Hockey That Matters
Yikes.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled Canucks programming featuring rivalries, revenge, retribution and uh…rinjuries.
If you forgot what a Canucks team with emotion looked like, Tuesday night in Chicago offered a glimpse into whether the Canucks could actually turn it on like a switch and offered the theory that the switch might be located somewhere on Daniel Sedin‘s head.
Let’s just say that things from here on out got very interesting, but not as interesting as my Canucks vs. Blackhawks Love ‘Em & Hate ‘Em.
Love Em
1. A Little Bit of Jannik Hansen
The Honey Badger opened the scoring just 37 seconds in with a burst of speed not seen since sometime around December. He can also thank Sami Pahlsson for a superb pass and possibly also remind him he’s supposed to be an offensive black hole, silly.
Hansen wasn’t done on the night, crushing Johnny Oduya with a hit along the boards that popped the pane of glass out.
Honey Badgers man….
2. Return of the Macy
Mason Raymond was one of Vancouver’s best forwards and shockingly this isn’t being used as an indictment. Instead, the speed merchant seemed to take his healthy scratch to heart and played with a sense of purpose and passion instead of skating a couple laps and using his body as a bowling ball to knock down invisible pins.
Let’s face it, this will probably go away even tonight, but it’s nice to see Raymond at least figure it out in the short-term, especially considering the line juggling that is now necessary….
3. Meanwhile Luongo…
Hey Roberto Luongo was really good last night but no one will take about it because of the whole Keith thing and the fact that no one ever talks about his good games, because why should he get praised it would just go to his head.
Basically, if the fanbase expectations for Roberto were a meme, they would the High Expectation Asian Father. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to punish myself severely for referencing memes in two straight articles.
Hate Em
1. Duncan Keith!
What the hell was that? Duncan Keith took a good hit from Daniel Sedin that involved head contact. Ok, does anyone seriously believe Daniel was headhunting on that hit?
Clik here to view.
We lose you get the Blackhawks girls! Canucks vs. Blackhawks Love 'em & Hate 'em
He doesn’t even hit.
Yet somehow, Keith got his panties in a knot because there still exists this notion that the Canucks shouldn’t even exist and play on the same rink other teams do and make the plays other teams do because they’re ruining hockey. So he tells Daniel he’s going to get him.
And then he got him.
There’s a suspension coming but with no hearing face-to-face, it’s less than five games. Horseshit. This is worse than Marchand, who was just being a rat in the heat of the moment. Keith was out to kill.
I’m not even exaggerating that much.
Again I throw this out, for all the talk about how the Canucks play the game the wrong way and are wimps and every other tired insult you hear from fans around the league that can’t handle seeing Alex Burrows talk to people on the ice, when is the last time one of the Canucks threw an elbow like that?
Chirping is chirping, headshots end careers.
2. Duncan Keith!
Oh yeah, and he refused to fight. The Canucks, who never fight because they’re wimps, tried to engage Keith multiple times and he wouldn’t have it. What?
Fight. Back your actions up. You can’t just go around doing your best impression of Dave Steckel and expect not to have to drop the gloves.
Another star player out with a concussion because Duncan Keith is a coward.
I’m really actually pretty mad right now.
3. There Goes the Season?
Nevermind the elbow, or the suspension, or Keith acting like a choirboy, the lasting impact from this game will be Daniel’s concussion.
Unconfirmed reports right now are saying two weeks. But again, this is a concussion and it’s really not unlike the Crosby/Steckel incident.
Jordan Schroeder will probably be called up from the Wolves to be thrown to the Wolves and Henrik will now get two auditioning wingers every game as he becomes what Ryan Kesler was last year.
I really really don’t like this turn of events.
I have a bad feeling…