Controversy? What Controversy?

Time for a few updates and what-nots.  I've decided to return to the mostly-weekly updates I had before, and I might as well do a bit more analysis while I'm at it.

Canucks Scores

• March 23: 3-2 loss to the Oilers.  Very disappointing game.  Luongo did not show up to play.  In fact, neither did most of the team.  Tom Gilbert, Andrew Cogliano, and Robert Nilsson scored for the Oilers, while Mason Raymond and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks.  Wellwood was the best Canuck player on the ice, making some huge offensive plays, but Jeff Deslauriers was way too good in the Oilers net.
• March 24: 4-1 win against the Ducks.  Much better game.  After dismal play from Luongo in Edmonton, Vigneault went ahead as planned and put Raycroft in net.  This proved to be the right choice for the night, as Raycroft made 30 saves and nearly had a shutout (Saku Koivu scored 8 minutes into the 3rd period) and had his name chanted through GM Place.  Christian Ehrhoff, Alex Burrows, and Daniel Sedin all scored, and Ryan Kesler potted the empty netter at the end.  Quick highlight: Daniel's goal was definitely an interesting one.

Western Conference: Where will the Canucks finish?

Wow, is it already only 3 weeks left in the regular season?  Time sure does fly, doesn't it?
At this point, all the analysis has already begun regarding a certain topic: who makes the playoffs.  At the moment, with 92 points and the NW lead, the Canucks are only a couple games away from locking a playoff spot.  My question, however, is which spot?
All the analysis you'll be hearing everywhere else is about who will get the 8th seed in each conference, which is quite an interesting topic.  Right now, in the West, it's a battle between Detroit and Calgary, although St. Louis and Minnesota could still have an impact by stringing together a few wins.  However, for the Canucks, the more interesting story is in the top 4 seeds.  As of this morning, Chicago holds 1st with 97 points and the Central Division lead (CN), San Jose is in 2nd with 96 points and the Pacific Division lead (PC), and Vancouver is in 3rd with 92 points and the NW lead.  The 4th spot is Phoenix, with 95 points.  Now this is the race I want to look at, because I want to show how Vancouver could still win the West.

*A couple really good links to follow right now are the conference standings and Sports Club Stats.

Updates Galore

Sorry, I haven't touched this blog in almost 2 months now....
First things first:  I have changed the name and link to this site.  This is now "Talking Nucks".  I got tired of "The Canuck Puck Bunny".  Besides, Talking Nucks sounds more professional, especially if my dreams ever come true of having an NHL player fall head over heels in love with me....

Now, onto Canucks business:
-The team survived the Olympic road trip, going 8-5-1 :)  Here's the team scores and schedule.
-The Olympics in Vancouver were very successful, with Canada setting a record for number of gold medals with 14.  For men's hockey, Luongo got gold with Canada, Kesler got silver with USA, and Salo got bronze with Finland.
-Canucks are still holding on to the NW lead, right now by 5 points.  They are also only 5 points behind both Chicago and San Jose, who hold 1st and 2nd in the conference.
-Speaking of conference standings, here they are.
-Washington is the only team so far to have clinched a playoff spot, and look to get the President's Trophy.  Meanwhile, Edmonton has dropped out of playoff contention completely, and looks to get 1st pick in the 2010 draft.
-Sports Club Stats is a really good site to follow right now.  It shows each team's likelihoods of making the playoffs, what they need to reach certain seeds, and what other teams will help them by winning against opponents.

As always, follow my Twitter feed and Nucks Misconduct, as well as the other sites linked on the sidebar.

they're leaving on a jet plane

since i have some spare time right now, i'll do some catch-up.  it's good timing for it anyways, since the olympic road trip has just begun.

game log:
jan 23rd: canucks beat chicago 5-1 :)
jan 25th: canucks beat buffalo 3-2
jan 27th: canucks beat st. louis 3-2
jan 30th: canucks beat toronto 5-3

news:
-ron mclean chose to humiliate burrows on cbc the weekend of the pittsburgh game, so the canucks boycotted the cbc for the chicago game.  the amends have now been made, though.
-hansen has been sent to manitoba
-the road trip from hell has begun.  the team left thursday morning, and won't be back home for 43 days.  the trip started to a rocky start tonight, with the leafs somehow leading 3-0 after the 1st period.  luongo got pulled, raycroft went in.  during the 3rd period, the infamous sedin line combined for 4 goals to win the game :)
-henrik's lead for points has gained some ground, and is 1 assist short of the assists lead.  meanwhile, there are 4 canucks (both sedins, burrows and ehrhoff) in the top 6 for league +/-, and 2 more (o'brien and salo) in the top 30.
-canucks go on the road after creating a 23-7-1 home record and winning 6 straight games (7 including the toronto game).  although the canucks have a 11-11-1 road record right now, most of that is due to the horrible start to the season.  also, as of the end of the toronto game, the canucks now have a 10-1-0 record against the east, and considering how the next 5 games are against the east, that's a good sign.
-conference standings.  yes, the NW lead is ours :) meanwhile, calgary has fallen to 9th (2 straight losses away from a franchise record), san jose and chicago are way ahead of the pack, and there's a 3-point difference between 6th and 13th in the east.

next games:
feb 2nd: canucks visit montreal.  they're currently in the middle of that eastern logjam.  don't throw this game away too easily, the canucks got shut out in their last visit to the bell centre.
feb 4rd: canucks visit ottawa.  this team is somehow the hottest in their division this year.  they are really good this year.
feb 6th: canucks visit boston.  they're in 9th?? really?? how the heck did that happen??
feb 9th: canucks visit tampa bay.  we get to visit former canuck mattias ohlund.  they're in 10th right now, just behind boston.
feb 11th: canucks visit florida.  luongo's former home.  i remember hearing that he was humiliated last time he came there with the canucks..... they're in 12th right now, and trying to push their way through the logjam.
feb 12th: canucks visit columbus.  somehow, someway, hitchcock is still there, even after burrows got his 2nd consecutive hat trick against them.
feb 14th: canucks visit minnesota.  division rival sitting towards the bottom of the standings.  not a good omen.
olympic break.

as always, check the sidebar for more.  you can always find me on twitter and at nucks misconduct.

what a wacky 2 weeks!!!!

bloody heck!  with a new term at university, i've been so busy with homework!  okay, here's some catch-up.

to start, game log:
jan 9: flames beat canucks 3-2 in the shootout.
jan 11: nashville beats canucks 3-2
jan 13: minnesota beats canucks 5-2
jan 16: canucks whip penguins 6-2 :)
jan 20: canucks beat oilers 3-2 in overtime
jan 21: canucks beat dallas 4-3

team updates:
-after that horribly reffed game against nashville, burrows called out one of the refs, saying the ref stephane auger came after him.  huge scuffle, i'd rather not talk about it anymore.  the topic has infuriated me.  moving on....
-mitchell hurt his back against minnesota, and it only got worse after a hit from malkin against the penguins.  he's out.
-salo strained his groin last night against dallas.  he won't be playing against the hawks saturday.
-oberg was already sent back to manitoba after playing 6 minutes against the flames.  next likely call-up: nolan baumgartner.
-tomorrow's d-men against the hawks: edler, ehrhoff, o'brien, lukowich, rome and baumgartner.  yes, that is crinch-worthy.
-burrows has 13 goals in 9 games.  the entire calgary flames team has 14.  YEAH BURROWS! :P
-gillis was in montreal the other night.  he, his assistant gm, and two scouts were watching the habs-blues game.  meanwhile, a blues scout has been attending the moose games.  this is all obvious proof that a trade is brewing......
-conference standings.  if colorado loses tonight, canucks get the NW lead back.  meanwhile, calgary is choking like crazy :)  meanwhile, detroit is finally in the playoff picture, and it's still a wild race in the west.

here are some upcoming games.
jan 23: canucks host chicago.  chicago's hot this year, while canucks defence is suddenly injured.  uhoh.....
jan 25: canucks host buffalo.  sabres are incredibly hot this year, mainly because of superhot goalie ryan miller, who will represent usa at the olympics in 4 weeks.
jan 27: canucks host st. louis.  the blues are in the bottom of the west right now, and could possibly be making a trade with us soon....
jan 30: toronto hosts canucks.  yes, the dreaded olympic road trip begins in toronto.  luckily, the leafs are being their normal selves standings-wise, except for that they're no longer the worst in canada (edmonton's got that now) =O
feb 2: montreal hosts canucks.  gotta hate pay-per-views, eh?  especially when it's the one yearly game at the super-insane bell center.
feb 4: ottawa hosts canucks.  they recently found a decent goalie in mike brodeur.  yes, that's "mike", and he has no relation to jersey's infamous "martin".

i think that's good for now.  considering my post rate, i'll likely post again just after that ottawa game.  if it's before, that will just be lovelier.  once again, always check the sidelinks for current stuff, and find me on twitter or at nucks misconduct.

midseason standings analysis: always expect the unexpected....

well, it is the middle of the season, and everyone mis doing statistical analysis of the season so far.  i guess i'll jump on the bandwagon.  here's a look at the standings.

Conference Standings: East

1.	* New Jersey	41	61
2.	* Buffalo	42	58
3.	* Washington	43	58
4.	Pittsburgh	45	55
5.	Boston	43	51
6.	Ottawa	44	48
7.	NY Rangers	44	48
8.	Montreal	46	47
9.	Philadelphia	43	45
10.	Atlanta	43	44
11.	NY Islanders	44	44
12.	Tampa Bay	42	42
13.	Florida	44	41
14.	Toronto	44	39
15.	Carolina	42	29

-i don't see much of the east, so i don't really see many surprises here.  buffalo is doing surprisingly well.  carolina sure crashed to the bottom of the league. philly did already have their coach fired (the day after hosting the canucks :P), and seem to be back into gear.  toronto is, well, toronto.

okay, next up: the wild, wild West

1.	* Chicago	44	65
2.	* San Jose	44	63
3.	* Calgary	43	55
4.	Phoenix	45	56
5.	Vancouver	44	55
6.	Nashville	44	55
7.	Colorado	44	54
8.	Los Angeles	44	53
9.	Detroit	43	50
10.	Dallas	43	47
11.	Minnesota	44	45
12.	Anaheim	44	43
13.	St. Louis	43	41
14.	Columbus	45	41
15.	Edmonton	44	37

now, this i can talk about.
-what is detroit doing in 9th???  they had a bad start (so did vancouver, btw), and still haven't fully recovered.  many key players got injured, a couple are starting to come back though.  they're working their way up the standings though, so be prepared to see them make an impact soon.  in the meantime, chicago has taken a dominant lead of the league, and nashville is impacting the lower playoff positions.  columbus and st. louis have both crashed since their miracle playoff runs last year.
-san jose is top of the pacific.  no surprise there.  the big surprise is the phoenix coyotes, who currently have a strong hold of 4th place.  due to their off-ice dilemmas over the summer and previous non-success, they were dubbed as most likely to finish in last place.  however, the players and coaching staff has done an amazing job at putting their game back together.  if they pull off a playoff run, they will be the feel-good story of the year.  the kings are also doing remarkably well, although many people were already predicting that to happen at some point soon.  dallas is fighting for playoff contention, and really benifiting from the points for overtime losses (11 already!!), while anaheim is rising from the cellar.
-colorado has been the big story in the northwest.  they finished 3rd-worst in the league last year, and were expected to do similarily this year.  but at the beginning of the season, they started the strongest in the division!  backed by goalie craig anderson, who they acquired from florida, and helped by 2009 1st-round draft pick matt duchene, they have done extremely well.  it has just been in the last couple weeks that they have lost their stronghold of the division lead.  calgary has been waiting in the wings the entire time for the avalanche to fall, and just recently took over the lead.  their lead has recently been cut short, though, because of the canucks.  vancouver started rough, like detroit, but halfway through october lost 8 key players at once!  injuries to daniel sedin, luongo, and many others caused for much disorder in the lineups, which reflected on the scoresheets.  after these key players came back, the canucks have been getting hot again, especially the sedin line.  just last night, vancouver tied calgary for points to share the NW lead, and now all 3 teams (colorado is still in there too) are battling for the title.  minnesota has been struggling, and edmonton is currently the worst team in canada (yes, even worse than toronto).

well, that's what i have to say about the standings right now.  i'll likely look at other stats tomorrow.

happy belated new year!!

it's okay, you had no need to worry about me, i survived new year's :P
i haven't updated this in a week, so there's quite a few things to update.

game recaps:
dec 31: canucks 4, st. louis 3.  after going down 3-1 after 2 periods like i described before, the canucks came back in the 3rd to take it to overtime, where ehrhoff got the winner.  andy murray (blues coach) was fired before their next game.  make that 2 coaches that canucks games have pulled the trigger on so far this year :P
jan 2: canucks 3, dallas 1.  luongo was god in this matinee.
jan 5: canucks 7, columbus 3.  lots of speculation went into this game about how much longer hitchcock (blue jackets coach) would have his job.  after columbus opened with 2 goals, rypien got a goal that sparked a huge comeback, with a HAT TRICK FOR BURROWS!!!!!!!!

 unfortunately, hitchcock hasn't lost his job yet, but the speculation continues as to whether or not our game had an impact.

jan 7 (last night) : canucks 4, phoenix 0.  What A Game.  i should have kept a live log going!  let me think, what all happened?

-pyatt destroyed rome.  after a huge hit, rome fell to the ice and bloodied his head.  not pretty.  he didn't come back to the game.

-salo ended up with mitchell's stick in his face during the 2nd period.  he also got bloodied.  with the losses of bieksa and schneider still fresh in our minds, we all panicked.  luckily, he came back all stitched up for the 3rd period.

-luongo got the shutout :)

-2ND CONSECUTIVE HAT TRICK FOR BURROWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  seriously, burrows now has hat tricks in 2 consecutive games.  this is the 3rd time in canucks history that this has been done, the last time being back in the 1986-1987 season (before i was born!!).

   

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team updates:

-after losing schneider to manitoba and bieksa to injury, lukowich was recalled to the canucks.  originally sent to manitoba at the beginning of the season, he's been playing with the texas stars.  he is expected to play tomorrow night against calgary.

-demitra is taking slapshots now, sounds like he's getting even closer to returning.

-hodgson has been given a cortizone shot, so he's sidelined for another long time.

-after last night's craziness, evan oberg has been called up today from manitoba.  he will likely fill in temporarily as 7th d-man until rome comes back.

-conference standings.  the fun thing is the NW race.  that's right, vancouver and calgary are tied for the lead at 55 points (they have the current tiebreaker, having played 1 less game), with colorado just behind at 54.  calgary plays columbus tonight, so if the flames lose, the 1 game in hand will disappear, and the next tiebreaker is wins (where we win!).  colorado plays carolina tonight, so they may also have a say in the overnight standings.

now for the real fun: tomorrow night's game is on cbc, at 7:00 pm pacific, at GM Place.  this is what we've been waiting for: Canucks vs. Flames =]  here's my preview: it's going to be a barn-burner!!