Official: Vancouver Canucks W00T

[Aquaman]

Woo Hoo

Tuzzi Tuzzi

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

Bertuzzi downs Devils in OT

Sports Ticker
12/4/2002

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- In nearly two minutes, Todd Bertuzzi almost single-handedly helped the Vancouver Canucks avoid their first losing streak since mid-October.

Bertuzzi scored the tying goal with 13:13 left in regulation, then got the game-winner 56 seconds into overtime as the Canucks rallied for their 11th win in 12 games, 3-2 over the New Jersey Devils in a battle of division leaders.

One night after its team-record 10-game winning streak was snapped, Vancouver fell behind after a dominant second period by the Devils. But the Canucks were equally dominant in the third, and Bertuzzi came through in the finale of a six-game road trip.

Markus Naslund's shot from the right faceoff circle never reached the net, but Bertuzzi cross-checked defenseman Brian Rafalski to the ice and, with his back to the net, chipped a backhander past goaltender Martin Brodeur.

The Devils were scrambling in their own zone in the opening minute of overtime and Brodeur was down and out when defenseman Mattias Ohlund managed to push the puck into the slot. An unchecked Bertuzzi whipped it into the empty net to give Vancouver its first win in six games this season when trailing after two periods.

Bertuzzi's 13th goal of the season helped the Canucks wrap up a 5-1-0 road trip and came against a Devils' team that was 5-1-1 in overtime this season.

Defenseman Scott Niedermayer and Brian Gionta scored on consecutive shots in the second period for New Jersey, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

Coming off a 3-0-0-1 road trip, the Devils sprung to life in the second period. They began to pepper Dan Cloutier during their first power play of the game, then had two quick chances to get on the board with eight minutes to go.

Cloutier gobbled up John Madden's shot from the left circle off a 2-on-1 and got lucky when Jamie Langenbrunner could not tuck the puck inside the right goalpost.

New Jersey finally tied it 16:16 into the period when Niedermayer used a screen by Jay Pandolfo and wristed a shot from just inside the blue line past Cloutier for his third goal of the season and second in as many games.

Gionta put the Devils ahead on their next shot. After Sergei Brylin intercepted a clearing attempt at the left point, Christian Berglund charged down the boards, beat Ohlund to the puck and whipped a pass into the slot.

Unchecked, Gionta put a wrister past Cloutier's glove for his sixth goal.

The Canucks were held without a shot on the game's first power play, but Linden put them ahead five seconds after a holding penalty expired on Berglund.

Brodeur got his blocker on defenseman Brent Sopel's slap shot from the top of the right circle, but Linden was all alone in the slot and put the rebound into a half-empty net. It was his seventh goal of the season and fourth on the road trip.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[sandorski]

woot

 

[silverpig]

AWWW FSCK!!!

I just had to miss it too. Stupid class.

I saw the first period though.

 

[Sealy]

Missed the game too!

 

[Radiohead]

ARGH, missed that game winning goal :|
Right before game goes into OT, I went to relieve myself... and when I got back the game was over!!!

 

[Aquaman]

Next Up Minnesota on Saturday 7pm PST on CBC

Go Canucks Go!!!

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

I can't stand it :| One more day till the game

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[silverpig]

I can't stand it more than you... I'm actually going to it

 

[oldfoof]

Help a bro out!

Tickets

 

[silverpig]

I'd do it, but I have a work xmas thing that night... I do wanna go to more games though...

 

[oldfoof]

Comon take it off? Do you know anyone that would wana go , sorta freakin out .. need to sell em

 

[silverpig]

If worse comes to worst you could always go down there and scalp them... Might even make some money too...

 

[Aquaman]

Cloutier risng in goaltending ranks

Canadian Press
12/6/2002

VANCOUVER (CP) - Dan Cloutier considers himself a work in progress.

Ask his teammates and they credit the soft-spoken goaltender with being the major reason the Vancouver Canucks have won 12 of their last 15 games and sit second in the NHL's Western Conference with a 16-6-4-0 record for 36 points.

Cloutier leads the league with 15 wins, has a goals against average of 2.27 and a save percentage of .915. He was named the NHL's player of the month in November but isn't good enough to have his name listed on the league's all-star ballot.

Cloutier shrugs and says he doesn't feel snubbed.

"Right now we're not worried about if people are respecting us or not," Cloutier, 26, said Friday following the Canucks first practice since returning home from a six-game road trip where they won five times.

"We're worried about winning games and getting to the playoffs and earning respect when we get there."

The architect of Cloutier's success may be goalie coach Ian Clark. He took the young goaltender's strong foundation and began hammering away at his technique while shoring up his confidence.

So far this year Cloutier's positioning has improved, he's making key stops off rebounds and isn't allowing those easy goals that haunted him last season.

"The technical aspect for a goalie is huge," said the Mont-Laurier, Que., native who came to the Canucks in February 2001 in a trade for defenceman Adrian Acoin.

"I'm paying a lot more attention to it. The more I do it in practice the more it's going to come natural in a game. It's going to take time. When you see it paying off like it has been the last couple of weeks it makes you want to work at it even more hard."

Clark said Cloutier's skills just needed some tinkering, not a major renovation.

"He's a more controlled, more positioned goalie," said Clark. "Instead of seeing him diving around, trying to make plays . . . we've worked really hard with Danny saying `don't attack the puck, attack the angle.' "

Cloutier is also learning the importance of routine, Clark said.

"He's maturing in his approach to the game and how he deals with things on a day to day basis," said Clark. "He' really improved his daily routine.

"If you watch some of the great goalies in the game they look very similar each day. Danny has learned what it takes on a daily basis to keep himself sharp. That's where his consistency comes from."

The Canucks had their NHL-high 10-game win streak snapped with a loss to the Islanders on Tuesday. They responded with an overtime win over New Jersey on Wednesday and hope to extend their new streak against the Minnesota Wild at GM Place on Saturday.<

Right-winger Todd Bertuzzi said there were nights when Cloutier kept the Canuck streak alive.

"He's kept us in a handful we shouldn't have been in," said Bertuzzi. "He's given us a lot of chances to win."

Captain Markus Naslund said Cloutier has shown more poise and confidence this season.

"He's way more composed on the ice," said Naslund. "He's very steady and he's staying controlled."

In Cloutier's first full season as the Canuck starter last year he had a 31-22-5 record and set a team record with seven shutouts.

Already this year Cloutier has started 24 games but said he relishes the work.

"Right now I feel fine," he said. "We've only had two back-to-back games. "I'm not tired yet. I want to play as many as I can, just to get better at certain things and gain more experience."

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

Canucks return home to face Wild

Sports Ticker
12/7/2002

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks return home in the midst of one of their best stretches in franchise history Saturday night when they host the Minnesota Wild in a Northwest Division matchup.

Although their club-record 10-game winning streak was snapped, the Canucks are 13-2 in their last 15 and have won five straight at GM Place.

Vancouver avoided consecutive losses for the second time this season with Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win at New Jersey. Red-hot Todd Bertuzzi scored twice, including the game-winner 56 seconds into overtime.

Bertuzzi has nine goals in his last 15 games, including three game-winners and 20 overall points in that span.

Minnesota has fallen back to earth following its amazing start. Since a 9-2-2-0 start, it is just 4-5-4-1 and its winless streak reached five games Thursday following a 1-1 tie at Calgary.

Minnesota left wing Marian Gaborik has 15 goals and 10 assists, but just four goals and one assist over his last 12 contests

The Wild were 0-for-8 on the power play and have just one goal in 26 chances over the last five games.

Vancouver leads the season series, 1-0. The Canucks started their amazing run with a 4-2 win at Minnesota on November 2 as Bertuzzi, Trevor Letowski and defenseman Ed Jovanovski scored in a 68-second span of the first period.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

On a none related note............. Pavel Bure may be out with season a ending knee injury.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[IcemanJer]

1 hr till game time!!

Go Canucks Go!!

 

[Farmall]

Had to jump in here, Wild downs Canucks 4-2, Gaborik - 3 goals - WOOT!!!!

<--- Wild fan!

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: Farmall
Had to jump in here, Wild downs Canucks 4-2, Gaborik - 3 goals - WOOT!!!!

<--- Wild fan!

You get a 1

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

Gaborik's hat trick sinks Canucks

Canadian Press
12/8/2002

VANCOUVER (CP) - Marian Gaborik registered his third hat trick of the season and Dwayne Roloson made 32 saves as the Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 on Saturday.

Gaborik, who didn't practice on Friday after suffering a charley horse the previous night against Calgary, now has 18 goals on the season and five career three-goal games.

Filip Kuba also scored while Wes Walz had two assists for Minnesota (14-7-6-1), which stopped a four-game winless skid.

Markus Naslund and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks (16-7-4-0), who lost for just the second time in 13 games (11-2-0). Dan Cloutier, who has started all but two games between the pipes for Vancouver, made 19 saves.

Late in the game, Canucks defenceman Ed Jovanovski was accessed a five-minute boarding major and game misconduct after taking out Jason Marshall along the side boards. The Wild winger was down for several minutes and had to be helped off the ice by two teammates.

The Canucks finished 1-for-8 on the power play while the Wild scored once in seven chances. Vancouver outshot Minnesota 34-23.

It seemed to take both teams a while to find their legs, with Vancouver coming off a six-game road trip and Minnesota wrapping up a three-game West-Coast swing.

Minnesota finally opened the scoring on the power play with just under three minutes to go in the first period. Andrew Brunette took the puck behind the net, then passed it out to the faceoff circle to Kuba, who fired it past Cloutier stickside.

Play picked up considerably in the second period with the two teams combining for three goals in the first five minutes.

Gaborik scored his 16th goal of the season 1:17 into the period. He carried the puck over the blue-line and deked a couple of times before firing the puck along the ice and into the net. Gaborik paid for the goal, though, taking a big hit from feisty Canucks centre Matt Cooke a split-second after releasing the shot.

Less than two minutes later, the Canucks cut the deficit in half with a power-play goal. Todd Bertuzzi fired a backhand pass to Naslund, who was all alone down the middle, and the Canucks captain pulled the puck to his backhand and put it behind Roloson.

Gaborik restored the two-goal lead at the 4:58 mark after taking pass from Walz, skating to the top faceoff circle and firing a perfect wrist shot over Cloutier's glove.

Daniel Sedin made it 3-2 but then Gaborik iced the victory with his third - and strangest - goal of the night. He tipped Walz's point shot but then the puck bounced off defenceman Brent Sopel's stick and over Cloutier's outstretched pad and into the net.

Notes: Last month, Gaborik became the youngest player (20 years, 266 days) to record three hat tricks in the NHL since Eric Lindros (20 years, 24 days) accomplished the same feat with Philadelphia in 1993-94 season. ... Kuba's goal was his first since Jan. 18 of last season. ... The sellout crowd of 18,422 fans honoured Trevor Linden with a standing ovation midway through the second period. During the Canucks' road trip, Linden became the team's all-time leading goal scorer after registering his 263rd goal in a Vancouver uniform.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[silverpig]

Bloody hell. Of course they lose the games I go to. Oh well. I thought we outplayed the Wild, especially during the middle part of the 3rd period. The Jovo penalty sorta messed our comeback up, but oh well.

They got the breaks, and we didn't. No biggie, there's plenty of games left in the season

 

[sandorski]

Blarg, oh well, can't win em all.

Anyone catch Mogilny's comments about the media? ROFLMAO.

 

[IcemanJer]

Originally posted by: silverpig
The Jovo penalty sorta messed our comeback up, but oh well.

yeah, what happened there? I was listening to CKNW over the net and caught that he got the 5-minute major.. what'd he do? Charged the guy or something?

 

[LeStEr]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Blarg, oh well, can't win em all.

Anyone catch Mogilny's comments about the media? ROFLMAO.

Ya that was funny.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: IcemanJer

Originally posted by: silverpig
The Jovo penalty sorta messed our comeback up, but oh well.

yeah, what happened there? I was listening to CKNW over the net and caught that he got the 5-minute major.. what'd he do? Charged the guy or something?

Jovo hit him from behind and hurt him pretty bad. As I remember it, it was also a late hit and you could see that Jovo really wanted to hit him hard. Afterwards Jovo seemed to regret it.