Tuesday, March 09, 2004
AVALANCHE 9, CANUCKS 2
You know what? It's been a while since I've rooted for a team that built themselves back up to almost take first place, and then choke horribly. This isn't Sonics-losing-to-Nuggets bad, but it's all the bad I want to have for a while.
It started out badly enough. Milan Hejduk scored just short of seven minutes in. You see, the thing about all of this is that the Avalanche had gotten their asses handed to them 7-1 by Calgary the day before. The Canucks were well rested and played like absolute crap.
So it was 1-0 until Steve Konowalchuk scored at 14:40 to make it 2-0. A mere 1:39 later, the Avalanche led 5-0. Boos hailed down from all reaches of the Garage. Dan Cloutier had some trouble on the second goal, and an intermission reporter said Cloutier could probably have been blamed for the third and fourth goals. The bottom line was that Cloutier gave up four goals on ten shots and was pulled.
Brad May tried to provide some spark late in the first period, going after Peter Worrell (both would be at each other for most of the game). That's right, May at 6'1" was going at Worrell (6'7"). This helped a little bit, as May helped inject a little life into the crowd in the second period, tallying his 4th goal of the year. Assisting on the goal was Trevor Linden, who finally has the all-time Canuck scoring lead, passing Stan Smyl. The fans gave a long standing ovation, and even the play-by-play guys confessed to getting goosebumps. Linden's games-without-scoring streak had reached 12. May scored again 52 seconds later, and Linden got another point.
In a span from late in the first period to the middle of the 2nd period, the Canucks gave the Avalanche six power plays in a row, twice involving Johan Hedberg putting the puck into the stands (delay of game), the second of which led to a Derek Morris goal. Brad May himself taunted David Aebischer after the second goal and was sent to the box for five minutes, effectively squashing any momentum the two Vancouver goals may have built up.
And just when I didn't think it could get any worse...
The account that I got from the radio guys (I haven't seen it yet) was that Todd Bertuzzi was trying to challenge Steve Moore, who wanted none of it. Then Bertuzzi suckerpunched Moore in either the back of the head or the side of the face. Moore was knocked out by the punch, because he didn't have a reflex to break his fall with his hands. He fell to the ice, and Bertuzzi landed on top of Moore and drove his head into the ice. Bertuzzi can be a hothead and everything, but sheesh. How bad is this? Tom Larscheid (color commentator) said that this was as bad as the Marty McSorley hit on Donald Brashear, if you all remember how bad that was. I think the RCMP got involved. There's definitely a suspension here, no doubt about it. John Shorthouse remembered one of Bertuzzi's first boneheaded decisions in the NHL, involving him and Scott Parker, then of the Avalanche.
A strange announcement was passed along after the game saying that the Canucks had scheduled a 9am press conference for the next morning. The radio personalities all reacted surprised to this, saying that if there was a trade (deadline 12p PT tomorrow), something would have surely leaked, because that's the way it always is with trades. Larscheid half-jokingly suggested that GM Brian Burke may have finally have his well-deserved new contract.
As for the Bertuzzi incident, postgame host Dan Russell said that one could suspect Bertuzzi might take the Naslund situation into his own hands. Shorthouse said Bertuzzi shouldn't have nailed Moore if he wanted no part of a fight. Larscheid said the Moore hit on Naslund was nowhere near as blatant and awful as Bertuzzi's hit on Moore. Tom also said that it sickened and saddened him that this happened, and he prays that Moore will be okay. Further describing the scene, he said that trainers and doctors were immediately screamed at for their attention, and the stretcher came out followed by Moore's leaving on the ambulance. Tom also said that he loves athletic competition and hockey because of the physical toughness and perseverance it demands, but you don't want to see cheap shots and players losing focus and taking up personal vendettas.
Brad May had half-jokingly suggested before the last COL/VAN game that Steve Moore had a bounty on his head. The last COL/VAN game passed without much recourse or fighting. Tonight's game sure didn't, and the NHL might be looking at May's comments differently now.
Since I don't feel like phrasing the rest of my notes from the postgame show, I'll give it to you in raw form...
dan: feels like way more than one loss
tom: an aberration, or circle this date and say "this is when it all fell apart"?
john: need inspiration? look at COL who got whooped 7-1 the day before
tom: poor trevor
Looks like the Canucks just piddled away the division and a top-three seed. They dug their own grave.
I'm really embarrassed. It may be a while before I'm sporting the navy blue Canucks shirt with "BERTUZZI 44" on the back.
It started out badly enough. Milan Hejduk scored just short of seven minutes in. You see, the thing about all of this is that the Avalanche had gotten their asses handed to them 7-1 by Calgary the day before. The Canucks were well rested and played like absolute crap.
So it was 1-0 until Steve Konowalchuk scored at 14:40 to make it 2-0. A mere 1:39 later, the Avalanche led 5-0. Boos hailed down from all reaches of the Garage. Dan Cloutier had some trouble on the second goal, and an intermission reporter said Cloutier could probably have been blamed for the third and fourth goals. The bottom line was that Cloutier gave up four goals on ten shots and was pulled.
Brad May tried to provide some spark late in the first period, going after Peter Worrell (both would be at each other for most of the game). That's right, May at 6'1" was going at Worrell (6'7"). This helped a little bit, as May helped inject a little life into the crowd in the second period, tallying his 4th goal of the year. Assisting on the goal was Trevor Linden, who finally has the all-time Canuck scoring lead, passing Stan Smyl. The fans gave a long standing ovation, and even the play-by-play guys confessed to getting goosebumps. Linden's games-without-scoring streak had reached 12. May scored again 52 seconds later, and Linden got another point.
In a span from late in the first period to the middle of the 2nd period, the Canucks gave the Avalanche six power plays in a row, twice involving Johan Hedberg putting the puck into the stands (delay of game), the second of which led to a Derek Morris goal. Brad May himself taunted David Aebischer after the second goal and was sent to the box for five minutes, effectively squashing any momentum the two Vancouver goals may have built up.
And just when I didn't think it could get any worse...
The account that I got from the radio guys (I haven't seen it yet) was that Todd Bertuzzi was trying to challenge Steve Moore, who wanted none of it. Then Bertuzzi suckerpunched Moore in either the back of the head or the side of the face. Moore was knocked out by the punch, because he didn't have a reflex to break his fall with his hands. He fell to the ice, and Bertuzzi landed on top of Moore and drove his head into the ice. Bertuzzi can be a hothead and everything, but sheesh. How bad is this? Tom Larscheid (color commentator) said that this was as bad as the Marty McSorley hit on Donald Brashear, if you all remember how bad that was. I think the RCMP got involved. There's definitely a suspension here, no doubt about it. John Shorthouse remembered one of Bertuzzi's first boneheaded decisions in the NHL, involving him and Scott Parker, then of the Avalanche.
A strange announcement was passed along after the game saying that the Canucks had scheduled a 9am press conference for the next morning. The radio personalities all reacted surprised to this, saying that if there was a trade (deadline 12p PT tomorrow), something would have surely leaked, because that's the way it always is with trades. Larscheid half-jokingly suggested that GM Brian Burke may have finally have his well-deserved new contract.
As for the Bertuzzi incident, postgame host Dan Russell said that one could suspect Bertuzzi might take the Naslund situation into his own hands. Shorthouse said Bertuzzi shouldn't have nailed Moore if he wanted no part of a fight. Larscheid said the Moore hit on Naslund was nowhere near as blatant and awful as Bertuzzi's hit on Moore. Tom also said that it sickened and saddened him that this happened, and he prays that Moore will be okay. Further describing the scene, he said that trainers and doctors were immediately screamed at for their attention, and the stretcher came out followed by Moore's leaving on the ambulance. Tom also said that he loves athletic competition and hockey because of the physical toughness and perseverance it demands, but you don't want to see cheap shots and players losing focus and taking up personal vendettas.
Brad May had half-jokingly suggested before the last COL/VAN game that Steve Moore had a bounty on his head. The last COL/VAN game passed without much recourse or fighting. Tonight's game sure didn't, and the NHL might be looking at May's comments differently now.
Since I don't feel like phrasing the rest of my notes from the postgame show, I'll give it to you in raw form...
dan: feels like way more than one loss
tom: an aberration, or circle this date and say "this is when it all fell apart"?
john: need inspiration? look at COL who got whooped 7-1 the day before
tom: poor trevor
Looks like the Canucks just piddled away the division and a top-three seed. They dug their own grave.
I'm really embarrassed. It may be a while before I'm sporting the navy blue Canucks shirt with "BERTUZZI 44" on the back.
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