Canucks & Beyond
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First Televised Look at the Canucks
by Alanah McGinley on 09/23/07 at 03:48 PM ET
Comments (6)
To start, my quick summary of the first televised Vancouver Canucks game of the pre-season.
The Canucks were outshot 37-10, garnered some 65 minutes in penalties (the Sharks, 70), and lost the game, 3-1. And that’s not even to mention matters like Alex Burrows grabbing himself a game misconduct, and the fact that there were large swaths of the night where the Canucks couldn’t seem to summon the energy to walk across a small room, much less play an NHL hockey game.
And regardless of all that, I still thought it was a blast. Here are some quick thoughts and a few random screen shots from last night’s game.
The first hockey game I’ve seen this pre-season that I actually give a crap about, and it didn’t much matter what happened; it was just great to finally see them play for myself. And despite the downsides—not exactly a game to inspire dreams of the Stanley Cup, obviously—there were still plenty of things worth seeing.
The combination of Alexandre Burrows, Jeff Cowan and Matt Cooke was fun to watch (or so I thought). Plus Nathan McIver was generally ridiculously impressive, and Roberto Luongo looked like… Roberto Luongo. Which wasn’t a surprise, so much as a relief after his latest brush with death.
And while it’s true that there were gross amounts of suckage (“suckage” being my version of a game summary; sorry) I can’t bring myself to be too concerned about it. Early days. The sheer amount of injuries makes it hard to gauge much about the team in general at this point, and it’s fair to say the Sharks had a solid advantage in this game.
The Canucks have been hit hard by injuries just three games into the preseason. A total of 10 players, headlined by regulars Trevor Linden, Brendan Morrison, Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo, Ryan Kessler, Willie Mitchell and Aaron Miller, are unavailable. The Sharks have no injuries.Anyway. Onwards. As much as the game itself, the entire atmosphere of Canucks’ hockey being back was exciting. The Sportsnet production looked slick—the team colors looking fresh and saturated throughout the broadcast. And the previews for Canucks TV encouraging us to subscribe to the pay-per-view broadcasts this season were even a bit compelling (*although my enthusiasm will no doubt be tempered by the price tag when I have to write the cheque to Shaw Cable next month—about $160 for the PPV, not to mention the $200 for Center Ice, if I get around to robbing a mini-mart). But last year’s original productions on Canucks TV were pretty bad, so it’s nice to be a bit optimistic that this year will deliver more and better content. Let’s hope.
Lastly, I’m on the record for not being a big fan of the new jerseys, but I’d like to revise that opinion a bit. While I have no urge to own one, I actually thought the new image looked great on television. The blue and green has always been a good look, but even combined with that insidious Orca, it all seemed to work together very well, I thought. Next pre-season game is tonight against Anaheim. Next pre-season game being broadcast on television will be September 29, in Edmonton.
Filed in: vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: san+jose+sharks+injuries, vancouver+canucks,
Comments
I was at the game. I generally avoid preseason tilts, but this was one of the most entertaining I’ve been to. A few observations, or rather foggy remembrances once the Fat Tires wore off…
The new scoreboard at HP Pavillion, ZOMG, it’s ginormous! It lights up the entire arena. The video screen has more than enough size and resolution to easily see the puck on even long distace replays. I’m not a fan of the new light ring (or whatever it’s called) around the edge of the upper bowl. I realize they’re an arena fixture these days, but I find them too flashy and distracting.
I wasn’t expecting to see Luongo, so that was a pleasant surprise…although he only made one or two stops that looked amazing from my vantage point. His rather disdainful save on the (imho unwarranted) penalty shot was good stuff.
Cooke, Burrows, and McIver were the most noticeable Canucks. Pyatt was their most invisible regular player (aside from his two lazy penalties).
On the Sharks side, Doug Murray was easily the best defenseman. Erhoff and Carle, between the two of them made poor pinching decisions about fifty times. Marleau looked pretty good. Although he scored a goal, Cheecho is half the player without Thornton as his pivot. JR played better than I expected, and did tons of fan service during warmups.
The ‘brawl’ included one outright Sharks loss (Marleau-McIver), a narrow Sharks loss (Rivet-Burrows), and a Sharks takedown without landing a punch (Clowe-Cowan). In light of that, I think playing BTO’s “Takin’ Care of Business” on the PA system was a bit much.
Although I can’t think of two better linesmen than Cvik and Sharrers to work a fight-filled game, on this night they were perhaps a little too quick to step in. Maybe because it’s the preseason?
I can’t decide which of the two unis I think less of.
Posted by shep from california on 09/24/07 at 10:58 AM ET
I can’t decide which of the two unis I think less of.
I think less of the San Jose threads. The biggest problem is that they clash. I like the fact that Vancouver stayed with simple horizontal stripes instead of different angles shooting every which way like a zebra, although the “Vancouver” is in too large a font. I really like the blue and green, though.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 09/24/07 at 11:04 AM ET
My beef with game on Sat. night was the quality. I was sitting at my buddy’s place and even on his 57” TV the quality was bad. But it’s only preseason I guess.
Glad to hear the HP got a new scoreboard! It is such a wicked arena and now it has a scoreboard to match. I’m also glad to see as many fans in the stands as there were for preseason. SJ is turning into a regular hockey town. Nice to see.
Posted by Trini on 09/24/07 at 11:23 AM ET
Bleedin’ Ears— I can understand your impatience at the Luongo Worship; the Canucks press is fast to praise him for anything and everything. But I think it’s because they’ve made this city into such a goalie-graveyard in the past, they’re scared of jinxing the best goalie to come to this town in a generation. 
Shep— Great summary and observations. Thanks!
Baroque— I agree. I’m not crazy about the SJ jersey. But just like the Canucks sweater, I did think they looked better when being worn by players on the ice than they did in their original unveiling.
Trini— The lighting was really bad, wasn’t it? I found it looked dark a lot of the time, almost like watching a televised game at MSG (which has to be the worst).
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 09/24/07 at 12:38 PM ET
Please don’t tell me these are the regular TV commentators for the Canucks on Sportsnet?! OMG…they were horrible. They were like so many commentators in the States…they were yelling at me during the game. Ughggh…
Posted by GZ Expat from Chiner on 09/24/07 at 10:58 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.
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Hearing the Canucks radio commentators worship Luongo for about 2.5hrs last night just about made me gag. Every time he made a routine stop one of them would blurt out “ha-HA Lou makes everything look so easy!!1!!!11”. Oh well, I bet those long flights seem to go faster for Lou with those 2 guys fellatiating him the entire way.
Posted by bleedin' ears on 09/23/07 at 04:41 PM ET