Tag Archives: vancouver canuck

Cam Cole: Canucks show they still have it — but just not enough

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

SAN JOSE, Calif. — And there it was, Vancouver Canuck fans: evidence that it was still there.

Buried deep, perhaps.

Too late, of course.

Unavailable when it was really needed, a lot of the time.

But in there, somewhere, was the Canuck team that will put up a fight, make you pay for a penalty, dazzle you with Sedinery, and annoy the heck out of you with the sneakily-skillful play of Alex Burrows.

In there was a defence corps that will jump into the play and make things happen, speedy wingers who will win races and even a few puck battles. A goaltender who, even on a night when he doesn’t have anything like his best stuff, will beat the puck to death in hand-to-hand combat and make enough big saves to still have a chance.

Alas, also in there is the team that can’t hold a lead.

• PHOTOS: Canucks fall to Sharks in overtime

The team that will take the bad...

Canucks may (or may not) juggle lines

Posted on April 29, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER - What you see is usually what you get from Vancouver Canuck head coach Alain Vigneault, unless it's playoffs.

Ask about line combos during the regular season and Regular Season AV is happy to oblige. Now ask the same question during the post-season and you get Playoff AV. He hopes we all understand. The Canucks and San Jose Sharks play Game 1 Wednesday at Rogers Arena.

“As you know,” Vigneault began following practice Monday, “when we get into the playoffs, I don't get into exactly what our lines are.”

Fortunately practice was open to reporters so there was visible evidence. The Sedin twins were with Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler was between Chris Higgins and Zack Kassian while Derek Roy was centring for Mason Raymond and Jannik Hansen. Max Lapierre was back on the fourth line with Andrew Ebbett and Dale Weise.

There was no other confirmation.

“I'm not going to get into the specifics of what we're going to do, just like...

Corrado’s family living the dream, Frankie’s dad says

Posted on April 23, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

To have some idea the whirlwind this season has been for newest Vancouver Canuck Frankie Corrado, consider his family figured at one time that an invite to the Subway Super Series junior game was going to be the highlight.

"We were so excited," Sal Corrado said Monday morning from Woodbridge, Ont., pointing to his son's inclusion in the Canada-Russia exhibition in November that helps pick the world junior tryout roster in this country.

"We had always thought he could play with those players, but we're his family.

"But there he was. It was huge for him to play in that. It was 'wow.'"

It will likely merit a passing mention when it comes time for Corrado, 20, to finally recount his 2012-13 season. Corrado, Vancouver's fifth-round pick in the 2011 entry draft, was slated to make his NHL regular season debut Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

This comes after nearly making the Canadian world junior team, being traded by his Sudbury Wolves...

Canucks line shuffle takes Alex Burrows out of his spot with Sedins

Posted on April 12, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

DENVER — Daniel Sedin figures Alex Burrows asked to get off the Sedins’ line. Burrows figures Ryan Kesler won the lottery.

Riding a four-game winning streak, Vancouver Canuck coach Alain Vigneault changed lines Friday, moving Burrows away from the Sedins and on to the second line beside Ryan Kesler and Zack Kassian. Jannik Hansen practised with the Sedins.

The Canucks are expected to start that way Saturday when they play the Colorado Avalanche here in the second game of a five-city National Hockey League tour (Noon, Sportsnet Pacific, Team 1040).

“Danny said I must have asked the coach to get off their line,” Burrows said. “I just put my skates on and do whatever I can to help the team win. Best day of the year for (Kesler). He is so easy to read off. He wants the puck with speed. For me, it’s a really easy game: create some turnovers off the forecheck and use Kes’s speed.”

Kesler and Burrows established...

Canucks’ Hamhuis just fine and Dan-dy

Posted on April 11, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

CALGARY — If it surprises you to learn that Dan Hamhuis is leading Vancouver Canuck defencemen in scoring, you are not alone.

Hamhuis was surprised, too.

“I didn’t even know that,” he said Thursday before the Canucks left Calgary for Denver. “You know what, to be honest it’s nice to have the points, so you (media) guys don’t ride on me.

“To a lot of people, if you only have one or two points, you could be playing outstanding and playing great D, but people just look at that and give you a hard time that you are not playing well. It’s nice to have just for that reason, but for me it’s not a huge deal.”

Hamhuis has quietly, as is his custom, put together a four-game points streak and now has 20 points in Vancouver’s first 40 games. In a normal season, he’d be on pace for a career-high 40 or 41 points. He had 38 back in 2005-06 in...

Canucks line juggling means more ice for Dale Weise

Posted on April 10, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

CALGARY — Opportunity has come knocking for Vancouver Canuck forward Dale Weise, who couldn’t get to the door fast enough to answer.

A knee injury to fellow winger Chris Higgins has left a hole on Vancouver’s third line and Weise has been asked to fill it alongside Derek Roy and Jannik Hansen.

“This is a big opportunity for me,” an excited Weise said before Wednesday’s National Hockey League game against the Calgary Flames. “It sucks to lose a guy like Higgins. He was playing so well and he is such a big part of our team, penalty-kill wise and five-on-five. He creates a lot.

“I am not going to do anything to change my game. I want to get in there, be physical, get those guys the puck and get to the net and see what happens ... it’s an opportunity for me to show what I can do offensively.”

Weise, who has primarily been a fourth-line player with the Canucks, does...

Iain MacIntyre: New Canuck Derek Roy embracing his whirlwind adventure

Posted on April 9, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — For a television shoot a couple of years ago at his Muskoka cottage, which is a cottage the same way the White House is a house, Derek Roy skeet-shot a Frisbee out of mid-air using a puck and hockey stick.

The skilful centre also flung the puck as high as a juiced Mark McGwire pop fly before catching it cleanly on his blade, and accurately saucered pucks to various land- and water-based targets around his summer playground north of Toronto.

You couldn’t help but be impressed by Roy’s hands and post-and-beam home, even if the see-through shower and steam room in the middle of his bedroom seems a little weird. Unless you’re Hugh Hefner.

Vancouver Canuck coach Alain Vigneault hasn’t seen the video and now he doesn’t need to.

Three games since the National Hockey League team bulked up for the playoffs by acquiring the 5-8 veteran from the Dallas Stars, Vigneault is convinced of Roy’s skill.

“I knew he was...

Canucks notebook: Jannik Hansen says trade deadline moves will take time to digest

Posted on April 3, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — From the perspective of his five years in the National Hockey League, Vancouver Canuck right-winger Jannik Hansen summed up the league’s trade activity Wednesday like a man just finishing a large dinner.

“It’s hard to digest right now,” said the Dane. “It’s going to be a little easier to see once the guys actually get settled and everything. Some good players are coming into our conference but some good ones are going the other way, too. Teams are trying to find a way to optimize their rosters.”

Hansen will likely find himself skating alongside one of those player coming west, Derek Roy, when the Canucks return to action Thursday to face the Edmonton Oilers. Hansen, Roy and Chris Higgins were a line in practice Wednesday. Roy was obtained Tuesday from the Dallas Stars for a 2013 second-round pick and minor-league defenceman Kevin Connauton.

“Obviously Derek is extremely skilled and he seems like he has a really good feel for...

MacIntyre: Time will tell if the price was right for Canucks trade

Posted on April 3, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

As Vancouver Canuck general manager Mike Gillis admitted before making Tuesday’s trade for Derek Roy, there is a price for trying to win the Stanley Cup. The problem is teams often don’t know what that price is even as it is being paid.

The second-round draft pick previous Canuck manager Dave Nonis surrendered to Los Angeles in 2007 to re-acquire Brent Sopel at the trade deadline turned out to be power forward Wayne Simmonds.

Most second rounders don’t become impact players in the National Hockey League, but you never know what, or who, will become of the pick Gillis sent with second-tier prospect Kevin Connauton to rent Dallas Stars’ centre Derek Roy for whatever remains in the Canucks’ season.

Another former Vancouver GM, Brian Burke, threw away first-round draft pick R.J. Umberger in 2004 to get Martin Rucinsky from the New York Rangers. The Canucks had Rucinsky for five weeks, right up until Game 7 of the first round of the...

Time will tell if the price was right for Canucks trade

Posted on April 2, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

The second-round draft pick previous Canuck manager Dave Nonis surrendered to Los Angeles in 2007 to re-acquire Brent Sopel at the trade deadline turned out to be power forward Wayne Simmonds.

Time is on Jannik Hansen’s side

Posted on March 20, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

The fact that Jannik Hansen is putting up numbers after waiting his turn for a more offensive role can’t be a surprise when you consider his first day as a Vancouver Canuck.

The Canucks picked him in the waning moments of the 2004 entry draft, right in the midst of staff at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C., cleaning up the aisles and preparing to turn out the lights.

He was actually in the stands, though, and more than a few heads snapped around when the Dane came down to the arena floor to meet the Canuck brass that remained for that ninth and final round.

Normally, those visits cease after about the second round, and teams rattle off names in rapid-fire succession to an empty arena bowl. There’s not even a ninth round these days; the draft has been since shortened to seven.

There was Hansen, though, the 287th selection out of 291 players picked. He said at the time that...

Canucks don’t have any official complaints about Columbus reffing

Posted on March 12, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When Vancouver Canuck captain Henrik Sedin stuck his stick through the mask of Columbus Blue Jackets’ netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, which was followed by a Bobrovsky swan dive, there was no call either way.

Funny how the officials missed both infractions. But the game was tied 1-1 at that point in the third period and maybe they were just exercising “game management.” Who knows? Henrik obviously didn’t mind.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” he said following the Canucks’ 2-1 shootout victory. “I didn’t know if I hit him in the throat or the mask. They missed a lot of other calls, too.”

That was confirmed by brother Daniel. The Sedins and linemate Alex Burrows were mugged at times and defenceman Cam Barker nearly had his head removed by a Jared Boll forearm but referees Wes McCauley and Gord Dwyer awarded just two power plays apiece.

“I thought the reffing was fine,” Daniel said. “I think they maybe missed a...

Coach Vigneault tries to push up his sagging troops

Posted on March 11, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Vancouver Canuck head coach Alain Vigneault put his sagging troops through a brisk workout here Saturday afternoon, one that even included having his star players do 10 pushups every time they botched a power-play drill.

With the current state of the power play - 0-for-16 the last seven games - there were a lot of pushups.

"One hundred and sixty," captain Henrik Sedin announced with a laugh following practice. "Punishment. It's called punishment."

Henrik seemed to think it was amusing. So did Vigneault. It remains to be seen if the "punishment" works Sunday when the Canucks play the Minnesota Wild in a 5 p.m. Pacific start. Vancouver has dropped three straight and five of six.

"We feel our power play has all the attributes to be one of the really strong power plays in the NHL and today we just threw a little something at them," explained Coach Vee. "If they didn't get a...

CANUCKS: Coach Vigneault tries to push up his sagging troops

Posted on March 9, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Vancouver Canuck head coach Alain Vigneault put his sagging troops with through a brisk workout here Saturday afternoon, one that even included having his star players do 10 pushups every time they botched a power-play drill.

With the current state of the power play - 0-for-16 the last seven games - there were a lot of pushups.

"One hundred and sixty," captain Henrik Sedin announced with a laugh following practice. "Punishment. It's called punishment."

"We feel our power play has all the attributes to be one of the really strong power plays in the NHL and today we just threw a little something at them," explained Coach Vee. "If they didn't get...