OT at Honda Center
September 28th, 2008 by thewordbirdHead Coach Alain Vigneault is displaying the kind of thinking man’s hockey I love. I cannot say I’m in love with the gross amount of penalties the Canucks were called for, 13 to the Ducks’ 7….Selanne scored twice on the powerplay. I do love the mindset the Canucks are going out there with and the addition of Ryan Walter as Assistant Coach has something to do with that, just as youthful exuberance does.
Some of the kids were taking penalties during Sunday’s game and although he wasn’t just letting it slide, he was undeterred in using some of the kids in the latter stages of overtime. Vigneault understands that it will expediate the development of a Michael Grabner, Cody Hodgson, James Sharrow, or Alexandre Bolduc. The latter two are most likely going to be cut in the next couple days and sent to Manitoba of the AHL. Rick Rypien sealed the deal with multiple ill-advised penalties and I would be shocked and disappointed to see him in Vancouver this season. Hodgson and Grabner are certainly presenting their cases to don the blue-and-green all year long. But Bolduc has stood out in a ‘Alexandre Burrowsish’ forechecking way, and his scoring touch last year in Manitoba is appreciated as well.
Hodgson scored on a beautiful shot in the shootout against the Ducks’ J.P. Levasseur (the official game sheet says David LeNeveu, but I watched the game) that J.P. just got a piece of yet trickled in. Bolduc and Hodgson were taking late shifts in overtime and Sharrow and Grabner had roles all night long for the Canucks in the eventual shoot-out win in Anaheim. Grabner and Hodgson have developed chemistry in a short time and while outmatched at times, looked at home most times. These were some of the best Ducks (Pronger, Getzlaf, Perry, Selanne) out there, so it was a pretty good measuring stick. Hodgson drove to the net and the Canucks are getting it a healthy dose of it so far this season with the additions of Darcy Hordichuk and Steve Bernier.
Anaheim fielded two former Vancouver Giants in defensemen Brett Festerling and Brendan Mikkelson, both skated nicely and will figure into Anaheim’s future. Both skated 16 minutes+
Kyle Wellwood put up notice that his offensive skills will be reckoned with this year and was a healthy 8 of 12 in faceoffs. I thought Curtis Sanford had a decent game and it was good to see that the staff thought it wise to give him an entire game to work through his mind. They seem more capitalistic than last year and have an aura of determination lacking in previous teams. Case in point, Henrik Sedin was front and center-standing up for himself and his team-mates in overtime and it was in opposition of George Parros.
Unfortunately, Brendan Morrison was in the press box for the game and is being eased into the lineup for the start of the campaign.
With four games in the preseason schedule complete and ‘boasting’ an undefeated record, we should see some demotions before the final three tune-ups against the Flames, Sharks, and Ducks.
28 September 2008
Robin Keith Thompson
3 Responses to “OT at Honda Center”
By the end on Sep 28, 2008
get real, bolduc & sharrow will never see the light of day of vancouver EVER, let alone this season … rypien on the other hand will have every opportunity to make the team.
By thewordbird on Sep 29, 2008
What is real Guy, is that the older predispositions are gone and guys like Rypien are going to be judged on what they bring to the rink (if they can dress or are constantly injured) every night.
A kid like Bolduc presents a valuable call-up that is speedy and cheap against the cap -that IS real. Both Sharrow and Bolduc are of course only depth players and this camp and preseason will provide some valuable time in the organization.
By Jason Chen on Sep 29, 2008
I’ve never liked Rypien and never will. I fail to see what he brings to the table that Mike Brown can’t. We’ve got enough speedsters in Hansen and Grabner, and Rypien is truly undersized as a centre, not to mention incredibly injury-prone.
While it’s not impossible to see Sharrow or Bolduc get called up this year, they are still way down in the depth charts. With the amount of defensemen they’ve got this year Baumer, Nycholat, Davison, and McIver will all get looks before he does.
Good to hear that the Canucks are playing with determination and focus. That was always a missing key ingredient for the past couple of years.