Game 28, 6th game of a 7 game road trip, does a Canucks’ fan know what to expect?

I’m not so sure. After what appeared to be a win in Colorado, at least in this writer’s eyes, 3 points were awarded and the Canucks looked confused and frustrated. It’s easy to blame the rookie keeper for letting in a softy late in the game, or say two own goals made the difference for the home team, but sometimes taking the easy way out is right.

With the Canucks I’m not so sure. To get the puck in the net you have to get possession and create the chance/seize the opportunity to put it on net. The offense did this admirably and so did the defense-except for the opposition.

As I watched Demitra cough it up I had a flashback to my son’s hockey game-kids getting the puck in their own end and preparing to go up the ice with it. A player finds himself with the puck and the rest of the team moves up the ice waiting for the puck to come out. Usually with 9 year olds they try and get by two players and never pass it, despite practicing banking it off the boards and out every practice. Demitra was like a 9 year old-he forgot the basic rules.

I think some basic rules need to be implemented for Vancouver, and like 9 year olds the coach needs to hear the player respond to know the rule has been heard. First rule, body contact on the fore-check and in neutral ice. Putting pressure on the opposition sure seems to create mistakes and although we have seen a bit more of this in the last two games it’s been sorely missing since the win before the Calgary home and home.

Second rule, get the puck out of your zone while under pressure the first chance you have. Bank it off the boards, flip it high, and make the simple first pass. When you get in a rut you try too hard, and basic techniques and strategies are being neglected in favor of ‘trying’ to make something happen.

Third rule, communicate through the neutral zone. Against Colorado Raymond came back to rush up with Demitra and the two nearly collided at their own blue line. Who is calling the break outs? On defense the players need to call out who they are covering when coming back. Have you noticed on rushes against Vancouver that teams will almost certainly have the puck carrier cross sides as soon as they cross the Canucks’ blue line? I am of the belief that coaches and scout see how our defense collapses and when the puck does not go deep it creates a ton of room to set up. The defense needs to make sure that one player is always on the puck carrier. Collapsing works but not if you give the opposition time to set up first.

Fourth and final rule, shoot the puck once some one has gone to the net. Get a body in front, get the feet moving, and get the puck fired. I would like to see far more players getting between the circles and moving through to create havoc.

Tonight’s Game.

Vancouver is in the rare position, at least for them, to be in a city where the home team played an away game the night before. This situation seems to happen frequently to Vancouver so let’s see if they take advantage of Nashville’s position.

I think I covered what I want the team to do in the above mentioned rules, but with Nashville a 6-3 loser that might be hard. The Preds will tighten up defensively so to get past a good group Fric and Frac and Nic will need to wreak havoc and I’d like to see them take some enjoyment doing so. I believe Sanford is in net tonight so let’s hope he is rested and feeling good as with Salo out- AGAIN- we will need solid goaltending.

With a Luongo-less team it seems it’s so easy to state the obvious for Vancouver success. We hope for good goaltending where it has always been expected. We say keep it simple because we’re not sure if mistakes will get bailed out as they usually have been in the past. But with a chance to get 4 points in the next two games and 7 out of a possible 14, it seems hoping and wishing are what is needed for a Canucks fan.

At the start of this trip I thought getting 7 points would be pretty mediocre now I see it as a lofty achievement. For me that statement is a revealing picture of how Vancouver has played, and despite of what I wrote above, do the players know how to improve their play so we can see a better team?

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