It's hockey time again!

[FNS]

Watched the opening games Thursday night on CBC. It's great to see hockey again!

I have designed a new avatar for my postings. This is of a hockey puck with our forum's WCF logo on it. Checked with Scott on use issues first before getting his blessings to use it.



ENJOY!

[lmtengs]

You guys get CBC in Seattle?

[FNS]

Oct 8, 2010 17:42:56 GMT -8 @lmtengs said:

You guys get CBC in Seattle?

Yes, we do! It's on channel 99 on many of Comcast's systems here in the greater King County area. Different in other areas. I guess they chose to put it on that channel as Wayne Gretzky wore that number on his sweaters and that CBC has NHL Hockey on every Saturday night during the season.

Good luck to the Canucks this Saturday night!

I do wish that keyboardists would play part of the "Flight of a Bumblebee" during fisticuffs, like what the keyboardist did in Canucks games in the Pacific Coliseum days (mostly in the 1980s). That was really funny when he did that. Perfect accompaniment for a good old fashioned scrap on the ice! ;D

Remember what Don Cherry says, folks:
You don't call them jerseys. You call them sweaters!
You don't call them locker rooms. You call them dressing rooms!
That's the Canadian way!

[Balfour]

I went to the Atlanta Thrashers home opener last night versus the Washington Capitals and it was a pretty good game. I was the only person at the Phillips Arena wearing a Canucks Jersey. A large chunk of the Blackhawks team last year have ended up with the Atlanta Thrashers so they were way better than the time I saw them get stomped 8-0 by the Canucks in 2003.

The Thrashers had a rather scary moment last night when their starting goalie suddenly collapsed during a stopage in play, however he was taken off the ice and later was conscious in hospital. The Thrashers rallied and won the game 4-2. Ovechkin was fairly ineffective.

[Low Light Mike]

Oct 9, 2010 6:53:13 GMT -8 Balfour said:

I went to the Atlanta Thrashers home opener last night versus the Washington Capitals and it was a pretty good game.

Did you get any pictures of the interior of Phillips Arena? I'm curious to see what it looks like with all the private-boxes stacked on one side of the arena. It was a unique design when it opened, and it likely still is unique.

[FNS]

Oct 9, 2010 8:15:19 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Oct 9, 2010 6:53:13 GMT -8 Balfour said:

I went to the Atlanta Thrashers home opener last night versus the Washington Capitals and it was a pretty good game.

Did you get any pictures of the interior of Phillips Arena? I'm curious to see what it looks like with all the private-boxes stacked on one side of the arena. It was a unique design when it opened, and it likely still is unique.

Go to:

thrashers.nhl.com/

Then click on "TICKETS" and follow the links below to "3D Seat Finder". You should get 3D views of this rink.

[FerryDude2012]

The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2.
The Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-1.
The Vancouver Canucks, celebrating the 40th year anniversary, are looking for a win against the LA Kings tonight.
Congratulations to #33 Henrik Sedin, the 13th Captain in Canucks history.
It was really nice to see some of the Original Canucks from the 1970s team, including the first captain for the Canucks, #25 Orland Kurtenbach

GO CANUCKS GO!!!!

[Balfour]

Oct 9, 2010 8:15:19 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Oct 9, 2010 6:53:13 GMT -8 Balfour said:

I went to the Atlanta Thrashers home opener last night versus the Washington Capitals and it was a pretty good game.

Did you get any pictures of the interior of Phillips Arena? I'm curious to see what it looks like with all the private-boxes stacked on one side of the arena. It was a unique design when it opened, and it likely still is unique.

I didn't end up getting any photos of the Phillips Arena. I didn't bring my camera with me to that game. I figured having my camera at a hockey game where i was drinking a lot of beer was not a smart idea...

[BreannaF]

Hummmm....

I guess one of the problems of living down here in the "extreme suburbs" of Vancouver is that my first news that the name of the venue had been changed to "Rogers Arena" was when I tuned into the Canucks game, looked at the ice, and thought, "I thought this was a home game tonight." Yeah, I figured it out, but I suppose that I should get out more often....

[Barnacle]

I guess I should too... but then, I'm usually more in pursuit of WHL games when I go at all. I'm down to three buildings in the WHL I haven't been in.

[BreannaF]

Lucky you! Though the WHL is a place where I always seem to root for the home team -- wherever I happen to be at the moment.

The story goes: I was on a trip to Vancouver a couple of years ago and had an evening free, so I looked around to see what there was to do. No Canucks game in town that night, but the Giants were playing, and lucky me, my hotel was just down the street from Pacific Coliseum. So off I went. My hope was to see two teams play that I had not seen. Hummmm.... the Giants opponent that night was, of all things, my local Portland Winterhawks. Yup, a coincidence. But i really would have liked to experience something different than what I get to see all the time! Oh well......

And, yes, I did root for the home team, with reckless abandon. ;D

[mrdot]

in my retirement shipwatchin den I am multi-tasking watching sportsnet on my tv sidebar, and vueing the wc forum on my big monitor that wettcoast helped me install in this command cockpit, and I am troubled by these past inequeties that mr. horn has reminded me from our past, and thinking how difficult it was for Willy O'ree to break the colour bar when I first started watching hockey, not to mention the difficulty Mr. Robenson had in breaking the colour bar in baseball, etc. It looks like the Canucks are going to contend this year, after many :)years in the wilderness. mrdot.

[Neil]

Oct 11, 2010 19:06:40 GMT -8 mrdot said:

in my retirement shipwatchin den I am multi-tasking watching sportsnet on my tv sidebar, and vueing the wc forum on my big monitor that wettcoast helped me install in this command cockpit, and I am troubled by these past inequeties that mr. horn has reminded me from our past, and thinking how difficult it was for Willy O'ree to break the colour bar when I first started watching hockey, not to mention the difficulty Mr. Robenson had in breaking the colour bar in baseball, etc. It looks like the Canucks are going to contend this year, after many :)years in the wilderness. mrdot.

Speaking of Willie O'Ree... here he is in the line up for the L.A. Blades in a game at the old Forum, March 21st, 1967. Willie had a good year for the Blades that year; 34 goals and 26 assists, in a 70 game season. I rememember, as a kid, watching O'Ree and thinking what a novelty it was to see a black hockey player, as well as thinking that he could skate like the wind. Of course, everyone looked pretty fast at the Forum, where every seat was so close to the action.

Notice how small the lineups were- the Canucks had 16 skaters and one goalie, ex-Leaf Don Simmons, who was winding down his career.

This was the last full year for the Canucks in the Forum. Halfway through the next season, they moved to the Pacific Coliseum and finished dead last in the five team WHL, after which they bought the Rochester Americans and became a league powerhouse before moving to the NHL.

Bob Schmautz was with L.A. that year, and I believe he was one of the original NHL Canucks who was honored at the opening night ceremonies on Saturday. (Ditto to Murray Hall.)

[lmtengs]

It's kind of cool that the Waldorf Hotel is still there after all these years. Probably a bit less of a destination than it was back then, but still, kinda neat:
,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia,+Canada&sll=49.263839,-123.153607&sspn=0.007968,0.01929&g=2150+West+Broadway,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia,+Canada&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1489+E+Hastings+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V5L+1S4,+Canada&ll=49.281246,-123.074484&spn=0.000996,0.002411&z=19&layer=c&cbll=49.281246,-123.074484&panoid=K1Bk_wsqT2Ns70tCd5rHcg&cbp=12,18.79,,0,-8.41

[FNS]

Oct 12, 2010 21:26:17 GMT -8 Neil said:

Los Angeles Blades trainer Jack Curran. Was that the same Jack Curran who was with the Sonics as trainer in their early years under the big four roof trusses at Seattle Center?

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews1312/1.html

I see another familiar name on these rosters. Interesting to see is that there was a "Bob Blackburn" wearing a sweater and skates for Vancouver and another "Bob Blackburn" who sat behind a microphone announcing Sonics games on radio and TV.

[Neil]

Oct 12, 2010 21:59:33 GMT -8 FNS said:

Los Angeles Blades trainer Jack Curran. Was that the same Jack Curran who was with the Sonics as trainer in their early years under the big four roof trusses at Seattle Center?

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews1312/1.html

I see another familiar name on these rosters. Interesting to see is that there was a "Bob Blackburn" wearing a sweater and skates for Vancouver and another "Bob Blackburn" who sat behind a microphone announcing Sonics games on radio and TV.

Jack Curran, quite likely, considering the Blades were out of business the next year with the advent of the Los Angeles Kings. Bob Blackburn, no; he was still playing hockey.

For those who haven't checked it out, this is a fantastic resource for every hockey player, team, and league you've ever heard of:
www.hockeydb.com/

[mrdot]

gee wis, I am starting to feel not so elderly now that someone in the wc forum is like me, old enough to remember willie o,ree, I guess you have lived long enough when you can remember going on the Kalakala, and can remember the short lived Victoria Maple Liefs, and can remember the parent team winning the Stanley cup! mrdot.

[Neil]

Oct 13, 2010 11:32:39 GMT -8 mrdot said:

gee wis, I am starting to feel not so elderly now that someone in the wc forum is like me, old enough to remember willie o,ree, I guess you have lived long enough when you can remember going on the Kalakala, and can remember the short lived Victoria Maple Liefs, and can remember the parent team winning the Stanley cup! mrdot.

Ahem. I don't think I'm quite as 'full of years' as yourself, Mr D. You are, after all, officially retired, no? You may be the senior forum member... at least on this side of the border. Wear your title proudly.

Speaking of the Victoria Maple Leafs, there was a nice story about Bob Barlow in the Globe and Mail recently. He spent a couple of years with the minor Leafs, one of which was a WHL championship season, and the story recounted the hero worship our capitol had for it's team that year.

The story mentioned that Barlow later became the oldest rookie in NHL history when he finally made it to the Minnesota North Stars in his mid-30s. It was a brief stay, just enough to qualify for an NHL pension. Barlow, still a Victoria resident, doesn't cash the cheques every time they come, since they amount to five dollars and change per month. Seriously. Kind of like giving a waiter a five cent tip, I'd say.

[lmtengs]

I guess he didn't get full pension since he didn't work with the NHL as long as he would've had to to receive the full pension?

[mrdot]

as for retirement, just last friday my new senior's gold card arrived and I shall have to test it out on some ferry rides. My pensionable time actually begens on June 66 and the brand new QPR! however the bulk of this pension is the 30 more years I spent with my planning career in Tsawwassen. those Victoria Cougars, and Maple Leifs are a distant memory, but I vividly remember Bobby Bawn scoreing on a broken leg and those long ago Toronto stanley cups!mrdot.

[lmtengs]

Ugh, Canucks... what are we going to do about them? Three losses in a row now... well, at least they put up a good fight tonight.

If they don't win their next game, they'll be out of the play-offs, as most of us know. Lets not let that happen. All I can say is, they better win.

[mrdot]

:)to the sunbrunt viking, we need to lighten up, the Canucks played pritty good tonite, thats all you can ask, the prevous two games were stinkers, but now I shall dwell on more enjoyable nautical items! those Swartz Bay shots of new coastals together and other traffic are nice vueing, as are mr horns items at Nanaimo, I recognize the last years of Pr. Victoria, Elaine, and Joan in dock. :)mrdot.

[Neil]

You would think it would be really, really hard to completely negate the great season the Canucks have had. Night after night, from October to two weeks ago, the team played an exciting, attacking brand of hockey, got excellent goaltending, and received yeoman's service on defence even from fill ins like Chris Tanev and Yann Sauve, when that amazing injury bug hit. No more Stone Hands Steve Bernier, and Darcy Hordichuk was just a bad memory. From top to bottom, and in between, they looked capable.

So, how could you sour such a season? I can't imagine.

Oh, wait. How about becoming only the fourth team in almost 100 years of NHL playoffs to lose a series after being up 3-0? That would be the cow pie on the top of the Canucks' forty season record of futility.

Meanwhile, the Vancouver Giants flamed out in the first round of the playoffs, the Whitecaps look to be in the throes of a typical expansion team season, and one of the Lions' most exciting players has just been arrested and charged in connection with 67 pounds of illegal drugs. UBC's football team got crunched playing all their new American opposition. The Grizzlies are doing well in their first play-off, but, wouldn't you know it, they're based in Memphis now.

Oh well. The barely-professional Vancouver Canadians will take to the field in a couple of months. Hope springs eternal.

[Nucksrule]

So happy we beat the blackhawks, I don't know if I could have handled the aftermath of another loss. I am glad to see that there are some hockey enthusiasts among us ferry geeks.

[dofd]

So happy for the win! But it was another overtime, which is ............