GAME 7 NOTES - So Close Yet So Far

The better team won. Over seven games the Boston Bruins were the better team. As much as it hurts me to say this...the Boston Bruins are the 2011 Stanley Cup Champs. Devastated, heartbroken, disgusted, broken, and disappointed. Choose any of these words and that would describe my feelings after this game.

Secondly, PLEASE...PLEASE...PLEASE do not take the rioting as a portrayal of all Canuck fans. 99% of real fans are not the idiots downtown right now. Most are just guys looking for trouble and it's repulsive. I've seen some disgusting things take place that I don't ever what connected to my beautiful city and my team. So like I said, don't stereotype us please.

Lastly, the only thing I can take out of this day is that hopefully we are good enough of a team to be in the cup finals in the next few years to come. To my fellow Bruin bloggers, it was great disputing this series. Too bad the final game wasn't a nail biter.

Thanks for the year boys...

...GO NUCKS GO!

GAME 6 NOTES + THE GOALIE PROJECT - Bob Essensa

GAME 6


Well...that was...well...just...well...sigh...That was a wasted opportunity. It didn't look like the game was going to unfold the way it did. The Canucks applied pressure, Hank almost sealed the first goal of the game on a bouncing puck that bounced off the boards directly behind the net (almost identical to Lapierre's game 5 game winner). That would have completely changed the outcome of the game. Not to mention the literal back breaking injury of Mason Raymond. I can't say that Raymond has been one of my favorite players of the play-offs but he has generated chances (although not finishing) with his speed and decent shot. I don't understand how you can injure Raymond the way he did and not get looked at by the league. The Boston player locked Raymond's head between his knee caps and rammed his tail bone into the boards. Don't make sense.

But hey, that's just me making excuses. Luongo let in three goals and got chased out in front of the cursed TD Gardens. Schneider did a pretty solid job although he let in 2 goals. He can't be blamed for either as the first one was a re-direct and the second one came mere seconds after an unbelievable goal line stop.

Saying this though, the positive thing we can take out of this game is that we could have come back. We hit the post on the powerplay in the 2nd that was followed up by a Thomas stick save on Kesler. There was also a 2 on 1 that was dangerously close to being capitalized on also in the second period. So with those two chances alone in the 2nd, this game could have been a 2 goal game going into the 3rd easily. Of course, the third period the Canucks had a very strong push including a Hansen post that all of Canada simultaneously thought was a goal.

But like EA Sports and myself predicted at the beginning of the series...Canucks in 7. It's so close we can taste it. I'll be around the city watching the game and I can't wait to see the atmosphere if when we win!

GAME 7 BABY! IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!

THE GOALIE PROJECT


Okay, so I haven't posted a whole lot about hockey cards in a while besides that nice Pinnacle pack rip I picked up the other day. I thought it might be appropriate to do what I like to consider a c4k "classic". Yup, that's the goalie project. This time it's a goalie that split a season with both Felix Potvin and Dan Cloutier (what a nightmare) - Bob Essensa.

Bob was not known for his time in Vancouver. He was more popular in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

This my lone Vancouver Canucks Bob Essensa card. Kinda a weird looking picture because it's from a weird angle, but I really have always liked the look of these 2002 Pacific cards.

These cards are technically not considered "RC" by Beckett but these are "All Rookie Team" cards so I'm considering these rookie cards. After all I'm not gonna go on Ebay and pay 5 bucks worth of shipping and handling for an Essensa RC worth 10 cents. So let's roll with it. By the way, can Winnipeg please not even consider any other jersey than those classics. I mean, that's a great looking jersey any way you slice it. Bring it to Winterpeg!

With that, let's take a look at where I'm at:

Alex Auld - 3/3 COMPLETE! 26 TOTAL
Murray Bannerman - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Martin Brochu
Richard Brodeur - 1/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
Gary Bromley
Bruce Bullock
Sean Burke
Frank Caprice
Jacques Caron
Dan Cloutier - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Ed Dyck
Ken Ellacott
Bob Essensa - 3/3 COMPLETE! 13 TOTAL
Mike Fountain
Troy Gamble - 2/2 COMPLETE! 21 TOTAL
George Gardner
John Garrett - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Glen Hanlon
Johan Hedberg - 2/3 COMPLETE! 4 TOTAL
Rick Heinz
Corey Hirsch
Charlie Hodge
Arturs Irbe
Jason LaBarbera - 2/3 COMPLETE! 4 TOTAL
Ken Lockett
Roberto Luongo - 3/3 COMPLETE! 38 TOTAL
Drew MacIntyre - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Cesare Maniago - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Bob Mason
Dave McClelland
Steve McKichan
Kirk McLean
Rob McVicar - 1/1 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Alfie Michaud
Tyler Moss
Mika Noronen - 2/3 COMPLETE! 5 TOTAL
Maxime Ouellet
Félix Potvin - 3/3 COMPLETE! 25 TOTAL
Andrew Raycroft - 1/3 COMPLETE! 6 TOTAL
Curt Ridley
Dany Sabourin - 2/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
Curtis Sanford - 3/3 COMPLETE! 6 TOTAL
Cory Schneider - 1/2 COMPLETE! 7 TOTAL
Corey Schwab
Petr Skudra - 3/3 COMPLETE! 4 TOTAL
Gary Smith
Garth Snow
Kevin Weekes
Steve Weeks
Kay Whitmore
Dunc Wilson - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Wendell Young

Okay so that's it until Wednesday night. You'll get my reaction after game 7, and I hope that I'll be as happy as I've ever been. Boys I've waited my whole life - please...bring the cup home!

GO NUCKS GO!

GAME 4/5 NOTES

GAME 4


No comment.

GAME 5


I WAS AT THE GAME!!! Yes, I actually was one of the 18,000+ fans to watch this game live from Rogers Arena. It was the most exciting, stressful, hairsplitting, exuberant, wonderfully loud and just overall amazing game I've ever been to! Probably the most important game my eyes will ever see live - forever.

In one word - INCREDIBLE!

That was a true hockey game. The Canucks got ripped BIG TIME on penalties. So many missed calls, yet so many confusing non-calls against. Mostly in the first two periods. There was a single goal in the entire game yet it was the best all around hockey game I've seen all season. That just goes to prove that high scoring games are not always better than low scoring (nudge --> Betman) The crowd was insane (to say the least) and the players were noticeably pumped to be back home. I even sat only 1 section away from Steve Nash (who is Manny Malhotra's brother-in-law)! What a battle between these two teams. It just so happens that Thomas got bit in the ass for coming out of his net so far that he couldn't recover to stop Maxy Lapierre's shot. But it was a hell of a game from BOTH teams. Of course, I love when the Nucks come out on top. But if it was for Bobby Lu, the big bad Bruins would have potted at least one.

Breath in, breathe out...

...one more win...

...GO NUCKS GO!

GAME 3 NOTES = OUCH!

Boston Bruin fans, you deserved the win. You out skated, out worked, out "hearted" us tonight. Canucks did not want it tonight. Oh ya, here's a statistic that might interest you. Ryan Kesler was minus three tonight. Last time he was minus three was against the San Jose Sharks in the 2007-08 home opener. If that doesn't show that Kes isn't healthy I don't know what does. 

"The Hit". Aaron Rome's hit was late. That was the only thing wrong with the hit. I hate the word blindside. It's such a touchy word. When your coach first teaches you to take a hit as a kid. Isn't rule number one - don't watch your pass. I mean, I love Claude Julien but a "blindside" is not what I would call it. Nathan knew he was in a danger area and instead of being aware of his surroundings he followed his pass. Saying that though, the hit was penalized because of the timing. I timed it a few times over with the magic of PVR, and in real time the hit took around 2.3 seconds after the pass. Elbow was low, so there's no beef there. He "left his feet" a.k.a got an inch of leverage. FYI, everybody jumps that one inch on any hit. Watch any slow mo and you'll see what I mean. Aaron Rome did not jump a ridiculous amount as to attack the head, he just needed to get one inch or else he would be the one falling on his butt. If he didn't, Hortons 1 inch and 20 pounds on Rome would take an opposite affect. Nevertheless, Rome WILL get suspended for 2 games. 

"The Bite? Again?". Yup, the heckling continues. I don't care if your a Canuck or Bruin. No more of this stuff. Shut it down, I hate seeing this immaturity on the ice. Claude knows what's up, and I don't think anyone will be trying that anymore.

"The Hit - Thomas Edition". Well ummmm...that was huge. As a Canuck fan - I hated it. As a hockey fan - I loved it. But I mostly hated it. So if goalies can hit skaters over anywhere, I say goalies can get hit outside there crease. Sucks for goalies, but that's the way it goes. 

"The Goal x8". Pumping 8 goals by any goalie would kill a goalies confidence. But I really hope the boys in the room tell him those weren't his fault. They left him out to dry near the end especially. Guys were going for the big hit to send a message. What they needed to do was shut it down and leave with 5 goals in the back and not 8. 

Well that's it for me. I give props to the Bruins, but I hope the Canucks come strong in game 4. 

2 MORE WINS, KEEP BELIEVING 

GO NUCK GO!

PACK RIP - 2010-11 Pinnacle (GU HIT!)

Well the title pretty much gives the entire post away. Yes, I bought one pack of Pinnacle. Yes, I got a GU hit! But of course there is a story that goes with it.

Today my sister had a friend over. Naturally they wanted to go to the mall. Naturally this brings two problems: 1) they needed someone to take them there, 2) they needed someone to essentially "babysit" them so they didn't do anything stupid. That's where I come in. But I wasn't gonna waste an hour of my time for nothing, and that's where the bribe comes in. I would do all these things for my sister only if she bought me a pack of cards. Deal! Plus, I called my buddy up and just hung out with him must of the time so it wasn't that bad (but I'd never tell my sister that).

So we headed down to Zellers and went to the card section. I saw packs of Pinnacle which I haven't gotten a hold of yet so I decided to go for that. It was priced at 5 bucks a pack which I knew was a bit pricey, but like I said before, I would never tell my sister that. I handed about 8 or so packs to my buddy and told him to pick the thickest of the bunch. He obviously made the right decision.

Boo!

It's funny how pack work out. In the first card we see Alex Ovechkin hitting Tomas Plekanec. In the second card we see Tomas Plekanec trying to score a goal.

Again in the first card we see Hedman hitting Daniel Alfredsson. In the second we see Daniel Alfredsson celebrating. Neat how cards can be inner connected in a single pack.

Here are the rest of the base cards that have virtually no inner connection. Finally, we reach the climax of the pack. Enough of me rambling just take a look.

Sweet! This was a pretty fun one to pull. When you pull a hit from a single pack (especially from a low-med type set) it feels better because you know you beat the odds. The player ain't too bad either. I've always kinda liked Ryan Suter because I know his dad played on the 1980 USA "Miracle on Ice" team. "Miracle" is still to this day one of my favorite movies. Btw, this card is numbered out of /499.

GO NUCKS GO!

WE WANT THE CUP!

GAME 2 NOTES

WOOOOOOOOOOO!

That's about the amount of in-depth analysis I'm gonna give after game 2. I won't go breaking down the game tonight mostly because it's hard to concentrate on the "little" things when I'm surrounded by all of the biggest Canucks fans I know. The noise level just between me and my closest buddies was ridiculous to say the least. Only thing I will comment on is the goal. Burrows read Thomas' over aggressive style perfectly and fought of Chara perfectly as well. Well done Alex, and I love that you said "Thanks Dad" at the end of your interview because he was your inspiration tonight. As always, beauty celebration for your friend Luc.

What I really want to say is that I love my city. Leaving the restaurant ("Boston Vancouver Pizza") all you could see were Canucks jerseys from every angle and cars honking their horns constantly in celebration. To cap of the city's enthusiasm me and my buddies went to my house and grabbed some sticks and taped white towels to them. We walked a block to a very busy street and stood there with the towels held proudly in the air. Not a single car passed by without honking! It was CRAZY (for lack of a better word). Even a firetruck past by and put his sirens on. Everybody screamed, laughed, cried, and cheered in unison tonight. The city is ELECTRIC, and I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else right now!

2 MORE FREAKIN WINS!

GO NUCKS GO!

GAME 1 NOTES

Just as I was thinking what kind of snack I wanted to get from the kitchen for what looked like a triple overtime game. Raffi FREAKIN Torres scored with 18.5 seconds left! Holy crap what a finish. Okay, so I have a lot to get out so this may get a little scatterbrain-ish.

1) I'm so glad special teams didn't rear it's ugly head. Isn't it refreshing to watch a game where there's not like hmmm...12 penalties? Oh wait! (I hope you can sense my sarcasm).

2) Continuing along with the theme of penalties, I wouldn't be peeved off if all 12 powerplays were deserved. For example, the Boston penalty where the player "hooked" Henrick Sedin. I'm a Canucks fan and although I'm happy we caught a break I recognize that wasn't a penalty. If I was a Bruins fan I would be pissed cuz that looked like a HUGE scoring chance. Of course though the refs made up for their mistake. They handed out an outrageous call to Burrows for goaltender interference. Tell me how you can call interference when the goalie is 3 feet out of his crease? I'm a strong believer that when you're out of your blue, the goalie is in the wrong. Also, I find it terrible that the ref at centre made the call instead of the ref directly behind the net. I don't get it. *insert shrugged shoulders here*

3) Love the way the Canucks started the game. I believe that the Sedins deserved more than they got tonight. They played a great game working the cycle as usual, but my credit goes out to Thomas for being beast in the first few moments of the game.

4) I LOVE the nastiness beginning between these two teams, we had a big scrum that involved Bergeron and Burrows. Could you imagine a scrap between those guys. It would be the dirtiest fight of the playoffs, I'm pretty sure the shanks out of the socks would come out. Great battle from my most personally hated Bruin - Marchand. Finally, the fantastic grit between Max Lapierre and Andrew Ferance. Can't wait to see how these battles unfold.

5) Maxim Lapierre was an absolute beast tonight. I watched his game very closely and he made a differance. He's great in the playoffs especially and his style of play fits great into that 3rd line.

6) The goalies stood on their heads tonight. I tip my hat to Timmy Thomas because I strongly believe if it wasn't for him this game turns into a 3-0 game. Luongo and Thomas are my two favorite goalies respectively.

7) Speed kills! The Camucks 2nd to 4th lines are speedy and it showed tonight. Boston will have huge problems with this in the future. We need to use our speed to our advantage.

8) I'm glad neither team scored on their powerplays because either cities would have had a mad ref controversy going on. 3rd period hockey games are always tons of fun.

9) I believe the goal Raffi scored will become a repeated goal against Thomas. First I think that as a coach you tell your 3rd and 4th lines this: "You may not always be the hero, but go out there and make a DIFFERENCE". That's exactly what Raffi did. Also, I think that is one of the very few ways to beat this fantastic goalie and we need to use it more often.

10) What's with all these Candian guys turning into Bruins fans? Obviously there is Milan Lucic and Cam Neely because they are part of the organization. Even Don Cherry I can tolerate but now Burnaby native Michael J Fox is routing for the B's possibly. Come on Canada! Put the team on your back!

Players of the Game:

Boston: Tim Thomas
Kept them in the game and almost single handedly brought them into OT

Vancouver: Raffi Torres
Well he got the game winner with 18.5 seconds what do you want me to do?

3 MORE WINS!
GO NUCKS GO!