Canucks & Beyond
Category: vancouver-canucks
Reasons I Would Celebrate the Stanley Cup
by Alanah McGinley on 06/01/11 at 02:08 PM ET
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On this opening day of the Stanley Cup Final, this was meant to be the place I dropped down my series preview, looking at the Canucks’ depth, the Bruins’ depth, their strengths and weakness (blah blah blah). But after writing it, I started thinking… who cares? At this point, we’ve read this stuff everywhere. For anyone looking, there are some great series breakdowns by my old friends at Nucks Misconduct or Canucks Corner or the Canucks Hockey Blog. And on many other Canucks blogs. So many great writers, all with educated and interesting reflections on this series.
But you know what else they have in common? They all have their whole hearts in this Stanley Cup Final. They care about this series right down to their bones, like a thousand (or a hundred thousand, or more…) other Vancouver Canucks fans. Like me.
I don’t know why the Stanley Cup matters to each of them, just like I don’t know why it matters to you. I’m not even 100% sure I understand why it matters to me sometimes—it seems so trivial in the broad scope of things in our lives.
But it does matter. It matters so much it makes us all a little bit nuts at times. It matters because even if we’re not all Canucks fans, we’re still all hockey fans.
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Canucks Game Day Transcript: Sedins/Kesler/Burrows/Edler/Salo
by Alanah McGinley on 06/01/11 at 12:35 PM ET
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Note: Updated at bottom with Alain Vigneault comments
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Q. Henrik, outside of the obvious which gives you a 1-0 lead, what has winning Game 1 of the last three rounds done for you, knowing you’ve won a game, that you have the lead?
HENRIK SEDIN: Well, I think it’s a really big game. It means apart from being up 1-0, it gives you confidence, it shows you can play against the other team. You don’t really have to change a lot of things.
You go out, you’re up 1-0, the next game they’re going to have to make adjustments to beat you. That’s an advantage, for sure.
Q. Henrik, you said yesterday that eight days off was too much. What would have been the right number? Is the extra days off added to the nerves or anticipation of this?
HENRIK SEDIN: I don’t know if it’s too much, but it’s plenty enough. Four or five days would have been good. I mean, we like to play games. We don’t really like to practice as much.
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
“Canucks are on Their Own”
by Alanah McGinley on 05/31/11 at 10:59 PM ET
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Earlier today, AHL president Dave Andrews released a statement on the Manitoba Moose, and left the future of the team as an open issue with this remark: “The future of the Manitoba AHL franchise will be determined in the weeks ahead, and we look forward to Winnipeg’s NHL club developing its top prospects in the AHL.”
But later in the day, Patrick Williams of The Hockey News has tweeted this:
Wherever the Moose go, they will be the NHL Winnipeg club’s new AHL affiliate. Canucks are on their own for a new affiliation.
Maybe I’m the only one who didn’t know this, but that caught me by surprise.
Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Vancouver Canucks - Media Day Transcripts
by Alanah McGinley on 05/31/11 at 07:42 PM ET
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The Canucks media day in Vancouver featured a number of interviews. Transcripts are below of conversations with Mike Gillis and Alain Vigneault, plus players: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Roberto Luongo, Alexandre Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler and Dan Hamhuis.
COACH VIGNEAULT & GM GILLIS
Q. Mike, when you were assembling this team, did you want to have the balance where you could either play offense or defense because you can dominate the way either way? Alain, coaching that style, is it a matter of guys buying into the mentality of that?
MIKE GILLIS: Well, we got focused on defense initially. I spent three years trying to get the best defense we could assemble so we could play any style of game. We wanted puck-moving defensemen who could join the rush.
That was the style of game we decided upon. We went about trying to find those players that could complement it. Have to give Alain and his staff credit because they implemented a system that utilizes that type of player. That’s what we went about doing.
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Green Men Better Step Up Their Game
by Alanah McGinley on 05/31/11 at 03:06 PM ET
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From the Canadian Press (via THN):
“We have a few things up our sleeves,” Force, part of the green dynamic duo, said Tuesday. “We are going over some plans. We are heading to a thrift shop this afternoon.
“Boston has some good celebrities we can make fun of. Zdeno Chara’s height may be a target. We have to step up our game.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I think there might be something quintessentially ‘Canadian’ about planning pranks—that are liable and likely to get international coverage—by haunting the local thrift store.
Canadians: Yes, we’re understated and cheap. And we’re not embarrassed to say so. 
Filed in: dumb stuff, playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Status of the Manitoba Moose
by Alanah McGinley on 05/31/11 at 01:26 PM ET
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David Andrews, President and CEO of the AHL, released the following statement after today’s announcement by True North Sports & Entertainment in Winnipeg:
“The Manitoba Moose have been a flagship franchise for the AHL over the last decade, always near the top of the league in attendance, regularly going deep into the Calder Cup Playoffs, hosting the AHL All-Star Classic and developing countless National Hockey League players for the Vancouver Canucks, all while also maintaining a strong grass-roots presence in the Winnipeg community.
“While our league will not be the same without the Manitoba Moose, our loss will be the NHL’s gain. Mark Chipman has been an influential leader as an owner in the AHL, playing an important role in our expansion to absorb the former IHL and serving on the league’s executive committee for 10 years. He will be a terrific addition to the NHL Board of Governors.
“Manitoba deserves to have NHL hockey, and we have no doubt that the NHL will be successful in its return to Winnipeg. Our sincere thanks go to the Manitoba Moose fans who have supported the American Hockey League loyally and passionately for the past 10 years.
“The future of the Manitoba AHL franchise will be determined in the weeks ahead, and we look forward to Winnipeg’s NHL club developing its top prospects in the AHL.”
—via NHL.com
Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: manitoba+moose, winnipeg+jets,
Canucks/Bruins Q&A
by Alanah McGinley on 05/30/11 at 02:10 PM ET
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Blogger Nikolay Dudaev, an NHL writer at the Russian sports site Tribuna Sports, was kind enough to ask me (and some other Canucks and Bruins folks) a series of questions on the Boston - Vancouver matchup starting on Wednesday. I was glad to oblige—after all, I figure there’s an outside chance I sound far more brilliantly insightful when translated into Russian, than I do in English. 
But as for the English, here it is. Alas, not so ‘brilliantly insightful’, but it’s a starting point for my series preview which should be up tomorrow.
1. When it became clear that Vancouver was in the Final how did you feel?
I was excited to see that Vancouver made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, of course, but very nervous, too. Usually the stress is over for Canucks fans by June, since we’re usually drowning our sorrows in beer and writing team eulogies. Not that I’m complaining.
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: boston+bruins, stanley+cup+finals, vancouver+canucks,
The Story of Ryan Kesler
by Alanah McGinley on 05/28/11 at 05:18 PM ET
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From Nicholas J. Cotsonika at Yahoo! Sports:
Ryan Kesler grew up in Livonia, Mich., a Detroit suburb about a 25-minute drive to two Canadian border crossings. It was there that he and his older brother, Todd, played with mini-sticks and mini-nets while their sister, Jennifer, cheered on the sidelines. “They would literally play for hours,” said his father, Mike Kesler, “and it was always for the Stanley Cup.”
It was there that his quiet intensity first came out, where he began developing into the top two-way player he is today, where he gained that chip on his shoulder – and where he still returns over the phone or in person to feel at home.
He was 4 when his father, a former college player and longtime youth hockey coach, now a scout for the U.S. national team development program, first took him onto the ice.
“He grabbed my hand, went around the rink once, and then he said, ‘Dad, I don’t need your hand anymore,’ ” his father said.
read on—A great, in-depth piece about Kesler’s childhood and hockey history
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: ryan+kesler,
Manny Malhotra Cleared to Play in SCF
by Alanah McGinley on 05/28/11 at 02:57 PM ET
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From the Canucks official Twitter:
Manny Malhotra has been officially cleared to play, said coach Alain Vigneault.
Malhotra is day-to-day, Vigneault added. Would not discuss the #Canucks Game 1 line-up.
What a comeback. TSN’s Bob McKenzie remarked that it was “bordering on a medical miracle” the other day, when Malhotra returned to full practice. And with this new announcement from the team, it’s hard to argue the point.
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: alain+vigneault, manny+malhotra, playoffs,
Bruins Fans Share Big Expectations
by Alanah McGinley on 05/28/11 at 12:44 PM ET
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So, my little poll last night shows about 80% of respondents favoring Vancouver to win the series… but I suppose the opposite results are appearing on some Boston dude’s blog today, too. I haven’t looked around the ‘net yet, but “unbiased” probably doesn’t apply to any of us.
Still, Boston fans are feeling seriously confident.
The video below is from NESN, and catches the excitement in Boston after their big win last night. (Not to mention, a whole lot of Bruins fans making some big predictions about kicking some Vancouver butt…)
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: boston+bruins, hockey+fans, stanley+cup+finals,
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About Canucks & Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003 (with a notable gap in time through 2010, kicking it with new baby Lucy while living knee-deep in chaos while reading “parenting for complete idiots” during every spare minute) sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen.
In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah was one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
So that’s me. Who the hell are you?
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Alanah’s Twitter: [@alanah1]
