Canucks & Beyond
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Toothless Buffalo Sabre Tiger Balm
by Alanah McGinley on 01/19/07 at 05:38 PM ET
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Apologies up front—I couldn’t decide on a title. And I do like my titles…
Anyway, heading into tonight’s game I thought about stockpiling all the great things I was going to say afterwards, right after Vancouver stomps those Buffalo Boys. Things like “Wasn’t Luongo unbelievable?!” and “Naslund’s finally turning it on!” and “Wow, is Chris Drury ever over-rated!” etc. Some legitimate opinions, mostly homeristic-trash-talk. You know my thing.
But now I fear I won’t be able to use any of it. And why the concern, you ask? (Or maybe you don’t ask, but here goes…)
See, Tiger Balm coach Lindy Ruff had a nice press conference with the referees last night, and methinks we’re about to spend a crap load of time in the freakin’ penalty box.
“I don’t think the game is being called as tight as it was,” Ruff said Thursday. “Before, as soon as you put a stick on somebody it was a penalty. Now, you’re getting a free tug at times. You’re getting a free paw at times… I think there’s games where the whistle has been put away.”
Yeah, sure. Aside from the fact that I have no earthly idea about how ANYONE can bitch about a LACK of penalties these days, I think the timing is just lovely. For one thing, the Sabres are on a skid. Surely it’s a temporary one, but a skid all the same. Would the Ruffmeister like a few extra powerplays to help snap that skid? Well, that’s a no-brainer.
Every time someone even thinks to bitch about how clutching/grabbing/breathing-too-loud are no longer being called in the game, please just do me a favor and watch any Canucks game. (They’ve got some badly outdated ones on Google—check ‘em out, any random game should work.) Or to make it even easier, just think to the very first penalty of last night’s game, against Markus Naslund for hooking.
Was that a penalty? Well, hell, maybe you could find a way to get excited about it. I can’t. I can barely see it now through my pre-alcoholic haze. Naslund’s stick is up at the waist of some wonder boy, which lasts for all of a tiny portion of a second, and the whistle blows. Wtf?
Well, okay—call that a penalty, but don’t tell me the refs are letting anything slide. That’s just stupid. I bloody well wish they’d let stuff slide…
The other problem—which hopefully won’t be an issue —is that Roberto Luongo didn’t take the morning skate today, which is fairly unusual for him on a game day.
Anyway, I’m not too worried about that. For one thing, I can’t see Luongo taking tonight off, the last game before the break. He’s going to want to finish off this streak in style, and take down another top team in the Eastern Conference. Unless his injury from earlier this week is a factor, I say he plays.
Besides, Globe writer Grant Kerr lied to me about Luongo’s game-day status the other day... and you can’t fool me twice, Kerr!
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Update 5:00 pm PST: Apparently Kerr DOES fool me twice. (Dammit!) Okay, so it turns out that Luongo is out and Dany Sabourin is in. Go backup goalie! Only his 4th game played with the Canucks? Oy….
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Note: for legitimate, intelligent Canucks commentary, don’t forget these fine folks: Canucks Hockey Blog, The Chief Canuck, Yankee Canuck, Stick in Rink, etc. There’s others, but I’m intimidated enough by these guys for today. Enjoy!
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Your Canucks do this just to mock me, don’t they?
By the way, you wanted my thoughts on When the Lights Went Out? Well, here you go.
Posted by Doogie2K from Calgary, AB on 01/19/07 at 10:48 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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Alanah’s Twitter: [@alanah1]
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Is it too late to jump on the Sabourin bandwagon? I don’t care if they tie, he looked damn good in the third. He deserved the regulation win.
Posted by Mike on 01/19/07 at 10:45 PM ET