♪ i've got the blues ♪

amazingly, tomorrow i will be here for most of a game!!!  so here's my gameplan: i will do the preview now, and update throughout the day tomorrow when i find more news and links.  at gametime, i will put up links to the gamethreads at both Nucks Misconduct and St. Louis Game Time (the Blues blog on SBNation), as well as posting game updates.  since it is new year's eve, i will be leaving to go party about halfway through the 3rd period, then have to work the next morning, so i will recap possibly friday night or saturday morning.
okay, here we go.

canucks at coyotes recap: 3-2 coyotes in the shootout
-boxscore, highlights, NHL.com recap, Nucks Misconduct recap, Yahoo! recap
the first half of the game was a bore.  if you thought the canucks knew how to trap, you should see the yotes: they have it down to a pat.  their defensive strategy is amazingly good, which explains how they're doing so surprisingly well right now.  in the 2nd, the teams started getting a little rougher, and there were quite a few scrums.  samuelsson scored in the 2nd, and wellwood tipped an edler shot to tie the game in the 3rd.  the game went to overtime (this was the 3rd overtime the canucks have played all year), then to the shootout.  labarbera (yes, luongo's understudy from last year) stopped all 3 shots and a yote got a goal on luongo in the shootout, and the coyotes handed the canucks their 1st overtime loss of the year.  with that win, the coyotes have now broken a franchise record with 10 straight wins at home, so i congratulate that team for doing so well this season (despite all the off-ice troubles during the summer).

team updates:
-so, it turns out that ryan johnson has a broken foot (why do i remember this happening before?), which is why the canucks called up alex bolduc from manitoba.
-mathieu schneider has been placed on waivers, due to disagreements with the team about ice time and stuff like that.  today, it became official that he doesn't want to wear a canucks sweater ever again, so canucks management are looking to trade him.
-in last night's game, kevin bieksa limped off the ice with a very apparent limp.  turns out he ended up with a skate cutting just above his ankle (this happened to his leg a couple years ago too), so he is on crutches and out for a while.  (how ironic that this happens just as schneider is leaving the team).  luckily, we still have 6 healthy defensemen not on waivers right now (mitchell, salo, edler, ehrhoff, o'brien and rome), so we can make due.  with the departure of schneider, rome would have become the 7th d-man, but for now he's #6.
-several olympic rosters were announced today.  luongo will play for canada, salo for finland, and ehrhoff for germany.  the american roster will be announced at the winter classic on saturday in boston, and kesler is an expected lock for that.
-conference standings (NHL.com will update it automatically as things change over the next days)

preview: canucks at blues, 4:00 pm on rogers sportsnet pacific
-comparative team stats, NHL.com preview, Yahoo! preview, Nucks Misconduct preview, St. Louis Game Time preview
last year, we swept them in the playoffs.  so far this year, they're getting revenge.  last time we were at the scottrade center, they whipped us 6-1 and all the spectators in the stands got free burgers.  just over a week ago, they were at gm place, and beat us 3-1.  time for the nucks to get their butts in gear against these young ones.

game on (check out Nucks Misconduct and St. Louis Game Time for threads to talk to people on)
-i was a little late getting home, so i missed an early powerplay failure
-rypper fights janssen.  both get fighting majors, but rypper also gets a match penalty for having tape on his hand.  blues get 5 minute powerplay
-luie makes huge save, o'brien trashtalks crombeen
-steen scores, blues are up 1-0.
-another canucks powerplay....
-.....and it's a failure, and the period ends with it.  1-0 blues after 1 period.
-2nd period begins.
-ehrhoff gets a penalty, but so does steen 12 seconds later.  4 on 4.....
-...and the blues score on the 4 on 4. 2-0 blues now.
-another canucks powerplay.....blown
-anther 4 on 4.....with nothing happening.
-andy mcdonald scores.  3-0 blues now.  tempted to switch to the canada-usa juniors game (i have the canucks-blues on tv and the canada-usa game on my laptop)
-about bloody time.  daniel sedin whacks in an ugly one.  3-1 now.
-woo boy, here we go, big scrum, quite a few fights trying to start.  sedins, burrows and o'brien all involved.  burrows is the only one in the box, but others went to dressing rooms.  blues powerplay.
-end of period, powerplay will carry over.  3-1 blues right now.  sounds like burrows got a 2 minute, o'brien got a 2 minute and a 10 minute, and a blues player got a 2 minute.
-alrighty, i'm probably not catching any of the 3rd, heading out to a new year's party.  check out nucks misconduct and st. louis game time for coverage of the third.  happy new year!

as always, check the sidebar for more stuff.  i'll put more up later.

after all the Christmas turkey......

sorry, i've been working a lot as well as celebrating the holiday season, so i haven't been consistent in watching games and updating here.  i will get here more regularily when i get back to school next week.

boxing day: canucks beat oilers 4-1
-boxscore, highlights, NHL.com recap

last night: canucks whip flames 5-1
-boxscore, highlights, NHL.com recap, Nucks Misconduct recap
i saw a bit of the game, so i have some fun facts: kiprusoff was pulled after the 1st period after the canucks had scored 4 times, including a flukey goal by raymond.  raymond had a hat trick!!!!  the flames were incredibly sloppy

team updates:
-lots of rumours have been flying about gillis wanting to trade certain players (schneider is now on the list), as well as looking for certain players (kovalchuk was one last week).  nothing has happened yet though.
-swedish Olympic roster was announced yesterday.  both sedins made the cut, but samuellson and edler didn't. canadian one to be announced wednesday (luongo), american one on saturday (kesler).  other potential olympians are salo for finland and demitra for slovakia (he's starting to practice with the canucks a bit again)
-conference standings. yes, that's right, by beating calgary last night we also jumped ahead of them in the standings!!!  7th in west, 2nd in NW.  now this is more like it!  now to get back to the top of the conference ideally before the Olympic road trip......

next games are tomorrow in phoenix at 6:00 pm on pay-per-view, then new year's eve in st. louis at 4:00 pm on rogers.  check out Five For Howling for Coyotes coverage, and St. Louis Game Time for Blues coverage.  as always, check the sidebar for more Canucks and NHL news.

Music City players pay a visit

team updates:
-conference standings
-johnson may have a broken foot after blocking a shot in the blues game, took the day off from practice yesterday.  salo also took the day off.  both will be playing tonight.
-sounds like vigneault is giving o'brien some praise.....article here.
-schneider is slated to return to the lineup after taking a few maintenance days off for personal reasons.
-edler is still day-to-day with the injured shoulder.

canucks-predators preview: 7:30 pm
-comparative team stats (look for vancouver and nashville)
-more previews: Nucks Misconduct, On The Forecheck, Yahoo!, NHL
-last meeting: 4-2 predators
last time these 2 teams played was a couple weeks ago in nashville, where the canucks were ending a 4-game eastern road trip.  after falling so easily to the blues, the canucks will want to right that wrong and get a 5th win out of this 8-game homestand.

game-threads:
if you are looking for a place to join others online to talk about the game during the game, go to Nucks Misconduct for the canucks side or On The Forecheck for the predators side and join the comment threads.  (i will be working again, so the links are just going to the main pages, and the game threads will be posted about an hour before the game)

canucks-predators recap: 4-1 canucks
-boxscore
-highlights

from lords to wretches....

okay, here's my plan.  my main posts here will be recaps of previous games and previews of upcoming games, as well as the occasional analytical post.  for quick updates, i'll post links, fanshots and comments at Nucks Misconduct.

canucks-capitals recap:  3-2 canucks
-boxscore
-highlights
-more reviews: Japer's Rink, Yahoo!, NHL
great game.  ovechkin was kept down to 3 shots and a -1.  raymond had 2 goals, the tie-maker and tie-breaker.  semin and kesler got a couple flukey goals, and clark scored for the caps.  luongo got a great save on semin's penalty shot.  great game for the canucks, shutting down a team like that is pretty damn hard.

in the meantime (canucks updates):
-conference standings
-grabner sent to manitoba
-demitra heads home to slovakia to see a specialist
-as always, more updates at the links on the sidebar

canucks - st. louis preview: 7:00 pm tonight
-comparative team stats (look for canucks and blues)
-previews: Nucks Misconduct, St. Louis Game Time, Yahoo!, NHL
-last meeting: november 10, 6-1 blowout by the blues
the team that we swept out of the playoffs last year pays a visit.  they already got a bit of revenge, mainly because the nucks left raycroft out to dry and let in 4 goals in the 1st period of that game.  that was when luie made his return from injury.  canucks will look to right that wrong tonight.  being hot and fired up against the capitals, they better keep that fire going against the conference basement-dwellers.

canucks - st. louis recap: 3-1 blues
-boxscore
-highlights
-reviews: Nucks Misconduct, St. Louis Game Time, Yahoo!, NHL
okay, i missed the game since i was at work, but it sounds like the canucks played poorly against a bad team again.  o'brien did get his first regular season goal with the canucks, david backes scored twice for the blues, and tkachuk got the insurance goal.

as always, i can be found on twitter or at nucks misconduct (links on sidebar)

i know, it's been forever.......

....but i've been doing most of my stuff over at Nucks Misconduct.
several things have happened so far this season:
-tons of injuries. several regulars get injured, kids get called up from manitoba, a couple kids get injured, more get called up, regulars come back, kids sent back down. daniel sedin was the most notable, breaking his foot in october and coming back in november. other smaller injuries happened here and there, including luongo, rypper, wellwood, grabner and bolduc.
-during the injury streak, there was tons of line-juggling, and lots of horrible play. luckily, we're just starting to get hot again.
-those sedins are on fire. henrik did quite well without daniel in the line-up, and now that he's back both are on fire. they've each had about 12-14 points in about 7 games, both have had recent hat tricks, and henrik is tied for 2nd in the league for points.
-ehrhoff fits into the defense quite lovely. he's 3rd in the league right now for +/-
-we're sitting at 19-15-0 right now, with a 22.9% powerplay (4th in league) and 79% penalty kill (21st in league, recently had a huge drop).
-since when has being tied in 9th in the league for number of wins with 19 results in being 10th in the West???? (conference standings here) seriously, the extra overtime points are having an effect on the standings. now last year, it helped us win the NW. this year, we don't have any yet!!! seriously, we're the only team that hasn't had any overtime losses (we've only been to overtime twice)!!!! this is allowing teams like dallas (with 10 OTL's already) to be tied with us for points. because of this, we're in 10th right now. i think the rules need to be changed.
-the olympic road trip. it is coming very soon. the canucks are on an 8-game homestand right now, and so far they've been doing okay at gaining some wins. but still, we really need to get ahead now to prepare for the worst. we play the caps in vancouver tomorrow night. (scores and schedule here)

well, i think that covers everything. i'll try to keep this updated more often. in the meantime, i can be found at Nucks Misconduct, as well as the other hockey blogs at SBNation when i make field trips (whether for nucks games or for socializing and learning about the other teams). i go by "missy" there. i can also be found on twitter.

near-perfect preseason followed by disappointments

so, we went 7-0-2 in the preseason! wooh!!
-hodgson got sent back to juniors
-cory schneider got sent back to manitoba
-lukowich sent to manitoba
-roster was finalized. here are the basic line-ups (subject to slight changes at the wills of fate and viggy):
sedins-burrows
shirokov-kesler-samuelsson
raymond-wellwood-bernier
hordichuk-rypien-johnson
(i likely have the positions mized up on each line, but oh well)
salo-mitchell
bieksa-edler
ehrhoff-o'brien
luongo
raycroft
-glass, rome and hansen are pressbox boys. demitra and mathieu schneider are on long-term IR

so, the regular season has started. yay? actually, not quite:
vs. calgary: 5-3 loss. canucks didn't even show up untill calgary already had a 3-0 lead halfway through the game.
vs. avalanche: 3-0 loss. better play, but aves scored early and craig anderson shut the door.

current season record: 0-2-0. not what we had in mind. on the upside, detroit is in the same boat as us, losing both their overseas games against the blues. san jose also got pwned by the avalanche as well already. already, something is incredibly apparent about the standings: expect what you wouldn't have expected last year.

next game is monday night, the home-opener against columbus.

almost there..... =]

so, we are most of the way through the preseason, and although the roster is beginning to trim down a good amount, there are still questions galore.
so far this preseason, the line-ups have changed every game, and it doesn't seem to have affected the outcomes of the games (6-0-1 in preseason so far, best in league!). however, the quality of play from lots of the newcomers has been very evident, and most of them are gone.
the biggest talk is obviously hodgson and shirokov. hodgson came into camp with a back injury, and although he has played a couple games now, he still isn't at the quality he needs to be at to make the final roster. meanwhile, shirokov has been excellent and everyone is loving him so far. he did hurt his knee last week, but he's now ready to play tonight. this will be very interesting, since there is really only one roster spot open for the two of them (demitra is on long-term IR).
more big talk has been about the defence. with the meltdown in the playoffs and ohlie's departure to tampa, there were many questions about where we were going to find our defencemen. then, in september, there were too many good choices! although the prospects have been sent off, the final roster spots are still to be confirmed. mathieu schneider is on LTIR, so that allows a bit of temporary flexibility.
finally, the other big question: who's backing up luongo? cory schneider and andrew raycroft have been duking it out for the position. although schneider looked to be the answer back in the summer, raycroft has been slightly outperforming him so far this preseason. schneider has one chance left with the upcoming oilers game to show he's ready for the nhl, otherwise he's heading back to the moose.

tonight will be a fun game. nucks play the flamers at the saddledome, then the oilers at rexall tomorrow night. after this, the next game will be next thursday, the highly-anticipated season opener at the saddledome. exciting times ahead!!!

ps. i really want to see rypien fight iginla in one of these two games here, either tonight or the season opener. it would just be epic!!

i am elsewhere as well...

since i am horrible at upkeep of this blog, i might as well say where else i can be found.

- Nucks Misconduct: this is a canucks blog on SB Nation, and i post here extremely often. i go by the name "missy" there.
- Twitter: my username is "canuckpuckbunny" here as well, i update this depending on when i have something to post on nucks misconduct or i come up with something to say. this is close to the frequency as at nucks misconduct, but not quite as much.

well, it's been a while, hasn't it?

yes, i do realize how long it's been since i wrote on here, but i have been both busy and forgetful.

-we beat calgary in that lethal game!!!
-we won the NW!!!
-we faced st.louis in the first round, and wiped them out 4-0
-we faced chicago in the second round, they wiped us out 4-2 :(
-pittsburgh won the stanley cup

off-season news:
-we got jordan schroeder in the first round of the draft, joining prospects
-ohlund left to tampa
-labarbera has left (to phoenix, i believe)
-pyatt has gone to phoenix
-cowan left to buffalo
-sundin doesn't look like he'll be back, even though gillis insists that he will be
-sedins resign pretty much 20 minutes before coming UFA's, signing 5-year contracts
-luongo signs 12-year extension
-samuellson comes in from detroit
-ehrhoff and lukowich come in from san jose
-mathieu schneider comes in from montreal
-raycroft comes in from colorado
-shirokov comes over from russia, joining prospects
-hodgson is too young for AHL but has nothing left to learn in brampton, so he has to try for the canucks roster
-luongo attends canada olympic training camp
-kesler attends us olympic camp
-sedins, samuellson, edler try for swedish olympic team
-wellwood goes to arbitration hearing, gets small raise
-wellwood and bernier have both lost weight over the summer, getting more into shape

upcoming things:
-sept 7-9, prospects training camp
-sept 11-13, veterans training camp
-mon sept 14, preseason opener vs. ny islanders, in Terrace, BC (Kraft Hockeyville)
-sept 14-27, preseason games
-oct 1, regular season opener in calgary

a quick look at highlights for next season's schedule
-oct 1: regular season opens in calgary
-oct 5: first home game, vs columbus
-dec 10-26: longest home streak of season
-jan 30-feb 14: long road trip, GM place being readied for olympics
-feb 14-mar 1: olympics in vancouver, no nhl games in this time (since all the good players will be playing for their countries)
-mar 2-12: road trip picks up where left off, GM place being cleaned up after olympics
-mar 13: first home game since january
-apr 10: last game of year, ironically a home game vs calgary (what a perfect set-up to determine the NW title winner, eh?)

this year will be big, and hopefully i will remember to keep on top of this blog.

ten days to playoffs, and nothing is certain yet....

here are the scores in the last couple games:
mar 29 4-0 shutout win over chicago
mar 31 2-1 overtime win over minnesota
apr 2 6-5 shootout loss to anaheim

the last couple days have been interesting in the race for the NW division. with the wins in chicago and minnesota, we went one point ahead of calgary. on april 2nd, calgary won their game against dallas, and we lost in overtime, so that tied the two teams at 94 points in 77 games. due to better statistics, calgary got NW lead back. however, last night, calgary lost to minnesota, which put them at 94 points in 78 games, and since we had played less, we went back into 1st!!!!
tonight's game is against edmonton, starting an hour from now. this is a very important game, since while we are trying to get a lead on calgary, the oilers are trying to get into the playoffs. this will be rather interesting.
here are the current western conference standings:

1.	y-San Jose	77	113
2.	y-Detroit	77	107
3.	x-Vancouver	77	94
4.	x-Chicago	77	95
5.	x-Calgary	78	94
6.	Columbus	77	88
7.	Anaheim	78	86
8.	St. Louis	78	85
9.	Nashville	78	84
10.	Minnesota	78	83
11.	Edmonton	78	81
12.	Dallas	78	78
13.	Phoenix	78	75
14.	Los Angeles	77	73
15.	Colorado	77	64

the only certain things so far are that the top five are definitely in the playoffs, the bottom three are definitely out, and san jose and detroit win their divisions. everything else is a jumble. not only is there the battle between the nucks and the flames, but there is chicago sitting there between the two of them interfering with home-ice advantage. also, there are still 5 teams fighting for playoff seeds, although st. louis will hopefully kick out dallas tonight.
i have been thinking about who will end up where in the west, and here are my predictions:
-vancouver will win the NW (of course)
-st. louis and anaheim will grab those last two seeds
-just because i say "last two seeds" i don't necessarily mean 7th and 8th. what i think is that st. louis will pass both anaheim and columbus in the standings (there are still enough games to do so), and that would make a hopefully easy, although possibly dangerous, matchup for the canucks in the first round.

remember a few weeks ago, when i predicted it will come down to that nucks-flames game on the 7th for the NW title? well, here's the current scenario: if canucks beats edmonton tonight and colorado tomorrow, and calgary loses to los angeles monday (although this might seem very unlikely), then the nucks will enter that game against calgary with a 4-point advantage, and a win will guarantee the NW title!!!
teams left for vancouver to play: edmonton, colorado (twice), calgary, los angeles
teams left for calgary to play: los angeles, vancouver, edmonton (home-home double header to end season)
we seem to have the easier schedule, especially since when calgary visits, that will be a double-header for them. let's give them hell!

last games of season:
tonight @ edmonton, 7:00 pm
sun apr 5 (tomorrow) vs. colorado, 7:00 pm
tues apr 7 vs. calgary, 7:00 pm
thurs apr 9 vs. los angeles, 7:00 pm
sat apr 11 @ colorado, 12:00 pm

wednesday april 15th: beginning of playoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 games left...but what will happen?

as the regular season closes, playoff matchups usually start becoming clear. not necessarily in the wild West....

last few games played:
Mar 15: 4-2 win over Colorado
Mar 17: 4-2 win over Dallas
Mar 19: 3-0 shutout win over St. Louis
Mar 21: 5-1 loss to Phoenix
Mar 24: 5-2 win over Dallas
Mar 26: 4-2 loss to St. Louis
Mar 27: 4-1 win over Colorado

nucks are still playing all right, although those extremely disappointing losses made everyone else in the league think we're losing our spark, and heading to a repeat of last year. seriously, if we want the NW title and home-ice advantage, we should be able to whip teams like St. Louis, and especially Phoenix.

here's something to worry about: the Western Conference standings:

1.	y-San Jose	74	107
2.	x-Detroit	75	107
3.	* Calgary	74	90
4.	Chicago	73	91
5.	Vancouver	74	89
6.	Columbus	74	85
7.	Edmonton	75	81
8.	Nashville	74	80
9.	Anaheim	75	80
10.	St. Louis	74	79
11.	Minnesota	74	78
12.	Dallas	74	75
13.	Los Angeles	74	72
14.	Phoenix	74	69
15.	Colorado	75	64

now, everyone's raving about the race at the bottom of the playoff seeds. i'm just going to call Edmonton and St. Louis for those last two spots. for Edmonton, it would be sweet to have all 3 western Canadian teams in the playoffs, since there's only Montreal in the east, and they're falling quickly. for St. Louis, they've proven as of late, especially with those wins over both Vancouver and Calgary, that they deserve that last playoff berth.
here's what i really want to talk about: the 3rd to 6th seeds. with nucks closing in on Calgary, things will get interesting, especially with Chicago in the mix. all it will take for the nucks to take the division title this weekend is for Calgary to lose to Minnesota tonight, and for Vancouver to beat Chicago tomorrow. if this happens, Vancouver will get third, but with Chicago a point higher than Calgary, Calgary will fall to 5th. This would be great.
one worry about this is playoff matchups. Columbus is only 5 points behind Calgary right now. if they keep winning, and Calgary loses a couple games, then Columbus could steal that 5th seed from Calgary, putting them in 6th, and with Vancouver in 3rd, that would mean a nucks-flames matchup in the 1st round of the playoffs. oh god!

here are the next few games:
Sunday March 29th @ Chicago, 4:00 pm
Tuesday March 31 @ Minnesota, 5:00 pm
Thursday April 2nd vs. Anaheim, 7:00 pm
Saturday April 4th @ Edmonton, 7:00 pm
Sunday April 5th vs. Colorado, 7:00 pm
Tuesday April 7th vs. Calgary, 7:00 pm
Thursday April 9th vs. Los Angeles, 7:00 pm
Saturday April 11th @ Colorado, 10:00 am
this is actually a relatively easy end of season schedule. the only 2 hard games in there should be against Chicago and Calgary. the rest should be a piece of cake. there is no excuse for pulling a repeat of last year, especially with a schedule like this.

canucks are hot again!!!

sorry about not posting in the last month, but i've been busy and forgetful, and the canucks have been winning too much for me to keep track. here are all the game scores since that loss in dallas:
feb 15: 4-2 win over montreal
feb 17: 5-3 win over calgary
feb 19: 5-2 win over ottawa
feb 21: 3-2 shootout win over toronto (sundin got the tie-breaker vs ex-team)
feb 24: 3-0 loss to montreal
feb 27: 2-1 win over tampa bay
mar 1: 3-1 win over columbus
mar 3: 4-2 win over minnesota
mar 7: 3-1 win over san jose
mar 9: 3-2 loss over la
mar 11: 4-3 overtime loss to anaheim
mar 13: 4-2 win over la

now here come the fun, exciting stats. since february 1st, the nucks have been 13-3-1 in 17 games, which has significantly boosted them in the west and taken the league by surprise. with one month left before playoffs, the predictions for playoffs are coming in, and vancouver is getting the "dark horse pick" for the west by many analysts, mainly because of their sudden sky-rocketing in the west.
now for the standings. in my last post, the nucks had just jumped back into playoff position, but were still in the tight race for that position. here are the standings a month later:

1.	* Detroit	68	97
2.	* San Jose	66	96
3.	* Calgary	68	86
4.	Chicago	66	83
5.	Vancouver	67	79
6.	Columbus	69	78
7.	Edmonton	67	72
8.	Dallas	68	72
9.	Minnesota	67	71
10.	Nashville	68	71
11.	St. Louis	67	70
12.	Anaheim	68	70
13.	Los Angeles	67	67
14.	Phoenix	68	62
15.	Colorado	68	61

there is still a tight race amongst 6 teams for the last 2 playoff spots, but this shows that, with a 7-point lead on that race, vancouver is almost guaranteed a playoff seed. nucks still have 15 games left though, which allows for almost anything to happen. the worst would be a repeat of last year, losing 7 of the last 8 and falling from division-winning contention to out of the playoffs. the best is to win all the games, have everyone else lose, and lead the conference (which is 99% unlikely to happen). the most likely scenario is staying in 5th, maybe moving to 4th. however, if canucks keep winning, and calgary loses a couple more games (they only have 14 left to play), we could be in contention again for the division, which would be a huge victory. we are only behind calgary by 7 points now, so it could still happen...

now that we're getting close to the end of the season, i have a couple predictions:
1. vancouver and calgary play once more against each other on april 7, which is the 3rd-last game of the season for both teams. i see it likely that, if the standings end up happening that way, this game will determine the winner of the division. for example, consider the scenario when team X is 3 points up on team Y when entering the game. if team X wins, they'll be 5 points up on Y, so even if X loses its last 2 games and Y wins theirs, X will still win the division by 1 point. if Y wins, they narrow the gap to 3 points, so if X loses the last 2 games and Y wins theirs, Y will win the division by 1 point. If there is an overtime, the gap will become only 4 points, so no matter which team wins the game, if the winner loses their last 2 games and the loser wins theirs, there will be a tie for the division win.
2. vancouver and calgary will face in the 2nd round of the playoffs. one of the teams will definitely be in 3rd, while the other one will likely be in 4th or 5th. if both teams win in the 1st round, and the other series in the west work out accordingly, vancouver and calgary will face in the 2nd round. if the lower team falls to 6th, they will play in the 1st round. if the other teams have different results for the 1 st round, then they might not face in the 2nd round, but if they both win in 2nd round, they will battle in 3rd round for the conference final.


here are the remaning 15 games for the season:
sun mar 15 vs. colorado, 7:00 pm
tues mar 17 vs. dallas, 7:00 pm
thurs mar 19 vs st.louis, 7:00 pm
sat mar 21 @ phoenix, 7:00 pm
tues mar 24 @ dallas, 5:30 pm
thurs mar 26 @ st.louis, 5:30 pm
fri mar 27 @ colorado, 6:00 pm
sun mar 29 @ chicago, 4:00 pm
tues mar 31 @ minnesota, 5:00 pm
thurs apr 2 vs anaheim, 7:00 pm
sat apr 4 @ edmonton, 7:00 pm
sun apr 5 vs colorado, 7:00 pm
tues apr 7 vs calgary, 7:00 pm
thurs apr 9 vs la, 7:00 pm
sat apr 11 @ colorado, 12:00 pm

now we're coming back...

tues feb 10 - 6-4 win over st. louis
thurs feb 12 - 4-3 win over phoenix
fri feb 13 - 2-1 loss to dallas

we're definitely back on a roll now. good timing too, because the west is still intense:

1.	* San Jose	53	83
2.	* Detroit	56	81
3.	* Calgary	56	71
4.	Chicago	54	70
5.	Dallas	55	61
6.	Columbus	56	61
7.	Anaheim	57	61
8.	Edmonton	55	60
9.	Vancouver	55	60
10.	Minnesota	55	59
11.	Nashville	56	57
12.	Los Angeles	54	56
13.	Phoenix	57	55
14.	St. Louis	55	53
15.	Colorado	56	51

the 10-point difference is still there between 5th and 15th, but 5th through 10th is now only 2 points apart. there is a one-win difference between 5th and 10th. if the playoffs started today, edmonton would barely keep vancouver out of the playoffs (same points and games) with 60 points each. 5th to 7th is all at 61 points, and 10th is at 59. it is still intense.

upcoming games:
hell week: the canadian gauntlet (literally)
tonight vs montreal 7:00 pm
tues feb 17 @ calgary, 6:00 pm
thurs feb 19 @ ottawa, 4:30 pm
sat feb 21 @ toronto, 4:00 pm
tues feb 24 @ montreal, 4:30 pm

holy smokes!!! we're actually winning again!!!!!!!!!

tues. feb 3: 4-3 win over carolina. finally broke the losing streak. listened to game on radio, and the nucks played amazingly. got standing ovations after 1st and 2nd period at GM Place. amazing game. despite the powerplay for carolina with 3 minutes left to go in a 3-3 game, kesler slides the puck to burrows, who goes on a breakaway for a shorthanded goal. amazing night!!!!
sat. feb 10th: a game i should have listened to in amazement, but was doing over things: 7-3 win over chicago!!! saw the data though: 2-0 nucks 3 minutes into the game, 6-0 for some time in the 2nd period!!

now that we're winning again, we're jumping quickly in the standings. in my last post, nucks were 11th. now, with 2 wins, they're in 7th. last post, i already said it was a very close race, with 6th to 10th at the same number of points. well, here's today's standings:

1.	* San Jose	50	79
2.	* Detroit	52	75
3.	* Calgary	52	64
4.	Chicago	51	66
5.	Anaheim	56	59
6.	Dallas	51	57
7.	Vancouver	52	56
8.	Minnesota	51	55
9.	Edmonton	52	55
10.	Columbus	53	55
11.	Los Angeles	51	53
12.	Nashville	52	53
13.	Phoenix	54	53
14.	Colorado	53	51
15.	St. Louis	52	50

now, if you look closely, there is a scary sight: only a 9 point difference between 5th and 15th. yes, that's right, the west is now even more intense. if the nucks want to stay in the playoffs (i can't believe i'm already mentioning them, it's only february!!), they better keep pace with the rest of the conference, because as we saw in past weeks, they aren't waiting for us to catch up to them.

next games:
tues. feb 10th @ st. louis, 5:30 pm
thurs. feb 12th @ phoenix, 6:00 pm
fri. feb 13th @ dallas, 5:30 pm
feb. 15th-24th: canadian gauntlet (montreal, calgary, ottawa, toronto, montreal)

still free falling, or on slow comeback??

prefer to think the latter.
28th - 5-3 loss to nashville. had 3-1 lead for a while, then it fell. tried to tie it 4-4 at the end, but they scored instead. very disappointing.
31st - 4-3 overtime loss to minnesota. managed to tie up 3-3 with 15 seconds left. now that was hockey!! unfortunately, danny-boy got another overtime penalty, and the wild scored.

canucks need to get back to work. they've been playing horribly lately, even with luie back. record for january was 2-5-5. disgusting!!! currently on track to break franchise's record for longest losing streak.

standings are getting intense. 5 teams tied for 6th place, and vancouver's right below in 11th.

1.	* San Jose	48	77
2.	* Detroit	49	69
3.	* Calgary	48	64
4.	Chicago	48	62
5.	Anaheim	52	55
6.	Dallas	48	53
7.	Minnesota	49	53
8.	Edmonton	49	53
9.	Columbus	50	53
10.	Phoenix	51	53
11.	Vancouver	50	52
12.	Los Angeles	48	47
13.	Nashville	49	47
14.	Colorado	50	47
15.	St. Louis	48	44

this is obviously bad. nucks need to start winning if they really want to be in the playoffs. this is what critics were predicting in september, and although we were proving them wrong in november, the tide has turned and now we're proving them right. let's prove them wrong again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

next games:
tues. feb 3 vs carolina 7:00pm
sat. feb 7 vs chicago 7:00 pm
tues. feb 10 @ st. louis 5:30 pm
thurs. feb 12 @ phoenix 6:00 pm
fri. feb 13 @ dallas 5:30 pm
15th - 24th: hell week, canadian gauntlet (montreal, calgary, ottawa, toronto, montreal)

obviously, nucks don't have many games this week, so this will screw them over in the standings. they better make use of these points before i lose faith...

more losses.. but one was almost a shutout!!!

tues. jan 13 - 5-3 loss to new jersey. it began with 3-0 for devils, then 4-1 in third period, almost tied 4-3 near the end, then they got an empty net.
thurs. jan 15- 4-1 loss to phoenix. luie came back, but was rusty.
sun. jan 18 - 6-5 shootout loss to columbus. both teams were head to head the entire time, staying on each others' toes with the scoring. almost every nucks forward had a goal or assist.
tues. jan 20 - 2-1 overtime loss to san jose. amazing game. nucks really played well this time. unfortunately, sharks scored and made it 1-1 only 39 seconds before a shutout would have materialized!!!!!! it goes to overtime, where they win!!!! it went from 1-0 canucks to 2-1 sharks in 3:47!!!!! so close!!!!!!!!!

nucks now get over a week off for the all-star break.
next game: wed. jan 28 vs. nashville, 7:30 pm.

standings in NW:
1st - calgary (58 points) - 3rd in west
2nd - edmonton (51 points) - 6th in west
3rd - vancouver (51 points) - 6th in west
4th - minnesota (49 points) - 9th in west
5th - colorado (47 points) - 11th in west
looks like everyone's catching up. nucks should rest well and come back strong!!!!!

a few games have passed...

jan 7 - 4-2 win over edmonton. sundin's first game, he got booed each time he touched the puck.
jan 9 - 6-4 loss to st. louis. how depressing. sundin was in the penalty box when they broke the tie for the last time.
jan 10 - 4-2 loss to san jose. very close first 2 periods, but total shark ownage in the third. mats sundin got his first goal for the nucks, but was back in the box for the tie-breaker.

luongo might be coming back in the next week, and maybe salo as well. get ready, world!
rumour: with luongo coming back, and labarbera doing so well, it might be sanford sent away.

next games:
tues. jan 13 vs new jersey. too bad brodeur is also injured. it might have been a great matchup, like it should have been last year, which resulted in a 5-0 shutout for the nucks. haha. i hear their backup has done them well, though. that could be bad news.
thurs. jan 15 vs phoenix. this is the game for which luie might be back.
sun. jan 18 vs columbus.
tues. jan 20 at san jose. if luie isn't back, expect another slaughter.

we're losing power in the west, and the division.
1st - calgary - 54 points - 3rd in west
2nd - vancouver - 49 points - 5th in west
3rd - colorado (wow. looks like they just passed minnesota) - 45 points - 8th in west
4th - minnesota - 43 points - 10th in west
5th - edmonton - 41 points - 11th in west

back from holidays ... paying attention to games again...

so, i had a good holiday season, and now i'm back to this again.

i missed pretty much all of the following games, so i'll just give the scores.
Dec. 22 - 4-3 loss win over anaheim
Dec. 23 - 5-0 shutout loss to san jose
Dec. 26 - 3-2 loss to edmonton
Dec. 28 - 3-0 shutout win over ottawa
Dec. 30 - 3-2 loss to philadelphia
Jan. 1 - 2-1 win over nashville
Jan. 2 - 4-3 shootout loss to atlanta
Jan. 4 - 3-2 shootout loss to dallas

other details: luongo's not back untill after the all-star break, sanford also got injured, and schneider's probably heading back to manitoba. nucks got jason labarbera from la, and he's been playing quite well.

tonight: at edmonton, currently scoreless. sundin's first game. let's see how he ends up doing...