Top 10: Trevor Linden Moments, #10-6

I had thought about starting this blog for a number of months, but the impetus for me actually doing so came from my desire to express my appreciation of the greatest Vancouver Canuck, Trevor Linden. The first ever post on 'Nucks and Pucks came last June, on the occasion of Trevor's retirement - and now, on the day that his jersey is raised to the rafters of GM Place, I present my Top 10 Trevor Linden Moments. This first part presents moments 10-6.

Number 10

St. Louis Blues vs. Vancouver Canucks

Linden hits Jeff Norton through the glass

Unfortunately I couldn’t track down the date for this massive hit, but I believe it was during the 1995 playoffs, when Vancouver defeated St. Louis in their opening round series. No need for a description here, the video speaks for itself. Simply awesome.

Number 9

January 21, 1998 – Phoenix Coyotes vs. Vancouver Canucks
Linden fights for his Captain

In what looked at the time to be his last game ever as a Canuck, Trevor Linden valiantly defended Mark Messier after a Coyote player took liberties with him. This, despite the fact that Messier had taken over the captaincy from Linden and been the reason for bringing in Mike Keenan as coach. Keenan verbally assaulted Linden in the dressing room, and was eventually responsible for trading the Canucks icon to the New York Islanders. That Linden would defend Messier despite these circumstances speaks volumes about his character and his dedication to the Canucks.

Number 8

1988-89 Season – Trevor Linden’s Rookie Season

Linden Makes NHL All-Rookie Team

Linden finished his rookie season with 30 goals and 29 assists, good enough to earn him a spot on the NHL All-Rookie Team. Check out this vintage of clip of TL in his rookie year. I have a serious love/hate for those canary duds!

Number 7

April 23, 2007 – Dallas Stars vs. Vancouver Canucks

Western Conference Quarter-Finals, Game 7

Linden nets the game winner as the Canucks advance to the second round. The Canucks lost in the second round to the Anaheim Ducks, who would go on to win the Cup that season. Linden finished the 2007 playoffs, the last of his career, with seven points to tie for the team lead.

Number 6

May 24, 1994 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Vancouver Canucks

Western Conference Final, Game 5

After Greg Adams’ dramatic double-overtime goal sent the Canucks to the Finals, Linden skated forward to accept the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, which the Canucks earned for winning the Western (formerly Campbell) Conference. Accompanying Linden was the widow of Arthur Griffiths, the former owner of the Canucks. After hugging Mrs. Griffiths, Linden picked up the trophy only to have the lid fall off. This memorable moment of levity only enhanced the importance of this historic moment, which marked only the Canucks’ second trip to a Stanley Cup Final.

Okay, let's lay off Toronto already

This posting only loosely relates to hockey, and has zero real connection to the Canucks. Regardless, I felt like weighing in anyway.

As regular readers know, I am more than happy to take the occasional potshot at Toronto, and in particular the Maple Leafs. Or spend a week doing so. This Toronto-bashing is largely in jest and is intended to be good-natured. It is definitely done with the hopes of encouraging friendly banter, such as that which appeared in the comments section of some of my blog postings about the Canucks/Leafs rivalry. I don't really bear more than a weak West Coast grudge towards Toronto - I did, after all, choose to live in the city for seven years.

In today's Globe and Mail Jeff Blair manages to slam every Toronto sports franchise, as well as the NFL's Buffalo Bills, in an article about the Bills first regular season game in Toronto - a 16-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

The headline of Blair's article is "Another losing team calls Toronto home," and the first paragraph reads:

"Note to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: Can we please pick another team? Seriously. As it is, we're chock full of teams that don't make the playoffs."

Okay, I can see how this is kinda funny. But if I was a Toronto sports fan (I guess I sort of am, as I cheer for the Blue Jays and the Rock, and tacitly support the Raptors) I would be pretty pissed off.

Sure TO had a rough 2007-08: the Leafs missed the playoffs again; the Blue Jays did well, but not well enough to make the playoffs on baseball's toughest division; the Rock missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history; the Argos had an abysmal 4-14 season, despite the presence of a number of ex-NFLers; the Raptors flamed out in the first round of the playoffs; and Toronto FC miss the post-season for the second straight season.

But I sure can't criticize. I mean the Canucks missed the playoffs too, and the BC Lions folded to the Stamps in the Western Division Final. So where does Blair get his smugness from? Why does he feel the need to kick Toronto sport while it's down? Maybe he's a Bostonian, and thus can trash talk about other cities based on the recent success of the Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox. But somehow I doubt it.

I guess I'm bothered by the fact that what should be celebrated as a significant moment in Toronto sports history - after all, this was the first NFL regular season game held in Canada, as well as a chance for the many Bills fans in Ontario to see their team play in their own backyard - gets the shaft because Blair decided that he wanted to use it as a vehicle to diss Toronto.

And c'mon, we all know that Toronto bashing is only really fun when it involves the Canucks whooping the Leafs. Which, by the way, will be going down for the second time this season on February 21. Stay tuned for the trash talk - but in the meantime, lay off Toronto for a bit, kay?

Proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence?

I had a random thought today: at one point (2005-06) the Canucks roster featured four of the more hated players in the game: Jarkko Ruutu, Matt Cooke, Alex Burrows and (oh yeah, him) Todd Bertuzzi.

While Brian Burke was no longer the GM at this point, his right hand man Dave Nonis had taken over the reigns. The squad still had Burke's fingerprints all over it though. And we all know what Brian Burke wants in a hockey team: "proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence. That's how our teams play." That, and polysyllabism.

Given the amount of peskiness and cheap-shottery on this 05-06 squad (a 24-year old rookie named Kevin Bieksa also played half the season, racking up 77 penalty minutes in 39 games) how were the Canucks not the absolutely most reviled team in the NHL?

I figure it must be the fact that there were four affable, neutral Swedes on the team as well. Everyone loves the Swedes, right?

Top 5: People to Feel Sorry For So Far in 2008-09

5. It is hard to feel sorry for any Calgary Flames player or fan. Ever. That being said, you gotta sympathize with Brandon Prust just a little bit for being on the wrong end of this Rick Rypien beating:



4. J.P. Barry is no longer just Mats Sundin's agent, he is also the unintended manager of the Waffle House that is Sundin's indecision on his hockey future. Barry has been forced to defend his client's inaction on multiple occasions since July, and you get the feeling that he knows little more than the rest of us about what is going on inside Mats' glorious, bald head. However, no one will be feeling sorry for him if Sundin accepts that $20 million, 2 year offer from the Canucks. 4% of $20 million is what, $800,000? That's a pretty decent slice of pie to go along with the waffle Barry has been forced to digest since the summer.

3. Did Darren McCarty really need to be reminded of his struggles with alcoholism by George W. Bush? I mean sure it was meant in a complimentary way, but imagine getting called out on that kind of sensitive issue by the US President, at a celebration of your Stanley Cup championship no less. Oh yeah, and a month later the Red Wings put him on waivers and sent him to the minors. When he got recalled he hurt his groin. Not a great start to the season.

2. Mike van Ryn. No, not for getting traded from Florida to one of the only teams that could conceivably be worse than the Panthers this season - rather for being on the receiving end of Milan Lucic's best Trevor Linden impression:



1. Sarah Palin's as-yet-unborn sixth child.

Canucks cap 'Leafs bashing week' by bashing the Leafs

It's been a fun week here at 'Nucks and Pucks, with some good banter in the comments section (I consider 1+ comment to be a popular post - look, it's a small-time blog, 'kay?) and some irate Facebook messages from friends. Tonight was, of course, the Main Event as the Canucks and Maple Leafs faced off at GM Place in front of a sellout crowd and a national TV audience on Hockey Night in Canada. The result speaks for itself:



Clearly the Canucks wiped the floor with the Leafs. After weathering an early storm, including the spectacular sequence in which Captain Luongo barred the door on a Leafs' 2-man advantage without a stick, the Canucks struck back. Kyle "Steve Sullivan" Wellwood struck back against the team that waived him by netting the first goal. From there the floodgates opened, and by the midway point of the second period the game was already 4-0. The Canucks went on auto-pilot the rest of the way, unfortunately surrendering two goals in the game's final 6:07 and allowing the Leafs to escape the West Coast with a modicum of respect.

Despite leaving the game with a pathetic .556 save percentage on the night, Vesa Toskala was not as bad as the stats suggest. Not that that it was exactly possible for him to be worse than that SVP suggests. But if you watch each Canucks goal, you'll see that he is truly culpable on only one of them. On the other three he was the victim of the Maple Leafs weak attempts at defense:

Goal #1: Wellwood was allowed to walk to the net thanks to some shoddy defensive coverage by Matt Stajan. He then tipped the puck top shelf, a tough one to stop.

Goal #2: Blame Toskala for this one. A brutal rebound was left on the doorstep for an opportunistic Ryan Kesler to fire home. Though it would've helped the Leafs', and Toskala's, cause if someone had taken the man in front.

Goal #3: Tomas Kaberle, I thought better of you. I know it was Willie "One Goal a Season" Mitchell, but seriously, you can't just mosey back into your zone like that.

Goal #4: Daniel Sedin scored this goal standing about 10 feet from the Leafs' net in the middle of a square of four Leafs "defenders." Just brutal defensive coverage.

Oh yeah, and Luke Schenn got filled by Rob Davidson. Actually, I think this fight is symbolic of the game: an early stumble by Vancouver was easily corrected by a number of devastating blows to the Leafs, whose late effort to take down the 'Nucks couldn't mask the fact that they got pummeled by a superior opponent. Enjoy!

Maple Leafs metaphorically crushed by Canucks fan!

"Leafs bashing week" continues here at 'Nucks and Pucks with a story of one fan's need to physically manifest his hatred of the Blue & White by crushing a car that is painted, well, blue and white.

The photo above is a scan of Monday's copy of that well-respected journalistic rag, 24 Hours. Widely considered to be the "New York Times of Vancouver," 24 Hours brings its insightful brand of reportage to Vancouver commuters each weekday. Seems it's also jumped aboard the anti-Leaf train with an interesting little contest.

Yes, 24 Hours ran an eBay auction offering one 'lucky' fan the anti-Leafs experience of a lifetime: pushing a button to crush a beater car that is painted up in Leafs colours. The winning bidder paid $212.50 (!) for the privilege of pressing that button, and it all went down last Saturday. If you want to learn more, check out the auction page or the 24 Hours gallery, which has 19 pictures of the mechanical carnage. Or even better, watch the video (slight profanity warning):



Wow. Not quite Citizen Kane, is it? There are a number of things that don't quite work about this video:

1. Who pulls into a scrap yard to use the facilities? What's wrong with Tim Hortons or a gas station?

2. Who pulls over to use a porta-potty? Seriously. The dude's suposed to be in suburban Vancouver, not at Lollapalooza.

3. Why would there happen to be a crowd of Canucks fans hanging out in said scrap yard, when they clearly have no business being there?

4. Wouldn't there be serious legal ramifications for the guys who crushed the car? If I was that Leafs fan the second call I was making after 9-1-1 would be to my lawyer.

5. And finally, what's the deal with what appears to be a set of giant inflatable testicles with a Leafs logo on them, which appear at around the 1:28 mark? If they were onscreen for any less time I think it would qualify as subliminal messaging.

Turns out the guy's a Sens fan too. I think that explains it, because as much as I'm all for anti-Leafs banter this is a tad too ridiculous for me. Anyway, if he wanted to make an anti-Leafs statement doesn't he realize that for $212.50 he could have bought, like, six Eric Lindros Leafs jerseys and burned them? Although come to think of it, wearing a Lindros Toronto jersey might be the ultimate mockery of the Maple Leafs...

On a positive note, the $212.50 will go to Canucks Place which is a very worthy charity.