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Ducks 2 Wings 1 (OT) / Game Update
2007-05-20 21:28:00
UPDATE3:20 PMHot damn! Andreas Lilja, who had scored the only Wing s goal tonight, coughed the puck up in front of his own net and of all people, Teemu Selanne takes the puck in on Hasek all by himself, goes to the backhand, and roofs the puck over a sprawling Hasek, knocking off the water bottle. I don't believe it. But I sure as hell like it! Hey Earl, you can stop chewing your fingernails for now!Bottom line of this game: The Wings can only be faulted for 2 bounces going against them. They executed a great game and fell short because of being unlucky.JS Giguere kept the Duck s in it, as Detroit outshot Anaheim 37-26. It seems that Detroit outshoots them almost every time.More irony: Lilja had this to say about Selanne yesterday (Los Angeles Times): "He's a world-class player. I think when he has opportunities, sooner or later he's going to score. He's a goal scorer. So we just have to take him out of the game again.He's probably going to have confidence when he comes in here ...
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Pronger speaks out about his 1-game suspension
2007-05-20 04:56:00
From TSN: "The league should make its own calls, not be pressured into anything by the media, and more to the point, the Canadian media," he told the Los Angeles radio station AM 570."I think inconsistency in the refereeing has been there all season, let alone in the playoffs. All you've got to do is look at our games against Detroit. You could bring in other series. The referees have been very inconsistent from series to series, from game to game and from team to team. As you witnessed, (Thursday) night was an absolute joke. But that's neither here nor there. It's over with. I just hope going forward we're going to be on a level playing field." As for the hit itself, Pron ger said: "It's a nothing play if Robbie doesn't hit him."Pronger raised the issue of height difference: "Of course I'm going to hit him in the head," Pronger explained. "He's quite a bit shorter than me. It's just law of physics." I'm not sure where or how he got the impression that mostly the Canadian m...
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The Demons Have Been Exorcised
2007-05-20 02:36:00
With the utmost of irony, Daniel Alfredsson came into the Sabres zone against 3 defenders down the left side, where he was beat by Jason Pomminville last season to take the brunt of the blame for the series winning goal, and buried a wrister past Ryan Miller to clinch this series in 5 games. Alfredsson had 1 goal and 1 assist and Dany Heatley had 1 goal and 2 assists as the Senators played better and better as the game went along.Heatley finally had found the net in this series and played superb.Can you belive Chris Drury? He was wearing the "A" instead of the "C" tonight, but played like a true captain would. That one shift where he blocked 2 Sens shots to preserve a 1-0 lead was beyond words. Unfortunately he took a shot in the head from his own teammate in the 3rd and never returned.I also feel bad for Ryan Miller. That save on Jason Spezza was a beautiful desperation save. Miller was solid. Can you remember Ray Emery having to be all that great today? The Sens just keep on rolli...
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Flexible to the point of being gross
2007-05-19 19:38:00
I've got 3 things to say about this clip:1. Arthritis2. She'd make an intriguing goalie3. I'll leave it up to the guys' imaginationsExtremely Flexible Girl - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!Tech Tags: FlexibleGirlVideoBreak.comGross
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Mrs. Luck not so lucky
2007-05-19 00:07:00
From CBC.ca: Two men were arrested after they allegedly assaulted a woman from Buffalo after the Senators' loss to the Buffalo Sabres in Ottawa Wednesday night.Sean Luck said his wife, Renee Luck, who was wearing Buffalo Sabres colours and logos, was walking in front of him through the corridors of Scotiabank Place as they tried to leave the stadium with about six other Sabres fans. "Two guys that were clearing the section to our right, as they were walking out, punched my wife four times — in the head," Luck said. "They just seemed like they were pissed off because the Senators lost."Yeah, there's assholes in every crowd isn't there? Imagine the beating she'll get if the Sabres win Game 5! I'm kidding, yeesh!T Tags: Senators+fans Punch Sabres+Fan
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John Cusack is a Wing...nut
2007-05-18 21:36:00
Ah, so this is why I seen actor John Cusack cheering for the Red Wing s in their 5-0 blow out of the Ducks in Game 3: He's a Chris Chelios fan and friend. What a suck. Oh well, I don't like his movies anyway. OK, High Fidelity wasn't so bad.T Tags: John+Cusack Red+Wings
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Sopel is probably the odd defenceman out
2007-05-18 20:02:00
On the Waiting For Stanley poll that asked which Canuck player you would like to see leave this summer, 37.8% of you picked Brent Sopel, 33.3% said Markus Naslund, and 22.2% said Brendan Morrison. I can nearly guarantee you that Markus Naslund is not going anywhere and will play out his final year in Vancouver. Naslund's efforts in the post season earned him Alain Vigneault's respect. I thought his on-ice leadership was pretty decent as well. No, he's not worth $6 million, but why complain about something we can't change?Morrison has one year left that pays him $3.2 million. I think he is the biggest waste of cap space on the team for obvious reasons, injured or not. Perhaps Nonis will try to trade him.But the real cluster comes on defence, and this is where we will probably see Brent Sopel let go. Currently, Sopes makes $2.4 million per season. I am quite sure he did not play well enough after the trade deadline to earn that amount this coming season in a Canucks jersey. I know...
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So what do the Leafs do now?
2007-05-18 00:37:00
Leafs management is going to have some difficult decisions to make this summer in order to turn the teams' fortunes around. Is it time to hit the rebuild button? Do the Leafs even know how to rebuild? Or are they going to continue their gluttonous ways in the free agency market? Something has to change. If I was the owner of this organization, here is what I'd do:1. Fire John Ferguson Jr. Then bring back Cliff Fletcher, or a GM that has balls and brains. Or, a GM who doesn't piss away young talent on aging veterans.2. Do everything in my power to trade Bryan McCabe and shed myself of his $5.75 million salary. Leafs are currently stuck with the mindless tit for 4 more years.3. Resign Michael Peca, and forgive him for writing checks with his mouth that his butt can't cash. 4. Resign Ponikarovsky (done) and Antropov, but not for any more than 2 million each.5. Keep Raycroft. Second chance Motel.6. Have one of my henchmen take Hal Gill out back and shoot him. (He takes up $2.1 milli...

Need More Power!
2007-05-17 18:31:00
**UPDATE 4:00 PM** The power has returned! Amen!**UPDATE 2:52 PM**Apparently the power line was knocked over by a tree, which had been chewed on by a beaver. Goddamned national animal!!! Never has a beaver caused so much hell!!! OK, get your mind INTO the gutter!I also hear that the progress of the repair crew was delayed because another tree that drifted by had snagged the power line. Life in a Northern Town, huh?The Town of Smithers and surrounding area where I live has been without power since yesterday at about 3:30 PM (Wednesday). I thought it was going to be a power bump or other short term glitch but it turns out that the power pole and lines had fallen into the Telkwa River about 6 miles east of Smithers, causing transformers to be shorted out. Boom, about 8000 people without power. I don't think I have seen a power outage in this area for this long before. The repairs may be complete by 4:00 PM today. There are only rumors as to what caused the lines to fall into the drink...
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Gory Image of Pronger Hit
2007-05-16 20:42:00
As Bob McKenzie from TSN had mentioned today, so much of the attention after Game 3 is on the Pron ger/Niedermayer hit on Holmstrom, when really the main focus should be on the fact that the Red Wings annihilated the Ducks 5-0 to take the lead and momentum in the series. I'll briefly tackle both.The HitIs Prong er going to get a game suspension of more for that hit? Should he? I say no for a couple of reasons. 1. Alfredsson boarded Kalinin in Game 2 of the Eastern Final and got nothing. Got to be consistent right? If it was Brad May that hit Holmstrom the axe would have fallen I'm sure.2. Watch the hit slowly.Pronger was going to make more contact with his arms with Holmstrom's upper back until Niedermayer made contact with him. Then it became a head shot. Think. It happened in a split second. Niedermayer's hit was not going to be boarding anyway. Pronger was going to push him down, more at an angle along the boards. Chalk it up as a flukey accident for the most part.The GameWhy d...
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The Back Yards of America
2007-05-16 08:26:00
Hey, I don't mind watching Back Yard Wrestling because of how hardcore it is. But there comes a time when it goes beyond stupidity, and this old clip is one of those moments. It's probably the worst ever. I get the feeling that when this present 'jackass' generation gets to the age of 50 (if they are lucky) they will be in terrible shape, ie: wheelchairs.Video YouTube BackYard+Wrestling Pain Accident
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Transformers: The Game
2007-05-16 00:05:00
Less than a month prior to when the Trans formers movie hits theaters (July 4), a Transformers game will be released on June 19 (USA) on almost every major gaming console. I am a little leary buying any 'movie' game that precedes or supercedes a release of the motion picture, as most of the time the game sucks (too easy game-play, etc). So this one will be a rental for me first. I can't wait to see what Spielberg drums up for the movie though. If the robots look anywhere near as good as the machines on War of the Worlds, I am really going to enjoy it (well, the visual part anyway!)Apparently, Hugo Weaving will be the voice of Megatron. Old news to some I'm sure.Game screenshotsGame preview videoT Tags: Transformers Movie Game
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Larscheid to sign a 1-year extension
2007-05-15 22:18:00
"Why give this up?" laughs Larscheid. "I'm having too much fun." It appears that 67-year-old Tom Larscheid is about to sign a 1-year contract to remain the voice of the Vancouver Canucks. Tom is the dude that coined "Bingo Bango Bongo, his name is Roberto Luongo!" We didn't really want him to retire yet anyways, did we? Larscheid has been doing his thing for 31 years now.For more on the story, check out the Vancouver Province.T Tags: Tom+Larscheid Canucks+Play-byPlay Re-signs Contract Team+1040
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The Sens then and now
2007-05-15 17:47:00
Just to give you a little bit of a comparison between the Sens team that lost in 7 games in the Semi-finals in 2002-03 and the team that is up 3-0 against the Sabres this year:2002-03 SENATORS FINAL PLAYOFF STATS 2006-07 SENATORS CURRENT PLAYOFF STATS-As you can see, there are 8 players currently on the Sens roster that were there in the heartbreaking Game 7 loss in 2003.-Spezza was just a babyface then, only playing 3 games. I can remember the look of disdain on his face because he thought he should have been a regular in the lineup back then. He showed a lot of flash, but management did not think he was ready.-When it comes to hockey, I can be a cultural 'racist', meaning I am quick to judge the heart of European players on occasion. The Sens had 9 Europeans in 2003. The current roster has 4. I would much rather have Dany Heatley in my lineup that Marian Hossa any day.Havlat who? They are better off without him. Try Mike Fischer instead. Preissing and Corvo over Chara works wond...
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Christmas is July in Vancouver
2007-05-15 00:11:00
Dave Nonis is going to have a few holes to fill on offence at center with the impending loss of Smolinski and Linden and on the wings with the potential departures of Bulis, Pyatt, and perhaps Josh Green. Browsing through the list of potential UFA's at the TSN site, here are my wishes on which forwards Nonis gets and doesn't get.Over Priced & Out of the QuestionNaslund has received a vote of confidence from Vigneault and is going to play in Vancouver for a final season, barring some miraculous trade. So we are stuck with his salary and the following players are out of the question (the strike-through's are the goofs I wouldn't want to see in a Canucks jersey anyway). This is also assuming that Nonis can't spend more than $2 million on any one player due to Cap restrictions.Teemu Selanne, Keith Tkachuk, Slava Kozlov, Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Todd Bertuzzi, Robert Lang, Petr Sykora, Radek Bonk , Ryan Smyth, Jason Blake (too bad, he's getting a huge raise elsewhere), Peter For...
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No Syuk For You!
2007-05-14 17:28:00
You could see the Ducks sticking, roughing and shadowing Pavel Datsyuk all night long and it seems to be paying off. Datsyuk managed to score a power play goal on a 5-on-3, but he actually had some room then. On 5-on-5, countless numbers of Ducks gave him a rough ride, especially the hero Scott Niedermayer, which must have made him feel like he was stuffed in a locker.He only had 2 shots.No doubt that Datsyuk is the offensive catalyst of the Wings. It's a great idea to shut him down and frustrate him. I don't see that Duck strategy changing anytime soon.So that means that now the Wings will have to rely on secondary scoring. It seems that Mike Babcock took Zetterberg off Datstyuk's line to try generate something elsewhere. Zetterberg had 1 assist and 6 shots.The Wings can count on Draper, Maltby and Cleary to chip in on occasion, but the consistent number needs to come from, and you guessed it...Todd Bertuzzi. Bert had no points and no shots last night. He hasn't recorded a poin...

CONGRATS, BOYS!
2007-05-14 02:22:00
Some great photos of the victory and celebrations can be found here.
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It's all coming together for the Senators
2007-05-13 20:48:00
And it's not for the Sabres. The Sens scored 2 power play goals on 4 chances. The Sabres were 0-for-7 with the man advantage. In the first 2 games, Ottawa is 4-for-10 and the Sabres are 0-for-12. Where has that haunting Buffalo power play gone?So much of their futility can be attributed to the Sens' excellent penalty killing. I don't recall seeing the forwards pressure the points so hard and causing turnovers there. The Sens, especially Fisher, McAmmond, and now Alfredsson are terrific at that. Their box formation in front of Ray Emery squeezes out any passes that the Sabres make in from the outside. You can't execute that game plan without skating your ass off, and that is what the Sens are doing consistently now. Well, at least after it was 2-0 Buffalo! The Sens are playing like they want to win it all and they look unbelievably focussed. For whatever reason, the Sabres don't look like they have kicked it into 3rd gear (except for the 1st 10 minutes of Period 1). I suppose t...
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Luongo / Brodeur Poll: Who is better?
2007-05-11 17:01:00
Martin Brodeur Career StatsGP- 891Average GP per season- 63Wins- 494Average Wins per season- 38Losses- 263Ties- 105Goals Against- 1931GAA- 2.20Save Percentage- .913Shutouts- 92Average Shutouts per season: 7.07Won Calder Trophy in 1994Won 4 Jennings Trophies in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004Won 2 Vezina Trophies in 2003, 2004Won Stanley Cup 3 timesIs a 9-time NHL All starWon 2 silver medals at the World ChampionshipsWon a gold medal at the 2002 Winter OlympicsRoberto Luongo Career StatsGP- 417Average GP per season- 59Wins- 162Average Wins per season- 23Losses- 190Ties- 33Goals Against- 1037GAA- 2.63Save Percentage- .919Shutouts- 32Average Shutouts per season- 4.5NHL All Star 3 times2 Golds and 1 Silver medal in World Championships Is Roberto Luongo better than Martin Brodeur? 69% of you voted 'Yes'. I am a little torn on the matter. Right NOW, Luongo may very well be better. At least now we can guage even more how good Luongo's numbers can be, as he plays on a more defensive team, a luxur...
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Round 3 Predictions
2007-05-10 22:22:00
I'm keeping up with the experts so far. Perhaps Pang and Dreger may have erred in picking Detroit to beat Anaheim, and then I'll catch them. Can any of you really see the Wings taking out the Ducks? I can't.It looks like Roenick gave up predicting. Probably a good thing. He sucks at it. Almost as bad as the monkey.When you predict most of the right teams to go to the Final 4, and pick your pool players accordingly, you tend to do well. I am hanging in there in the Waiting For Stanley Playoff Pool so far. Unfortunately, Curl has only lost 4 players so far. I have lost 5. Smarty has lost 10, and the leader, Sundin, has lost 11. So you know how these standing will probably end up after the semi's. It's gonna be me and Curl.T Tags: TSN Predict ions Semi-Finals Common+Fan+Playoff+Pool Standings
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Senators / Sabres Preview
2007-05-10 18:28:00
This is going to be the series to watch, no doubt. There is a lot of bad blood between these 2 teams, as the clip shows. I can just picture Bryan Murray calling Lindy Ruff a 'fucking ath-hole' at some point in the next week or so. Could this possibly be the roughest series in the playoffs? I hope so.These teams match up well. Both like the wide-open style speed game, but can slow it down and shut the opposing team down when necessary. This looks to be a high-scoring affair regardless.Season seriesOttawa takes it with 5 wins and 3 losses. The Sens outscored the Sabres 33 - 25 in those games and outshot them 276 - 254. The biggest difference between the 2 teams this season was on the power play. The Sens were 15-for-50 while the Sabres' PP was a whole lot less efficient at 6-for-44. Wow.MentalityThe Sabres are considered by most to have not brought their 'A' game to the ice in this post season...yet. They are steadily improving, but not there yet. That was really evident against ...
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Damned Red Wings
2007-05-08 19:48:00
"You don't get picked to be very good, and then you're pretty good through the regular season, and then someone says you're not a playoff team," Mike Babcock said. "We played two big, strong teams and have done well. And now we're going to get another one." Tell me I'm having a bad dream. Detroit keeps plugging away in these playoffs and surprising people. I hate it. I hate Detroit. Always have, always will.The Wing s seem to be going the route of the Sens, who were also labelled as chokers in the playoffs. These teams seem to be rallying around these accusations and judgements.There are some intriguing stories surrounding this Wings team.- Matthieu Schneider, their 2nd best defenceman did not play in Game 6 and may be lost for the rest of the playoffs with a broken wrist/forearm injury. Didn't faze these guys in Game 6.- Chris Chelios (240) is 7 games away from catching Patrick Roy (247) for the record of most games played in the playoffs. Despite his age, Chelios is still a ...
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Canucks injury news
2007-05-08 05:08:00
From the Vancouver Province: "We think there's a possibility I might have to undergo surgery again," Brendan Morrison said Sunday during wrap-up day at GM Place. "I can't tell you when it's going to be or if it's going to be. But I think there's something wrong."Morrison said he felt sore pushing off, a common trait for such an injury."Coming back up ice on the backcheck, it was really pretty tender to do a 100-per-cent push and it just kind of lingered."Rory Fitzpatrick suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder in Game 2 against the Ducks. He is consulting doctors to see if surgery is required.Kevin Bieksa said he had the flu during his absences in Round 2, but, of course, in reality he had 3 stomach muscle tears: 2 oblique tears in the front and 1 in the back. That injury occurred in Game 6 against Dallas. "It bothered me for a bit and when I was clearing the puck on a penalty kill, I kind of had some resistance from the other guy's stick and the torque on my body is where I r...
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Manitoba Tories promise to bring back the Jets...if they win
2007-05-08 04:06:00
It's been a week of Canadian politicians using hockey as a platform for possible election. First the Doan saga, and now this: Manitoba 's provincial election campaign has turned its attention to hockey with the Conservatives promising to bring the NHL back to Winnipeg.Standing alongside former Winnipeg Jet Thomas Steen, Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen said he'll work with the private sector to bring back the team, who left Manitoba a decade ago.McFadyen won't say how much taxpayer money he'd be willing to put up, but says the government could follow Manitoba Hydro's example and raise money by issuing bonds.He also says he would consider a special lottery to raise money as well as a players tax similar to one implemented in Alberta at one time.The Tory leader says an NHL team would make Manitoba more attractive to young people and help stem the tide of university graduates who leave for Alberta.From Sportsnet.A pretty ballsy call from these guys, and a great idea. However, if these s...
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Naslund promises to improve next season
2007-05-07 02:13:00
''I know I can play better,'' Naslund said as the Canucks cleaned out their lockers and said goodbye for the summer. ''It wasn't a lack of effort, I wanted to do well. It just wasn't there.'' ''I know I can do better, that's the bottom line. I'm proud of what I do. I want to show I can still perform. I'm going to come back and prove that I can play better.'' ''The lack of offence was probably the difference in the playoffs,'' said Naslund. ''We've got to be able to muster up more than two goals a game.'' ''I was used to playing on a line for a long time with guys that you got used to (Bertuzzi and Morrison),'' he said. ''It affected me more than I expected.'' ''It took me a long time to really find my groove. I never played the type of hockey I'm capable of.'' Hands up...how many people don't give a damn about his promise and would like to see Naslund banished right now? My hand is up, but I'd say it took me a couple of seconds to raise it. ...
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CSI: Stanley
2007-05-07 00:26:00
Thanks, NHL.com!Hey, I admit I'm a sucker for TV shows CSI: Las Vegas and CSI: Miami. It's extra cool to see the Miami team posing with Lord Stanley though.To see a few more images of celebs with Lord Stanley, check out NHL.com.T Tags: Stanley+Cup CSI:Miami

Sabres 5 Rangers 4: Rangers go home
2007-05-06 22:54:00
Period 1Unreal. The Range rs score the first goal of the game at 17:10 after being outshot 11-4 up to that point. Nylander deked Miller out of his jock. MSG came alive for the first time since the pregame.That put the momentum in New York’s favor, especially considering that Henrik Lundqvist was stopping everything that Buffalo threw at him.Period 2 Now a shootout occurs. The Sabres score just over a minute in (Kalinin) and then again just over a minute later (Pominville). The Ranger s don’t fall apart after that. Almost 2 minutes later Paul Mara scores from the point on the power play. 2-2. But the Sabres come alive again and score 2 goals in a span of 3 ½ minutes (Hecht and Drury)If you are not watching this game you are missing a beauty. Leave your yard work for tomorrow dammit!Call me nuts, but this is how the Sabres should have been playing all along. Their speed is making the Rangers look slow, and their ‘trap’ absolutely useless. I’ve been wondering if the Sabres h...
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Vigneault for Jack Adams
2007-05-06 10:09:00
A great piece in the Vancouver Sun yesterday from Iain McIntyre about Luongo and Vigneault that offers a bit more insight to especially what Vigneault did this season including: Nonis and Vigneault separately addressed players after a 4-0 loss to Edmonton on Dec. 4. The theme was that they needn't play scared, that players had to find a way to relax and just enjoy the games.Vigneault, himself, never stopped enjoying his job.Players were unsure initially what to make of him. But he backed up his promise to treat everyone "fairly, not equally." He benched Brendan Morrison and Jan Bulis, scratched free-agent bust Marc Chouinard from the lineup, used his grinders when he felt they were better than the top-six forwards, and even called on Luongo in November to be better.Defenceman Kevin Bieksa said Vigneault's message never wavered, nor did he "lose it" with players, despite the slump that had everyone on edge. They may not always like the coach as much as the media does, but they resp...
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Luongo blamed himself for the Game 5 loss
2007-05-05 11:04:00
"It's probably one of the games I felt my best in my career," Luongo said. "I felt [I deserved better], but what are you going to do? Obviously I made a mistake there and it cost us the game. Right now, everything is surreal. Obviously, I'm disappointed because our season is over. I didn't feel like I deserved the season to be over. I wanted to keep going. I think it's going to hit harder when I wake up in the next day or two and I have nothing to do."The mistake he is referring to is his theatrics towards the referee at the beginning of the 2nd OT, raising his arm to call a penalty like a ref would because he thought the hit on Hansen by Rob Niedermayer should have been a penalty. While he was airing out his armpit, Scott Niedermayer took a shot from the point and it went in. What a terrible way for a series to end. It really is surreal. But I like how he says that he himself deserved the season to be over. He didn't say 'our'. And that really was the bottom line in Game 5. ...
More About: The Game , Loss , Himself , Blame

A quick Trevor Linden story
2007-05-05 10:20:00
A comical story about Brian Burke and Trevor Linden from the Orange County Register yesterday: Burke remembers 1988 when Linden, son of a cattle farmer in Medicine Hat, Alberta, began his journey."He gets embarrassed when I tell this," Burke said, referring to the oft-quoted story about the Canucks' psychological, pre-draft testing.Linden said he couldn't make it because he was needed on the farm.Burke asked what his job was."When the cattle come into the pen I have to hold them down and pin them while they brand them and castrate them," Linden said."OK," Burke said, "You can skip the test."Linden went on to pass tougher ones.T Tags: Canucks Brian+Burke Trevor+Linden
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