CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence
They didn’t measure plus/minuses in Stan Mikita’s day. But, since that time a few Slovacks have had decent plus/minuses.

Peter Bondra retired with a +74, having played on some pretty bad Caps teams. And Peter Stastney was a -12, having been a Nordique doormat for many seasons.
The best plus/minus Slovakian?
Pavol Demitra with a +121. [...]

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by Ron Spence
Ten years ago last summer, nucks fans watched the Sedins walk up on the Boston stage. They looked the same and had identical numbers on their jerseys – the year of their draft.
Then they went through their learning curve at the same pace – one being the goal scorer – Daniel – and [...]

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by Ron Spence
There will be guys on Chicago’s roster who will want to chaulk up some brownie points.
I believe that some will target Vancouver’s finesse players – in particular Daniel Sedin.
courtesy of nimg.sulekha.com
They haven’t forgotten Willie Mitchel’s October 21st hit on their captain.
Nor, have they forgotten their 3-2 loss to Vancouver.

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by Ron Spence
I really like the Canucks – but for different reasons than I stated at the beginning of the season.
I like their solid positional play. It’s not every man for himself like we’ve seen with some of their rivals.
I appreciate their level emotional play – game in and game out. Excluding of course, some [...]

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by Ron Spence
I watched the game in a liquor establishment – the Fifth St. Bar and Grill – in Victoria.
And, the cliental weren’t kind to Roberto during the first part of the game. It was as though he had been personally letting them down.
This had changed, however, by the end of the contest.
Willie Mitchell’s big [...]

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by Ron Spence
I used to get this knot in my stomach: whenever Brent Sopel had the puck; and when Felix Potvin and Dan Cloutier were in goal.
I now have this same feeling when Roberto is between the pipes.
It’s not a conscious reaction – it’s the result of Roberto’s suspect play – so far this season [...]

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by Ron Spence
In their defense, the Canucks had a five day layoff and were facing one of the NHL’s best defenses.
But still, they looked really bad for most of the game.
I wanted to note a few points based on the past two contests.
Kevin Bieksa has been terrible.
Aaron Rome didn’t have the game that he wanted [...]

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by Ron Spence

“It was kind of a freak thing,” coach Jacques Martin said. “It wasn’t on a hit or anything.”
“He was just skating up the ice.”

The Ottawa coach was talking about his young Finnish Dman who had just injured himself during a 2001 exhibition game.
Eight years later, Sami Salo is still having freak injuries.
Vancouver was [...]

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by Ron Spence

There are a number of reasons why Cody Hodgson was returned to the Ontario Hockey League.
Had they kept the under-achieving rookie on their roster, the Canucks would have had to expose another of their forwards on waivers – even if they planned to keep Hodgson in the NHL for only 9 games.
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courtesy of [...]

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by Ron Spence

This October’s Canucks are the best in the franchise’s history – in my opinion.
Not that I would want them facing Vancouver’s 1994 playoff squad next week.
The old axiom is that you build your team from the goalie and up through the middle.
And, if Kyle Wellwood plays as well as many of us think [...]

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