I enjoyed re-watching Game 6 of the Canucks/Blackhawks 2011 series on Tuesday night. There was so much going on in that game that it really warranted another viewing.
Alain Vigneault didn't play his hand at all, that he was going to start Cory Schneider after the rough outings from Roberto Luongo in Games 4 and 5, so that was the first dramatic moment. But then, Schneider made pretty glaring errors on the plays that led to Chicago's first two goals, even before he cramped up and was pulled from the game after Michael Frolik's penalty shot tied the game 3-3 less than two minutes after Kevin Bieksa had put the Canucks ahead early in the third.
Bieksa was so fired up in that game. He was absolutely incredulous when there was no penalty call when he was hit from the blind side behind the net — I believe, in the second period. Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson suggested that there was no call, in part, to balance out the light punishment that Raffi Torres had received for destroying Brent Seabrook in similar fashion earlier in the series — which caused Seabrook to miss Games 4 and 5 of the series.
The refs were still busy enough in the chippy game, though neither team scored on the power play. Vancouver took five minors, as well as the tripping penalty on Kevin Bieksa that led to Frolik's penalty shot. Chicago took three penalties. And there was a funny moment midway through the game when I noticed the ref barking the penalty call over his microphone in the background while Hughson and Simpson talked. I thought "Hey, that sounds like Wes McCauley!" Checked the game sheet and sure enough — he and Kelly Sutherland called the game.
I couldn't tell on the broadcast if it was McCauley who signalled the penalty shot for Frolik, but that would certainly align with his now well-known flair for the dramatic.
It was also fun to watch Luongo make his big entrance as Schneider was being helped off the ice. He has talked recently about how that moment was one of the most memorable of his entire NHL career.
At the start of the third, Schneids didn’t say anything to me as far as how he was feeling, like he was cramping up. In Chicago, there’s not a lot of room on the bench. So I was actually watching the game in the dressing room. When they got the penalty shot and scored, I was looking at it as like, “Why is he staying down?” I wasn’t understanding what was happening. Within 10 or 15 seconds, somebody from the bench runs in the locker room to tell me that he’s cramped up: “You have to go in.” And I was like, “Holy crap. What the hell is going on here?” So I put on my gear, and I swear to God, this is the honest truth: As soon as I walked through the tunnel, and people saw that I was coming out, I felt like a wrestler coming out to the ring. People were yelling, they’re chanting my name. It was absurd, it was so crazy. That moment I honestly felt like Stone Cold Steve Austin coming to the ring.… It was one of my favourite moments of my career.
It's funny how someone's experience inside their head can be different from what we see on the outside. Maybe the moment has grown in Luongo's memory, but I was watching his body language carefully on Tuesday and he did a great job of looking like he was all business.
The Canucks did a wonderful job of supporting Luongo after he came into the game — shots in the third period were 10-3 for Vancouver, but they couldn't quite put the game and the series away.
They added another 12 shots in 15:30 of overtime before Ben Smith forced Game 7 with his third goal of the series.
That's the other thing that's so crazy about the Blackhawks' comeback — players like Smith, Frolik, Dave Bolland and Bryan Bickell seemed more prominent in key moments than the big gunners like Toews, Kane and Hossa. It truly was one moment in time.
We've already seen Game 7 once during this shutdown, but I'll watch it again. It airs Saturday at 6:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet.
Another big hockey programming note — this weekend, TSN is airing the 1987 Canada Cup games between Canada and Russia, which often get tagged as the best hockey of all time. "Gretzky to Lemieux..." Ring a bell?
I've ready books on these games but I'm not sure I've ever watched them, so my PVR is set.
Game 1 airs Friday at 12:30 p.m. PT on TSN1, and 4:30 p.m. on TSN4 and TSN5.
It runs again on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. PT on TSN 1, before Game 2 rolls out at noon.
Game 3 runs Sunday at 4:30 p.m. PT on TSN5.
Another programming note — if you're a Seinfeld fan, Jerry's new comedy special "23 Hours To Kill," dropped on Netflix earlier this week.
It seems hard to fathom that Jerry is 65 now. He talks about that, but is clearly still in excellent shape — there are some fun physical elements in the set. I was also very drawn in by the opening segment, which talks about the rituals that people go through in order to go out, and how we always want to be somewhere other than where we are right now. That seemed especially powerful in our current circumstances.
As for Canucks news — if you missed it, Iain MacIntyre talked to Jim Benning on Wednesday about the Judd Brackett situation, which is now all the way out into the light of day.
The peculiar case of amateur scouting director Judd Brackett and the Vancouver Canucks. Success may not keep them together. https://t.co/sCEPfdymB3
Brackett, like Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli and Chris Tanev, is set to become a free agent on July 1. Benning confirmed to MacIntyre that Brackett had been presented with a contract offer, which was rejected, but wouldn't buy into the idea that it was definitely the end of the road.
“I’m not there yet,” Benning said. “We’ve still got lots of time to figure out a way to make it work for him. I do know we have a lot of good scouts on our staff. I’ve never been more comfortable with the group of scouts that we have on our staff than I am right now. I feel every year we’re getting better and better.”
13) Now that their dispute has poured into the public domain, it’s difficult to see how the Canucks and the team’s director of amateur scouting, Judd Brackett, can continue to work together — even for the next seven weeks. Brackett’s contract is up; negotiations have gone nowhere.
Sportsnet 650’s Satiar Shah has done a lot of reporting on this issue; Iain MacIntyre confirmed Wednesday the wedge deepened because of “autonomy-based” concerns and “whether Brackett feels he has enough control over his department.”
It’s become very personal. Clearly, neither the Canucks nor Brackett are comfortable with each other. I wonder if the solution is Vancouver letting Brackett go, but not allowing him to work anywhere else until July.
That last line suggests to me that, even now, Brackett is looking to distance himself as much as possible from what the Canucks do at this year's draft, whenever that turns out to be.
After the club has enjoyed probably its most fruitful years in franchise history at the draft table, it's certainly unnerving to see a key figure from the scouting department at odds with the organization, especially when this seems to be following a pattern that we've seen with so many other high-level executives over the last few seasons.
I think it's pretty clear now that we need to brace ourselves for the upcoming divorce announcement.
"31 Thoughts" is a particularly good read this week, with lots of spitballing about how the technical aspects of an NHL re-start would come together, particularly on the broadcast side.
Finally — if you missed it on Wednesday afternoon, Twitter was abuzz after screenshots were leaked from a private Instagram group chat which included former Canuck Brendan Leipsic. I won't repost but I'm sure you can find them easily if you want to see them — the unsavoury Canucks content included a disparaging comment about a picture of the Canucks' young guns on holiday at the beach and criticism of Tanner Pearson's wife.
The Canucks acquired Leipsic from Vegas at the 2018 trade deadline in exchange for defenseman Philip Holm, and he never got a better chance to thrive than he did in Vancouver, where he had nine points in 14 games and averaged 16:56 of ice time to close out that season.
But after Elias Pettersson arrived to start the 2018-19 season, Leipsic had just five points in 17 games and saw his ice time drop to 12:50. He was picked up by the Los Angeles Kings after being placed on waivers on December 3, 2018.
To be clear — Pearson was traded from L.A. to Pittsburgh on November 4, 2018, then to Vancouver on February 25, 2019. So he and Leipsic were not teammates with either the Canucks or the Kings.
Though Leipsic was making the league minimum of $650,000 in 2018-19, the Kings chose not to give him a qualifying offer, which made him an unrestricted free agent at age 25. He signed on with Washington this season at $700,000 and had a steady but limited role as an energy guy on the fourth line, averaging 9:10 a game and collecting 11 points in 61 games.
After the Capitals announced that they'd deal with the matter internally, the NHL issued a strongly worded statement condemning the words of Leipsic and Jack Rodewald, a 26-year-old who spent most of this season with the Florida Panthers' AHL team and who was also in the group chat.
Leipsic has already taken responsibility and issued an apology, but my guess is that his pro hockey career is now hanging by a thread. Not a great place to be in these uncertain times.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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