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Bye, Bye Mon Cloutier
by Alanah McGinley on 01/23/07 at 08:24 PM ET
Comments (10)
I’ve always had a bad habit of adopting and defending pet Vancouver Canucks’ players that everyone else considers indefensible. Guys like Jarkko Ruutu, Matt Cooke, Todd Bertuzzi and most recently, Markus Naslund during his scoring/playing slump.
But there’s been no player I’ve stood up for that has caused me more anguish, more headaches, more sheer stress than bloody Dan Cloutier. God, how he’s made me suffer, and nearly every reader in the last 3+ years has been merciless in their criticism of me for it. (oh the abuse… man, you people suck sometimes.)
However, I’m done defending Cloutier now. There simply is no defense for what I saw today…
In an article for Sports Illustrated all about game day naps, players for the LA Kings—Cloutier, Mike Cammalleri and Aaron Miller—posed for this photo.
Fun, clever, worth a laugh. (Although it would’ve been better if Miller was holding a teddy bear, but of course no one thought to ask me for advice, as per usual…)
But what idiot in the Kings’ media relations office thought it was a good idea to have Dan Cloutier (of all the players on their roster) posing for a photo in his game jersey, pretending to be asleep and wearing freakin’ blinders over his eyes? How dumb do you have to be to not see the jokes coming about that?
And Dan isn’t off the hook with me, either. I’ve defended him forever, and now? I swear he mocks me.
Well, enough is enough—this is just painful. I’m going to save my wasted affection for someone like Jan Bulis. Everyone’s really hating on him these days… it’s making me feel very protective.
Bye, bye Dan. You’re on your own.
P.S. And one more thing…
YOU, Darian Hatcher (-22, 1 point in 47 games) are NOT having the kind of year that anyone should be allowing you to pose for this photo either:
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Comments
Holy crap, Rebecca. I can’t believe anyone got that Mitsou reference. 10 points for you!
(although a very embarrassing indicator of my musical taste in high school…)
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/23/07 at 11:03 PM ET
I’ve gotten flack for defending Cloutier in the past, too. If one more person calls me a puck bunny, I’m going to beat them to death with my remote control.
At least Kings hockey makes fans want to sleep, which is what I assume this picture is implying. Canucks hockey usually makes me want to drink :(
Posted by Isabella King from Vancouver, BC on 01/24/07 at 01:51 AM ET
It’s funny…of all the things Danny boy did on the ice that should have drawn your wrath, it’s a PR move off the ice that clinched it!
Just be happy you didn’t roll your tattoo bet out when he was the #1 guy in Vancouver. That would be a tough one to live down. And you KNOW someone on this planet is walking around with a “Cloutier” on their bicep. Sad sad sad…
Posted by Mike on 01/24/07 at 08:51 AM ET
Isabella— Canucks fans have been drinking since the beginning of time (i.e. 1970) and I don’t think anything much will ever change. Hockey is suffering.
Mike— Do you really think there’s someone out there with a Cloutier tattoo? Even I wouldn’t have done that, and we all know how low my standards for stupid are…
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/24/07 at 07:05 PM ET
You should cease in your affection for _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, he’s been playing lousy and is quite overpaid!
I’ll let you fill in the blanks 
Posted by Temujin from Smithers, BC on 01/24/07 at 11:15 PM ET
Too funny.
I’ve also taken much heat over defending Cloutier. I can’t help it, dammit, I just like the guy. Besides, the numbers don’t lie: he’s the Canucks all-time winningest goalie. (In the regular season. Er…let’s not talk about the playoffs.)
But before he got hurt, he was sure doing his damndest to prove the haters right. He’s really sucked this year.
Posted by Mike The Sieve on 01/25/07 at 11:54 AM ET
I recognize that picture of Hatcher. That was the 2003-2004 season, before and after he blew his knee out—especially the playoff version of Hatcher…
Geez, if you’re giving up on Cloutier…Wow.
Posted by Georgeums from South Lyon, MI on 01/25/07 at 11:23 PM ET
ahhhhh…nice to see Clouts using his game time eyeprotection for photo ops….
Posted by Dev on 01/26/07 at 07:12 PM ET
Yeah, I support your support-Cloutier cause! I don’t think that even Luongo could have saved that mess in the past few years. The Canucks were terrible defensively.
I sometimes wonder how Cloutier would have fared on this year’s Canucks team.
We were discussing Sean Burke last night, on how long his tenure was with the Canucks and my opinion is the same with him as it is with Clouts: The Canucks were lousy teams in front of him as well!
Funny, pics! Strange, but funny!
Posted by Zanstorm from Smithers on 01/27/07 at 04:26 PM ET
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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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That’s pretty funny. I still prefer the shot of Clouts in goal with a beachball in the net behind him. But yeah, thanks, now I have Mitsou stuck in my head
Posted by Rebecca from Vancouver on 01/23/07 at 10:52 PM ET