No. 13 gets win No. 13

June 2, 2011

Raffi Torres got the party started, and I think everybody was happy he did it at a reasonable hour. I know I was settling in for a long overtime when the goal came with 19 seconds left. It was that kind of game. The two Vezina Trophy finalists in goal looked very close to unbeatable [...]

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Canuck fans will watch like there’s nobody watching

May 31, 2011

The Bruins have landed. So have the media. For the last 40 years, the suffering of Canucks fans has been mostly private, but it’s clear now that its alleviation or perpetuation will take place in public. It’s strange becoming the centre of the hockey universe for a week. This is different from the Olympics, because [...]

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Watching Boston’s emancipation from the bowels of GM Place

May 28, 2011

I’ll never forget where I was when the Red Sox finally put the city of Boston out of its misery. It was a Wednesday night. Oct. 27, 2004. A lunar eclipse took place that night. And I sat with my local media colleagues watching the game on the big screen over beers in the Vancouver [...]

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It all becomes real with the 12th win

May 25, 2011

I had almost forgotten how everything changes when you get that fourth win in the conference finals. Sure, the playoffs are full of action, tension, excitement and high stakes for the six weeks preceding it, but it’s all a bit of a crapshoot, isn’t it? You could get knocked out in the first round, maybe [...]

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Thirteen shots and three stars

May 23, 2011

I was halfway between the U-Haul and the back steps with a dolly full of boxes when I heard Dany Heatley take a penalty. Time for a quick break, I thought. We’re moving into a new house. At this point it’s all boxes and no furniture, but I did have the foresight to move the [...]

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Game 3 was a hangover, right down to the loss of motor skills

May 21, 2011

I didn’t hear Alain Vigneault’s Game 3 news conference after the 4-3 loss in San Jose, but they said on the radio today it was uncomfortable: short answers, snippy tone, the coach just wanting to get the hell out of there and the media not wanting to stop him. I understand. Vigneault didn’t feel much [...]

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Canucks were on the right side of the meltdown this time

May 19, 2011

As it turns out, standing in a living room with the TV turned down, a guitar around your neck and a banjo ringing in your ear isn’t a bad way to watch a hockey game. I suppose it all depends on the game. Although I was stuck at band practice for half of the Canucks’ [...]

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When personal commitments clash with playoff hockey

May 18, 2011

Tonight I will miss my first game of the Canucks’ 2011 playoffs. I play in a band for fun, and we have a gig on the Canada Day long weekend for which it’s about time we started rehearsing. Band practice is at 7:30, so I might be able to squeeze in a period or two [...]

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Nine down, seven to go

May 16, 2011

Ten thoughts on the Canucks’ 3-2 win in last night’s opening game of the Western Conference final: 1. The Ryan Kesler of the Nashville series has returned to the Fortress of Solitude, and Chicago-series Kesler is back. I thought this might happen. Kesler is taking a lot of shifts against Joe Thornton, much as he [...]

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The San Jose Sharks were the NHL’s gateway drug

May 14, 2011

Anyone who’s ever separated gum from a Wayne Gretzky rookie card knows what the ideal number of NHL teams is: 21. That’s the league I grew up watching, and that’s the league that ceased to exist when the San Jose Sharks came along. I don’t blame the Sharks for what the NHL has become, but [...]

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