I hate to be a downer, but today felt like it was officially the end of summer.

I woke up this morning to rain outside of my apartment, then rain on the way to work, then rain falling sideways all day while I was at work until it tapered off to light showers later in the evening.

Welcome to rain city Vancouver.

After spending this summer gallivanting around (more on that later) and enjoying the fresh Okanagan produce that has been available in our fair city, today had me mumbling questions about why I live in a city where the rain can fall sideways so that no matter how well you equip yourself with an umbrella you will in the end get wet.

Sunday night was also the 11th episode of True Blood which means there's only one episode left. If you don't watch the show, 1. You are missing out or don't get the humour and 2., it is aired right when hockey is heading into the off season and runs until hockey is just about to start up again. It's scheduled perfectly to be opposite hockey. Realizing that this upcoming weekend is labour day, I will have to wait two whole weeks until the final episode of True Blood season 3. Gah! And if you watched the last episode, don't even ask me what happened in that one, I really don't know what direction they are going to go with on the last episode.

So with the changing weather and my favorite summer tv show coming to its season end, well that means hockey season is right around the corner. Training camp begins in 18 days in Penticton and the first pre-season game is in 21 days at home. So enjoy those last few days of summer we have left (even though they won't seem quite as warm as to how a summer day should feel like), because hockey is almost back.

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As per TSN, the Canucks signed Dan Hamhuis to a 6 year deal worth $4.5 million per season. The native from BC is 27 years old and his contract includes an NTC. It was said that he was offered more money elsewhere but chose to sign with Vancouver even with all its media craziness. And compared to Nashville, well the media is a little crazy. With his signing it's expected that a defenceman may need to be moved, the most talked about being Kevin Bieksa. no comments

As per TSN, Manny Malhotra has signed in Vancouver for 3 years at $2.5 million per with a NTC. He is 30 years old and had 14 goals and 19 assists with the Sharks last year.

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So as you can notice I've been on a bit of a blogger vacation, not just here on Benched Whale but on all the sites that I write for. I will be posting my thoughts of what goes down on Thursday (will we see Bieksa traded?) then will resume being on my blogger vacation for the rest of summer.

I'm using the time to recharge my batteries and my love for blogging by well, not blogging. I'll post every so often if anything comes up that I feel like writing about but not on a super consistent basis. Things will resume back to normal when the summer ends and the season starts up again. I thank you in advance for your understanding.

Dani

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Today Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler were in Las Vegas for the NHL Awards. Kesler didn't win the Selke but Henrik took some more hardware home. He lost to Ovechkin for the Ted Lindsay award, but did walk away with this:

The Hart trophy

Suck it Ovechkin

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The Canucks released their 2010 pre-season schedule today on Canucks.com

They will play four pre-season games at home and four on the road, with two each against: Calgary, Edmonton, Anaheim and San Jose. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday September 21st: Canucks @ Flames, 6:00 pm PST *

Tuesday September 21st: Flames vs Canucks, 7:00 pm PST *

Wednesday September 22nd: Oilers vs Canucks, 7:00 pm PST

Saturday September 25th: Ducks vs Canucks, 7:00 pm PST

Sunday September 26th: Canucks @ Oilers, 5:00 pm PST

Tuesday September 28th: Sharks vs Canucks, 7:00 pm PST

Wednesday September 29th: Canucks @ Sharks, 7:30 pm PST

Friday October 1st: Canucks @ Ducks, 7:00 pm PST

*Yes these two games are on the same day in different cities. The two teams will split their teams in half and one half will play in Calgary and the other half in Vancouver.

The regular season schedule will be released tomorrow, but via Blueland Blog the Vancouver home opener will be on Saturday October 9th against the Los Angeles Kings. Only 110 more days...

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It's the weekend and there may not may anything Canucks newsworthy during it. So I thought I would get through this summer by posting a random Canuck photo every Friday to get us through the hockey doldrums. You can always click "view image" to see the photo is its original size.

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to tell your dad Happy Father's Day!

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So my friend Richard Loat, who if you are on twitter know him by @Mozy19, has organized one of the most awesome roadtrips this summer called Five Hole for Food.

What is it?

It's a cross Canada roadtrip that starts in Montreal where Richard and his buddy Vic are driving across the country stopping in 9 cities along the way and playing road hockey to raise money for local food banks. The trip starts June 29th in Montreal and after stopping in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Victoria, will end in Vancouver 11 days later on July 9th.

Crazy huh? Crazy like a fish, but what an awesome idea.

In each city they visit they will have local bloggers hosting them as well as some CHL (Ottawa 67's), WHL (Vancouver Giants), AHL (Toronto Marlies) and ECHL (Victoria Salmon Kings) mascots to help out.

How do I participate?

So the date for our city, July 9th will be the ending point for the road trip. The game will takes place at Sunset Beach Park at 5:30 PST with post game shenanigans at Boston Pizza on West Broadway (full details here). The food bank beneficiary for our day will be the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.

If you are interesting in playing in the event just get in contact with Richard or any of the even organizers. If you don't want to find their info, e-mail me and I'll put you in touch with the right people. You don't have to play to come out to the event, you could just drop by and watch the games. If you want to donate, you can either do it online at their website, or show up at the event and they will accept cash or food on the day of.

I'll have more details on their trip as we get closer to their kickoff but in the meantime check out their website Five Hole for Food, or catch them on twitter at @fiveholeforfood

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So I've been from the interwebs, but I have a few things to catch up on and one really great cause to talk about (next post).

Rome is back for 2 more

The Canucks re-signed Aaron Rome to a two year deal. I did loathe to see Rome out on the ice at the beginning of the season, but I have to admit that he did get better. He got more comfortable on the blueline as the season went on, and by the end of it I thought he was a good depth defenceman. Also compared to Alberts, shit he look great. By the end of the year, the 26 year old played 49 games for the Canucks but missed games in the playoffs when he had a high ankle sprain.

So good for depth, but we're still needing a good defenceman badly

Training Camp in Penticton

• The 2010 Canucks training camp will be held in Penticton this year beginning on September 18th
• All on-ice sessions will be open to the public and free
• There will also be a Young Stars tournament where prospects from the Canucks, Oilers, Flames, Ducks and Sharks will participate in an eight game round-robin tournament from Sept 12 - 16
• If you want tickets to watch the Youn Stars tournament a pack to tix for all eight games start at $66, see the press release for details about how to purchase. You get reserved seating for the regular training camp if you are parts of the first 1000 to pick up a pack of tickets for the Young Stars tourney. Single tickets will be available sometime in August

Burrows has Surgery

Burrows had surgery a couple days ago to repair two tears in the labrum of his left shoulder. Rehab for this type of surgery as per The Province is supposed to take approximately four to six months but Burr hopes to be back in time for training camp. The tears didn't come from any hit in particular but just over time.

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