Flyers First to Move on, The Hockey News and CDC, NHL War Room and Doughty...

by Lisa Ovens

Get the keys, Pronger, you and the rest of the Fly Bunch are cruising into Round Two. And I actually picked them to win this series! The Philadelphia Flyers put an end to the New Jersey Devils' season Thursday night with a 3-0 shut out.

Bye Bye Devils :o)

The Power of Canucks.com affecting The Hockey News?

The fan message boards on Canucks.com has the biggest membership (59,500 members and over 4,000,000 posts) out of all the NHL teams with the online feature on their websites. Over the last few years, more and more sports media refer to the "CDC" boards during their coverage of hockey. It makes some Canuck fans feel special that the hockey media "hangs of their every reaction and opinion".

Well I just saw this blog post from The Hockey News: THN.com Playoff Blog: 10 reasons to plot a Canucks conspiracy.  It's full of juicy bits, taking shots at Vancouver Canuck fans and the city of Vancouver in general. Is The Hockey News just trying to pad their online stats with the hopes of landing another coveted topic thread on CDC? Or does The Hockey News really think of us as "latte-sipping, beachcombing, socialist Vancouverites" and that our home team should be eliminated in round one?

As of this moment, a new topic featuring THN's Canucks Conspiracy List on CDC has not been created. Will a member of the Canucks community take the bait??

NHL's War Room: Do They Have a Scheduling Problem?


NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's pre-game press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday night offered a little more insight into Life in the War Room. After being grilled by several members of Vancouver's media about Game Three's dis-allowed goal and Mike Murphy's explanation of said goal, Bettman had this to say...

"I think Mr. Murphy was trying to explain at 1 o'clock in the morning as best he could exactly what was going on and if he wasn't as articulate as those looking to parse his words, so be it. But as I said, I have complete confidence in Mike Murphy, Colie (Colin) Campbell and the entire hockey operations department."

I bolded the time above, because that's how Bettman seemed to emphasize it. Is Bettman's saying it was way passed Murphy's and the other war room cronies' bed time? If they are having trouble speaking then perhaps they are having trouble making decisions, too? How do they combat the Pacific Time Zone? Conspire to have the Sharks and the Canucks eliminated in the first round? Or do they do the logical thing: schedule a LATE shift!!

Here's a video of Mike Murphy giving a tour of the War Room on Fox Sports

BTW, the official name of the War Room is The Roger Neilson Video Room. A nice tribute to the hockey man they called Captain Video. Neilson pioneered the use of video taped games as a learning tool for his players. He also waved a white towel on a hockey stick indicating surrender to horrible officiating during a Canucks playoff game in 1982. I like the irony there.


Drew Doughty Nominated for The Norris

Yes, my Canucks are officially lining up against a Norris Trophy candidate. Howdy Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings has been nominated, along with Mike Green of the Washington Capitals, and Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks. If Doughty wins, he will be the second youngest recipient (Bobby Orr is the youngest).

GM Place (during the Olympics: Gold was won here...now how about some silver cup?)

Game Five Los Angeles Kings vs. Vancouver Canucks goes tonight at 7pm PACIFIC...stay awake War Room Cronies....

Go Canucks GO!!

Holy Third Period Again, Batman! Game Four Canucks/ Kings

The Big Book of Comeback by the Vancouver Canucks

                        
         

  Vancouver Canucks LA Kings series tied 2-2

by Lisa Ovens

The sound of silence engulfed the city of Vancouver  around 7:30pm Wednesday night: it was the Canucks first penalty kill in game four taking place over one thousand miles away in Los Angeles, California. Could they make it two minutes without a King scoring? Nope. But that would change.

Even if the Canucks didn't win Game Four, I was impressed with their tenacity in overcoming some of the foibles from games two and three, and there was no bigger issue than the penalty kill. Let's face it, since game three, the cheers erupting in Staples Center for every power play awarded, it was if the Kings had already scored. Could you blame the fans? No, because they had six consecutive power play goals to be happy about - it was getting to be automatic!

You know what else was getting to be automatic during this series: hearing the name "Doughty" every minute out of the over worked mouths of broadcasters Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson. But by the third period, that would change too. Less Doughty...more Sedin! When the Canucks play well, it's nice on the ears.

A third period Canucks comeback at Staples Center makes it number twelve  in the "CB" column since the start of the season for the boys. And it couldn't have happened in a bigger game.  The final score...6-4. Aside from all of the drama, action, great Staples Center atmosphere (again...nice work Kingers :o) the following are two of the more quirkier moments (I am drawn to quirky) that will surely bring a smile to my face over the next few days...

Third period fun with Kyle Wellwood, busy in the corner, protecting the puck up and down the boards, burning 47 seconds off of the clock, like he was channeling Sidney Crosby or something. Go Wellwood!

Third period Empty net action courtesy of the eventual game winning goal scorer Henrik Sedin: he shoots and misses the empty net, but stays with the puck as more and more black sweaters surround him behind the goal line. All of the Kings men and all of the Kings sticks couldn't poke out the puck from under good Henrik!

With the post game rough stuff , Game five in Vancouver on Friday night promises to be another spirited affair.
But with less Doughty...more Sedin!
And more Samuelsson,
and more Demitra,
and some classic Great Save Luongos!