Let's just get this out of the way first: he's not going to win it

That being said, Henrik Sedin has been named by the Profession Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) of Vancouver as the Canuck nominee for the Masterton trophy. The nomination was for his “perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication”. Not only did he improve in his on ice play, he and his brother donated $1.5 million to the BC Children's hospital. Really great stuff by Henrik.

Why will he not win? No it's not some east coast bias, but rather the award seems to be handed out to a player that has gone through a hardship like injury or health problem and then come back to play. And really have you read the Jose Theodore's story? So the likelihood is very low that Sedin will win it, but still it's nice for him to be recognized.

Check out Japers Rink as they trade all of the nominees as they get announced. The winner will be decided by a league wide vote of the PHWA and will be announced at the NHL awards in Vegas.

Three games left and there's a Y beside our name!

Woo!

What is not so woo?

Kinda woo....

According to THIS article by Jason Botchford in The Province, it doesn't sound like Shane O'Brien is out of the doghouse just yet.

Not unless he’s lost 13 pounds in three days and sufficiently repented for his off-ice sins, which, the Canucks inferred, suggest he does not care about the game or his team.

By all accounts, O’Brien has been working his tail off in exile. Sweating off pounds and guilt.

But before he can make a return, he still has to face some more tribunals. He has to meet with head coach Alain Vigneault, which could happen Sunday, and with GM Mike Gillis who isn’t scheduled to sit down with him until Monday. None of the meetings are expected to be warm and cuddly.

So based on what Botchford's article, it sounds like O'Brien won't be in the lineup tomorrow against Minnesota. It's too bad since watching Alberts on the ice makes me wish O'Brien was in the lineup instead, and that's saying a lot.

As much as I have a soft spot with O'Brien, being a repeat offender at what he has done is unacceptable as a pro hockey player. His job is to stay in shape, show up to practice on time and play hard every game. Gaining weight and showing up an hour late to work is unacceptable when you are being paid loads of money to play hockey as your job. Playing hockey is a dream job that really for his type calibre player at his age will not be around for that many more years. He's an RFA at the end of this season and antics like this certainly can't help his case for a new contract.

Heyyyy! We clinched a spot in the playoffs! But last night, really was the Michael Grabner show.

The boxscore says that he only played 13:37 last night, but he looked like he had his coming out night last night with his first career hat trick.

Since he was called up from the Moose, Grabner has had plenty of chances to get a goal but he just hasn't been able to bury them. With the return of Bernier and Samuelsson on the horizon, I was fearful of Grabner being squeezed out of the line up for his lack of production. Don't get me wrong, he still very may be scratched in favour of other players in the playoffs, but with last nights 3 goals he makes the decision a little more interesting.

Recap and videos after the jump

Woo!

During the 1st period, Ryan Kesler hit Derek Morris into the boards earning him a 5 minute boarding major and a game misconduct. Did it warrant a major penalty or should just a 2 minute penalty been handed out? The hit was debatable whetherit should have been a 5 minute major, as it seems that it was a harsher penalty handed because of how Morris went into the boards

Here is the video:

Shane O'Brien is again the the doghouse. According to The Province and the Vancouver Sun, he arrive at an 11am practice at 10:55, and to send a message to O'Brien and the rest of the team really, O'Brien is being benched in tomorrow game against Phoenix. Alberts will be in the lineup in place of O'Brien.

The two papers are saying that he possibly slept in. Riiiight. If you slept in, which you shouldn't because you can clearly afford an alarm, you would call the Canucks office to say you were late then proceed to get you butt to practice. I won't excuse what he did, but neither will I make a big deal over it. He messed up and will be benched, let's move on. And to all those commenter's on the two newspapers, named 'anonymous' that are saying he was at the Roxy last night....get a life. You either need one because you were at country night at the Roxy on a Sunday or you need a life because you think it's funny to make dumb comments.

In other news:

• The Canucks have signed another Schneider. This one, named Stefan Schneider, is a forward that plays in the WHL for the Portland Winterhawks. He's 20, 6'4", 206 pounds and is originally from Vernon. He had 23 points and 42 penalty minutes in 72 games played this season
• The UFC event that was supposed to take place in Vancouver on June 12 is a no go as per Joe Ferraro of Sportsnet