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The Not so Big Announcement- So long folks... |
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It’s time to make it official, I will no longer be writing on the Vancouver Canucks for Hockeybuzz anymore. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed covering the team I have grown up with and cheered for my entire life but it’s time to move on now. I spend very little time in Vancouver anymore other than 4-5 visits per year as my career and life are now fully based in Winnipeg. Obviously this is why I have been writing about the Jets for some time now.
It’s not easy letting go but moving on makes a lot of sense. First and foremost I want to thank all the great Canucks fans and readers who have come to support my writing by reading, discussing, linking and participating in the forums. I truly appreciate all the comments, good bad and ugly over the past 3 years. The growth from when I started to now has been phenomenal and I am truly humbled.
It would not be very polite if I did not provide thanks to more than a few people. First to Eklund and Captain EO, who took a chance on me and supported my ideas and processes all these years. Second to all the great bloggers on Hockeybuzz, Yost, Engels, Cloutier, Jaeckel, Meltzer, Huddle, Robynhymer, Garth, Augello, French, Vetter, Scoop Cooper, Paul McCann, Barry, Steve Hindle, Jan Levine, Ty Anderson and everyone else.
Special thanks go out to Jason Botchford for being a great guy to chat with and meet who is also a music fan with top-notch taste! Reunion next summer Botch!
So what happens to Canucks coverage on Hockeybuzz now? Well for the past 7 weeks you have been reading your replacement. Yep, the last Canucks blog I wrote was Sunday and only 2 in between since the start of the season. All those compliments via Twitter and the forums are due to him. Ian Esplen is your new writer and I hope you continue to read his work and make the Canucks blog one of the most read on HockeyBuzz and around the internet. Ian has been very patient while Eklund and I dealt with a few internal items before being able to make the announcement. We had hoped to do this earlier but now it’s time to let go and see what happens.
I’m not going away though. I’m going to focus on the Jets and write about them for HockeyBuzz. True North Sports and Entertainment has been very gracious towards me and I look forward to being around the franchise for some time to come and growing the readership of the very passionate Jets fans here at HockeyBuzz. I hope you will take the time to see what's going on and blast me with your comments- I'll never want that to stop. (I think?)
One final thank you, and the most important goes to Ken Beckett. When the chaos of the Jets return broke in the middle of the Canucks Stanley Cup run Ken grabbed the bull by the horns and took them on. Eklund and I had spoken about what would happen when they returned but we didn’t think it would all come to a boiling point while the Canucks were trying to win their first Stanley Cup. Ken was gracious enough to hand the reins over to me, understanding my geographic situation and ties to the team. Ken is a great writer and one of the best for Leafs coverage and his work in the OHL. Thanks again Ken.
So as this is my last official blog solely on the Canucks I officially hand you over to Ian with his review of the Canucks and Senators game:
Canucks/Sen's Recap- Ugly But We'll Take It
Last night the Canucks played another lazy, unfocused, and unmotivated game a home. The team once again didn't seem to care too much, and was just going through their usual paces in hopes of getting the game over with and maybe stealing two points. In the end, despite doing everything they could to lose the game, Cory Schneider stole two points for the team. A win is a win no matter how ugly it is. Good teams win games they shouldn't, and last night the Canucks came out with two points when they deserved none.
Schneider
The only reason the Canucks won tonight. If I was to describe Schneider in one word last night, it would be "awesome". Too many big saves to mention, but he was there every time the Canucks gave up an odd man rush. Without Schneider this was a 4-1 or 5-1game for the Sen's not a 2-1 Canucks win. One question I have about Schneider is what did he do to his teammates to make them play so bad in front of him? Do the Canucks hate the guy or what? What have they scored 10 goals in 7 starts now, time to step up and play for Schneider guys.
Alain Vigneault
Congrats to AV on moving into a tie for first place on the Canucks all-time wins list. It took AV 99 less game to accomplish this feat, and in my opinion he is the best coach the Canucks have had since Roger Neilson. AV is clearly a player's coach and he has been great at deflecting the media away from struggling players over the years. Congrats on the record, and an even bigger congrats on putting up with the media's and fan's crap for all these years.
I would like to bring up one small complaint with you coaching decisions last night. Last night you acknowledged that Ryan Kesler is not playing up to his abilities. This is not breaking news as I'm sure everyone in Vancouver knows Kesler can be better. What strikes me as odd is AV gives a player he knows isn't performing more ice-time than any other forward. I have to question what kind of message that sends your team. I understand that when a player like Kesler is struggling you have to let him play his way out of it, but his struggles have gone on long enough haven't they? It's not that Kesler isn't scoring that bothers me, it's that he hasn't been great on face-offs and has been shaky at time in his own end. Now is the right time to scale back his ice-time to 16/17 minutes and make him earn that extra time he is getting.
Antics
Last night one play stood out to me as to why the Canucks haven't been the same team this season. That play was the play when Burrows opened the door on Winchester and Lapierre hit him through the door. Now Burrows says, the play was a harmless mistake, but considering who the two players involved in the incident are, I doubt that. Lappy knew the door would be opening soon and decided rather than playing hockey like he has all year, he would be selfish and take a run at a defenceless, unsuspecting player player. Burrows claims that a change was coming and that is why the door was opened and that is was an unfortunate accident.
While I do believe accidents happen and I will even believe Burrows in this instance, but 90% of accidents happen because people are not paying attention. Burrows lack of focus on the play epitomizes why the Canucks can't execute this season. The lack of focus this year has led to sloppy play and way too many odd man rushes. It's time for this team to get focused and start playing hockey and not worrying about childish antics.
Childish antics do nothing to make you better. All they do is fire up the other team. We saw it last night when a Sen's team rallied around Winchester and stepped up after the incident. We saw it last June when the Bruins rallied around the bite. This team needs to grow up and play focused hockey and the wins will come.
Time for Gillis to speak up if this continues
A GM can go into a dressing room roughly 2-3 times a year to speak to the players about what is wrong and how they want it fixed. The reason they can only do this a few time s is one, the players see it as meddling with the coaches and two, any more than a few tongue lashings from the GM and players block it out. If the Canucks continue down this .500 road of unmotivated, unprofessional play, it is time for Gillis to talk to his team. .500 is not acceptable. The team has heard it from AV for the last few weeks, maybe it's time a different voice told them that they need to be better, or there will be changes.
Good Players
Hamhuis, Hodgson, Higgins, Malhotra, Volpatti, Schneider
Average Players
Bieksa, Salo, Booth, Sedin, Edler, Weise, Sedin, Hansen
Bad Players
Burrows, Kesler, Rome, Lapierre, Alberts
Canucks 3 Stars
1 Schneider
2 Higgins
3 Malhotra
Thanks for reading.
Have a great day-
Ian.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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