Get your tickets out, it's the first pre-season game of the year!

So I picked up my tickets the other day from GM Place and was pleased with the look of their package this year. It's all personalized for the 40th year anniversary:

Nice huh? Much better look of the tickets this year than last year. Maybe you don't think it matters, but prettier tickets are nice especially if you are the type of person that keeps their ticket stubs. And personalization of your client's product is sometimes hard to do when you want it to be a classy personalization detail, but I think the Canucks were spot on this year.

Here are your links from today:

• Hodgson was cleared for full contact in practice on Monday and is pain free and symptom free. He says he needs to get his timing back which should come through practicing with the guys
• Tony G, which on the Team 1040 sounded almost jovial before tonight's pre-season game writes that this year's schedule is not as bad as last. But you would assume that would be the case in a schedule that doesn't include a 14 game road trip
• Burrows talks about his part time colour job on the Team 1040/Sportsnet and his french grasp of English: “I don't think the swearing will be a problem – it's more the people understanding me, I think,” said the affable Burrows, who is rehabbing from off-season shoulder surgery. “With the French accent sometimes I forget my words and things come out not as I wish it would.”
• Car 1, Yann Sauve 0. He's on the stationary bike, but still has effects of a concussion as is not allowed to skate
• On Monday the Canucks sent two players back down to juniors: Sawyer Hannay to Halifax and Alex Friesen to Niagara. Matt Fraser has been release from the club
• Today they sent: Marco Rosa to Manitoba, Steven Anthony (Saint John) and Adam Polasek (PEI) back to juniors and have released Pierre-Olivier Morin from the team
  
• Not something I think that you'd normally want to reveal in an interview, but Raffii Torres said to Matt Sekeres that his summer was “terrible [and] horrible. I was pulling out my hair, and yelling at my wife.” because he didn't get a contract till the very end

The Flames won 3-2 over the Canucks in the game in Calgary, if you are interested in a recap of it check out the Globe and Mail and the Flames won 3-1 over the Canucks in Vancouver but from what I heard on the radio, Schneider made some nice saves. Burrows continues his colour commentary tomorrow night on Sportsnet
no comments

Though James O'Brien over at Pro Hockey Talk (formerly of Cycle Like the Sedins) often gets mistaken for a Canucks fan, I often get the great honour of being asked my opinion when he needs some Canucks stuff talked about. He performed a mighty impressive blogger round-table asking bloggers from every team a few questions about the training camp battles happening in each of our teams, the NW Division was the final installment.

Head over to Pro Hockey Talk to check out what Kent W (Five Hole Fanatics), David (Mile High Hockey), Jason (Low Key Hockey), Daniel Chan (Hockey Wilderness) and I have to say about what the biggest position battles are going on during the pre-season.

no comments

This gem is via a fellow Bloguin blog Barry Melrose Rocks, and I couldn't help but sharing it with you my loyal reader. Especially since it pertains to YOU the Canuck fan, well you don't even have to be a Canuck fan, just a single person in the city requiring their services it seems.

Here is a press release from Vancouver based Executive Search Dating who calls themselves a professional matchmaking service. Paddi Rice (trying to not make some rather crude joke here), says that Vancouver singles can capitalize on "Canucks Fever":

"The great thing about hockey in a Canadian city is that it tends to bring people together around a common theme, and it can be a great conversation starter. Our clients, who tend to be busy singles that aren't into the typical bar scene and don't want to waste their time trolling through online dating profiles, a sports pub or lounge on a game night can be a nice change. The atmosphere tends to be a lot more relaxed, and in some cases the hockey game is almost secondary in importance, so it can be a great time to meet some new people."

And then she provides the Executive Search Dating's 'NHL Hockey Season Dating Guidebook' for Vancouver singles:

• It's not about the game: don't let your limited knowledge or enthusiasm for hockey deter you… being there IS the game. A little cheering, complete with beer and appetizers, can be fun AND a great way to connect with fellow singles, hockey fans and non-hockey fans alike.
• Season tickets NOT required: although watching a hockey game live can be fun, it can also get expensive. Also, a large 20 thousand person arena full of rabid hockey fans is actually NOT a great place to mingle and meet new people. Instead, try any one of the many sports lounges and pubs around the city… besides the more relaxed atmosphere, the hockey fans tend to be a little bit less focussed on the game and therefore more open to chatting.

Click here to read more...
no comments

Lots of stuff happened in the off season that I didn't cover, but I'm assuming that as an awesome Canucks fan you already know what went down so this is more for me than for you. Nevertheless, here's a little bit of a catchup to start off my season preview.

Who we re-signed?

• Mason Raymond, Jannik Hansen, Tanner Glass, Alexandre Bolduc, Shane O'Brien, Aaron Rome, Cory Schneider

No surprises with any of the players being re-signed really. Mason Raymond's deal at two years for $5.1 million dollars came in just before his arbitration hearing was schedule to take place in Toronto. More than I was hoping for, but good to lock up the progressing winger for another two years. As for Shane O'Brien, well I didn't quite think he'd be back this year, but I'm glad he is nevertheless.

Who we lost?

• Pavol Demitra, Willie Mitchell, Kyle Wellwood, Steve Bernier, Michael Grabner, Andrew Raycroft

Thank f-cking god we are done with Demitra. I feel like he was still in some way tied to Sundin and the big names that Gillis tried to bring in during his first season as GM and I'm glad to be over with that chapter of the book. Bernier is part of that same first year of GMMG, and although we had to trade Grabner in the package as well, I'm glad to be done with Bernier as well. As for Willie Mitchell, with the contract that the Kings offered him, he would have been a fool not to take it. I wish him the best, and know that I'll be back to cursing him as he shuts down our offense in LA.

Click here to read more after the jump...

no comments

Here's what has gone on at Penticton so far:

• Hodgson told reporters on Friday that he is pain-free and cleared for practice with the Canucks. He'll was practicing in Group C with eight other players which will focus on more skills work with other groups. He skated with Alex Burrows who said he looked great on the ice
• Speaking of Burrows, he's doing colour on the Team 1040 this Tuesday when the Flames are in town for the pre-season game, and two games for Sportsnet on Wednesday against the Oilers, and on September 28th against the Sharks
• Luongo has lost some weight coming into camp this year. How did he do this? Spending time in Florida on a bike getting his meals prepared for him which to me sounds like a pretty ideal summer
• Hansen has a good shot at a spot on the 3rd line which is good because out of the number of goals he scored a lot of them were game winning goals. Now if he could only score more goals in total
• MacIntyre from the Vancouver Sun thinks Oreskovich has a good shot at making the team. "He is a load when he goes to the net, seems largely immune to bodychecks and looks capable of doing serious damage on the forecheck". Based on their description he sounds like a superhero
• After Day 2, MacIntyre gives Jordan Schroeder the invisible man award
• The Sweatt brothers are excited at the prospect to be able to play together again on the same team (they together for a season at Colorado College)
• Morrison is trying to beat PTO odds to make the team because he thinks the team has a chance at winning the cup
• Tanner Glass is blogging over at Canucks.com about him being engaged and first day of training camp
• The Canuck trainers will have some fun sorting out what goes where for Tuesday's double header

And for something kinda Canucks related, a story about Kirk McLean and his restaurant "McLean" in Gastown that opened up in July no comments

Photo from Canucks.com - Behind the Lens: Testing

no comments

I have a certain love for bullet points in blogging. Please enjoy a quick news round up in bullet point form

• Release their training camp roster and Peter Schaeffer is on it. I'm getting flashbacks to like 12 years ago, based on the interview I saw tonight on the news, he looked better 12 years ago with his dyed blonde hair
  
• Cody Hogson is not on the training camp roster. No real surprise there, but via TSN, the Canucks twitter says he doesn't need surgery
• Former Canuck Brendan Morrison doesn't have a job yet
• There's a new tie-breaker rule that the NHL BOG's approved of:
  

  if two teams end the season with the same number of points, the team with the most regulation and overtime wins will be seeded first. Shootout wins will no longer be part of the equation for the first tiebreaker -The Province

• Yesterday Luongo gave up his captaincy. Today we talked about the reason Luongo is no longer captain. And then we continue to debate as to who should be the new captain. I want Kesler to be captain because I like his feistiness, but feel like Henrik will end up getting it.
• The Vancouver Sun looks into which channels the Canucks games will be broadcasted on and comes to the conclusion that regular viewers of Sportsnet will not be able to watch 13 games. It's come down to some contract dispute between Sportsnet and Shaw cable. Fabulous. I feel like I've heard a similar story before. In. The. States. The article does say that all games will be streamed live on canucks.com, so internet watching it may have to be.

no comments

I was having dinner this past weekend, with hockey very far from my brain, trying to take advantage of the last bits of summer in the city (the rain late Saturday night decided to also take advantage of me being out by absolutely soaking me while I was looking for a cab). During dinner, I look over to the table near us to see a group of young guys dressed rather casually for the place we were at (some wearing baseball hats) only to recognize the guy at the end to being Cody Hodgson. Then I tried to sneak another look at the others at the table facing me and hello! it's the Canuck prospects. Hockey is back in the city.

This summer in order to re-charge my blogging batteries, I chose to spend the summer away from blogging. I enjoyed the city, especially the beaches, the fresh abundant produce and general summer Vancouver vibe. People seem like they have a whole different personality when the summer hits and everyone wants to be out on a patio.

I also had a chance to spend some time in Europe as well, doing touristy things in the extreme summer heat. During my travels I did come across some Canucks stuff while I was in Prague, which of course I took photos of

Awesome huh? So clearly, me and my travel buddy decided we had to see the inside of the Canuck nesting dolls...

Something seems amiss.....

Eeeeeerrrrrr whhhattttt???

Needless to say, I did not buy this overpriced-incorrect-jersey-numbered-souvenier to add to my souvenir collection.

So the young stars are now up in Penticton (had their first game last night the Canucks lost to the Oilers prospects 4-1) playing in the young Stars Tournament. The tournament features prospects from the Canucks, Oilers, Flames, Sharks and Ducks in an eight-game round robin tournament.

After the tournament, the Canucks training camp will start in Penticton on Saturday September 18th and run till Monday September 20th.

The Canucks start their pre-season game by splitting the team up, half will be back in Vancouver and the other half in Calgary, to play a Flames on September 21st.

The first regular season game is on Saturday October 9th at home against the Kings.

Today Luongo is back in town meeting up with Gillis to discuss captaincy (perhaps he'll relinquish?) so maybe a few words on that later if anything happens of note. And check back in the next few days as I'll be starting my season preview posts.

no comments

Kick back and relax, only a few more days till hockey season starts

no comments

Love the euro v-neck on Edler's shirt

no comments