I'm still mad about the lack of fan support for Daniel Sedin when he scored his hat trick last Saturday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.
I only saw one hat thrown on the ice at Rogers Arena, though I heard rumours that there might have been two.
By contrast, check out the scene from last night at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, when Mikkel Boedker notched his third goal of the night on the way to a 4-3 Coyotes win over the Ottawa Senators:
This is in PHOENIX. With announced attendance of 12,727. And their fans do better by Boedker than we can do in Vancouver for one of the greatest Canucks of all time??
To add insult to injury, the Coyotes' win is their third in a row and moves them two points clear of the Canucks for the last playoff spot in the Pacific Division with a game in hand. They could be Vancouver's main rivals through the second half of the season.
With that in mind, I think it's time to start petitioning the music staff at Rogers Arena to stop playing the Coyotes' goal song, "Howlin' for You" by the Black Keys, at every Canucks game. That could become the equivalent of trying to pump up the crowd with "Chelsea Dagger" as this season wears on. Time to retire it!
Yeah—my mind is wandering a bit with the Canucks enjoying a rare weekend off before getting back to work in SoCal on Monday.
On a brighter note, it seems like a good time to check in on the prospects!
Ben Kuzma has a juicy feature on Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko in today's edition of
The Province.
After a 6-2 win over RIT on Saturday night, Demko's record for this season has improved to 12-1-0. He has given up just 16 goals in 13 games following his offseason double hip surgery and boasts a .953 save percentage—tops in NCAA Division I for goalies that have appeared in more than 10 games.
Demko's currently a junior, majoring in psychology. The second-round pick from 2014 turns 20 next week, on December 8. As his fantastic season unfolds, Kuzma thinks Demko could end up turning pro as early as next year, which would work well for the Canucks.
Both Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents after the 2016-17 season, so the team would be well served to get Demko a year of AHL action and start to see whether he'd be ready to step up to the NHL level as Vancouver's revolving door of goaltending turns once again.
“I try not to think about it,” he said. “People can speculate as much as they want about what my future is going to look like in the next couple of years. I’m just focusing on each game and taking it shot by shot, and hoping for the best. I am property of the Canucks and invested in them. I keep an eye on them and how they’re doing in all positions — not just goaltending. It’s been cool.”
If you're looking for even more good news, Demko says it'll take a full year after his April 30th surgery for his hips to be at 100 pecent. So there's still room for improvement in his game.
At 6'4", Demko appears to have both the physical and mental tools to make an impact as an NHL-caliber netminder. It'll be fun to watch his progress.
Also on the college front, freshman Brock Boeser continues to light the lamp at the University of North Dakota. Boeser's third in scoring for his team with 7-8-15 in 15 games after an assist on the game winner in North Dakota's Friday night game against Michigan State.
Despite losing their longtime head coach Dave Hakstol to the Philadelphia Flyers during the offseason, North Dakota remains the class of the NCHC with an 11-2-2 record.
As for our pals in Utica, the Comets delivered back-to-back wins on the road over the Portland Pirates this weekend—by a score of 4-1 on Friday night and 6-3 on Saturday. Utica's now on a four-game winning streak and has moved up to fifth place in the AHL's East Division with a record of 9-8-1-1.
Hunter Shinkaruk picked up three assists this weekend to give him 11-8-19 in 18 games for the season. That's good for eighth overall in AHL scoring.
Just one game in the NHL on an unusually quiet Sunday, as Roberto Luongo and the Florida Panthers visit the Detroit Red Wings for a matinee at Joe Louis Arena. Start time: 11 a.m. PT.
Later, we've got Grey Cup from Winnipeg, which gets underway at 3 PT. Who do you like—Edmonton or Ottawa?
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