in the Budwieser Zone at the end of the rink, Sec 330, dead centre.  It was a fun section.  The "mexican wave" was attempted at least 10 times by our end to no avail.  It died faster than it started.  At least the effort was there.  I went to use the washroom and ran into my CAT team volunteer friend, Jorge, working as the 50/50 person.  So I bought three tickets from her.  The jackpot at the end of the night was around $33,000.  Unfortunately, I didn't win and neither did my friend. 

During intermissions we watched a David Booth interview with Joey Kenward, Fin shooting the shirt gun at the crowd and a minor league hockey game which was very entertaining.

During the TV Break.  Canucks just hanging around their bench.

My friend and I managed to get ourselves onto the Big Screen towards the end of the night thanks to the kid dancing next to me!!

In the end, the Canucks won 4-1 with goals coming from D. Sedin, Booth, Kesler and Burrows.  Assists to Hammer, Bieksa, Higgins, Edler, Salo, Burrows, D.Sedin and Kesler.

We stayed behind to watch the 3 stars of the night and cheered on Kesler and Schneidz as loud as we could.  My voice is almost gone now. 

It was a great night.  Thanks for the company Leslie-Anne and thanks again for the tix, Stef!!!

I'll leave you with David Booth's tweet just moments ago about the game tonight.  It says it all. :)

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! :)