About the Game…
[Updates added below.]
We know nothing about this Vancouver-Detroit hockey game tonight — damn eastern time zone games mess up my life! But I’ve got it on tape and we’ll watch it later tonight.
But friends, please don’t Skype me or email me about this game till tomorrow. I’m avoiding all comments on this site already, but I can’t avoid doing email and answering the phone, for godsakes!
I’ll write some notes about the game after I watch it. Assuming I’m not horribly depressed or something.
(Geezus, I hate it when everyone else knows the outcome but me…)
Post-Game Update
Welcome to Minnesota… in a good way. That’s pretty much how we both saw this game. I’m not big on recaps, so here are just some quick notes I made during the game.
1. Vancouver might just bore opponents to death in the defensive end, but their transition game is ridiculously good. Whoa, it’s the Minnesota North Nucks! (I’m copyrighting that. Don’t steal it, dammit.)
2. The Sedins and Markus Naslund make for an unreal first powerplay unit.
3. The Sedins will have to get used to Naslund’s interest in handling the puck, something he does much more (and much better) than Anson Carter ever did.
4. It’s noticeable, the difference between Markus Naslund bearing an injury all last season, and his play when healthy. He looked great — skating well, quick.
5. Vancouver’s primary defense seems to be blocking lanes. They’re not looking for hits or physical play (nor could they even if they wanted to) but killing their opponent’s flow with good positioning and hustle. This might not work so well with some other teams, but it was pretty damn effective with Detroit.
6. Vancouver’s checking was solid, and caused the Wings’ shots to go astray frequently I think. (And somewhere out there, Dan Cloutier was watching this game saying, “Where the f&#k was this defense when I was in Vancouver??”)
7. Wow — the thing about Roberto Luongo I hadn’t realized… he looks WAY bigger than Cloutier. A big goalie that takes up a lot of the net and moves quick. Geez, I’m starting to like him.
8. Trevor Linden’s goal was his 300th as a Vancouver Canuck.
9. Willie Mitchell is very hard working, no? As was nearly the entire defense.
10. I’m sort of worried about Brendan Morrison given that he’s still recovering from injury, but he sure was flying on the transition plays.
There were negatives from the game as well, particularly the penalty troubles. But there was very little beyond that to complain about and I’m happy enough at the moment with all the ridiculously positive stuff I saw on the ice.
They skated fast and worked hard. It sure sounds like a cliché when hockey players say it, but I think it’s a fair description of what happened in that game.
And one more thing: Hasek sucks! (Sorry Wings’ fans, but we both know you guys would be trashing Luongo if you’d won that game…)
October 5th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
It was ugly. Poor Roberto. I’ve never seen a knee bend that way before
October 5th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Yeesh, and both Sedins crashing behind the net like that? Surely Henrick has a separated shoulder.
October 5th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
This is to say nothing of Naslund getting a puck to the head at the end of the first. Ouch.
October 5th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Oh man… you guys really need to get a hobby. And no, trying to freak me out does NOT qualify as a hobby.
Yo! Luongo!
October 6th, 2006 at 12:22 am
One step closer to getting out tatoos! And is it too early to plan the parade route?
October 6th, 2006 at 8:34 am
[…] - VCOE’s reaction and Zanstrom’s thoughts about last night’s game coming from the Canucks’ perspective. The Vancouver Sun also has their recap of the game up as well. […]
October 6th, 2006 at 9:02 am
“And somewhere out there, Dan Cloutier was watching this game saying, “Where the f&#k was this defense when I was in Vancouver??”)”
Yeah, isn’t that the truth? They get a world class goalie and play better defence in front of him…oh the irony.
BTW, the D played so good as a whole, and it makes me wonder why Mitchell is worth $4 million. He isn’t.
Geez Temujin, your sarcasm about the Cup parade is hilarious! You have to wonder if the players will buy into Vigneault’s defensive system, b/c it sure works. Hopefully they do.
October 6th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Waaaaaah Luongo’s gonna make me a Canucks fan!!! Make it stop!!!
Hehehe.
6-0 Leafs. What?? *giddy laughter*
October 6th, 2006 at 10:07 am
The D was awesome, and I won’t spend one minute arguing about Mitchell’s $4 mil if he plays like that all the time.
But while the defensive system was impressive, what really struck me was the hustle of the team. Detroit couldn’t find a lane to the net for half the game, and the rest of the time the puck was getting ripped away from them on the way into the zone.
A very hard-working effort and I hope tonight is more of the same.
October 6th, 2006 at 10:50 am
What impressed me was that they played smart all game. When Crawford was coaching, they always seemed to prefer to make the high risk play all the time.
Anyone planned out the parade route yet?
October 6th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
I was very happy with the play last night. I thought everyone was more aggressive, and the penalities show that. For as many power plays as Detroit had, we did a hell of a job shutting them down. I recall last season when the other team would go on the PP, you just had to cover your eyes and look through your fingers. This gives some good hope.
Oh yeah, and they were shooting! Not pass, pass, pass, setup the play, pass, pass… A very welcome change.
October 6th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Clogging lanes was precisely how Edmonton beat Detroit last year. Of course, they also hit people, but that’s pretty much how you get it done in any case.
And you have to admit, I was right when I said that a puck hit Naslund in the head. Off the visor and into the cage.
October 6th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I shamelessly plan the parade route all the time, especially when things are (for the moment) optimistic. I figure, in reality I may never get a CHANCE to see that parade route, so I might as well dream!
Good point about the shooting, John. And on that topic, I didn’t realize that Jan Bulis had such a decent shot.
One other thing I was thinking about was their 3rd period. Instead of falling apart under pressure, they kept their cool and kept skating hard. Last year, the third period was a total crapshoot — a 5 goal lead didn’t feel safe til the last minute of the game.
I hope they keep playing like this.
October 13th, 2006 at 12:30 am
[…] Yo Luongo! Filed under: Blogger — Miss604 October 6, 2006 @ 10:20 am Alanah from Vancouver Canucks Op Ed (and fellow CrazyCanuck) gave our shining new goalie that name and it’s stuck.She’s got a recap of last night’s WONDERFUL game posted over on the site [VCOE]. We played defensively and still had a lot of offense - Naslund scored with his head (literally) and Linden scored his 300th as a Canuck. […]
November 14th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
[…] We spanked ‘em once… can we do it again? […]