CrashingTheGoalie

by desertdawg
Has there been this amount of excitement about a Canuck goaltending prospect in the past?

Not even when old carrot top, Glenn Hanlon, made his first appearance in the Flying V uniform…a uniform that was designed to strike fear in the heart of every opponent in the NHL. And before we dump all over that most infamous of Canuck jerseys, please pay deference to Stan Smyl and the 1982 run to the cup in that same uniform.

I remember talking to Stan near the end of his playing career, and asked him if the ’82 run was his favourite time as a Canuck and Stan grinned and said, well it was right up there…along with the time, in his rookie training camp in Victoria, when he almost put Harold Snepsts through the boards. What a card!

But I digress.

So, as much as we know that we can’t win all 82 games, how many Canuck fans, show of hands here, had the first doubts creep into their mind after the last loss to the Flames. Would Roberto have stopped that breakaway? Or the second one-timer by Cammalleri?

Ouch, that’s a lot of hands.

So the Canuck brain trust responds tonight by putting young Schneider in the net…certainly the best prospect in our minor pro system and arguably the best goaltender in the AHL. And the best news in Coach V’s decision to start the kid? Well, at least all the excuses are built in, so maybe the guys can relax tonight and play some hockey.

Win one for the kid!

The pundits are blaming two things for the loss in the last game against Calgary. The Kesler line failed to contain Iginla and Cammaleri and The Sedin line opened the third period with their worst shift in the last dozen games.

My own take was slightly different. We had been playing on emotion since the big guy went down in Pittsburgh, playing on nothing but pure adrenaline in our last three games. And there wasn’t much left of it by the third period against the Flames. We needed John Travolta to stab a needleful of jump-juice right into the heart of the team like he did with Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. It was our only hope…but Travolta wasn’t the only one who didn’t deliver that night.

It’s a team game.

To the Saddledome, one of the toughest buildings to play in. But aren’t we one of the pre-eminent road warriors in the NHL? And young Schneider gets tested early, which is what you want. We were always instructed during warm-ups, shoot the puck at the goaltender’s pads. Don’t try to score. Let him get the feel of the puck. Schneider gets the feel of Iginla’s shot early in the first. His positional play looks solid.

Depending on how you look at it, both teams FAIL on the PP, or succeed on the PK. I’m an admitted homer. We succeeded on the PK. They failed on the PP.
Either way, it was a solid period of road hockey. What I liked: All Schneider had to do was play his position. The Canucks had to play as a team. Checkmarks in both boxes.

One thing about penalties here…and it’s never a good idea to bitch about the refs…but is it my imagination or does Shane O’Brien take the lightest penalties in the league? Shane makes a move on someone and gets sent to the shame box. Whad’d he do? Sleep with someone’s mama?

The less said about the second period, the better. The Flames force us into the Ropa-Dope the entire period. Our legs weren’t there and we leave the kid out to dry a couple of times. He stands tall until, with less than a minute to play, Daymond Lagkow tips the point shot into the net.
So the key to the game becomes how we respond. How we respond to all of it…the schedule, the injuries and the PP goal. How we respond to the circumstances that brought us here.

Our play in the third period will decide it.

The only mistake the kid makes all night is on the David Moss goal. Corey leaves the five hole open too long and it‘s a two zip game. His mistake maybe, but it’s pretty hard to win a game for the new guy when you don’t score.

Hansen changes the game up late with a terrific pass to Wellwood who never makes a misses an opportunity like that. It briefly wakes the boys up, but this game has been decided by the Calgary D-men. Their gap control is nearly perfect, although truth be told we didn’t pressure until late in the game.

But just as we start praying to the God of Pull The Goalie, it’s over…well except for the usual Robyn Regehr guff with his hit on Sedin. Typical Regehr, playing tough against the non-physical players…just ask Ales Hemsky. Truth is, I’ve never seen Robyn Red-breast play that tough against the power forwards.

Ah well, that can all just be sour grapes. We learn what we can from this game and move on…hopefully arriving in Columbus Ohio in an extremely bad mood.

The Dawg’s Three Stars

David Moss…scored the goal that won it.
Jerome Iginla…best in the west
Jannik Hansen…Liked his game…loved his assist

Unsung Hero…Wellwood’s right foot on the face-offs.