Entries tagged as ‘Mats Sundin’
mats plays catch up
Well, we’ve never posted a pic here at The Hills are Alive and its been on purpose. From day 1, we’ve wanted to keep this blog pretty simple and only use a pic or any multimedia when the moment deserved it. Well, tonight is one of those nights. This one is for you Mats!
All Eyes are on Mats Sundin 2nite as he returns to his previous stompin’ grounds in Toronto. It may be the last time he ever skates on Maple Leaf Ice in a game. Woodpeck hopes he takes the opportunity to prove that he has still got it. Proves that all the attention is deserved. Proves that he can bring many factors to a game. Proves that no matter what ppl think now, he’s a top player in this league. Consistency is missing in his 17 games so far. Generally, things are looking up of late for him so that bodes well. He’s getting sharper but still laggin’ a tad. We’ll give him the bye for the lackluster performance in Ottawa this past Thursday. Just DO SOMETHING Mats!“. ed note: that’s what we yelled at him on Thursday btw… but he never responded.
We just hope the Canucks prevail & either way, that is what Mats will talk about when its all said & done. He’s just like that & today is just another day at the office for him. Despite it all, we’ll be watching Mats & drinking to you! Enough with the Leaf memories! Seize the moment & lets make some Canuck memories 2nite!
Categories: hockey
Tagged: Mats Sundin, NHL, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks
Last night’s Vancouver Canucks vs. Dallas Stars game was nuts! End to end action. Pucks bouncing all over the place. Missed chances. Missed saves. Wicked hits. Posts hit by both teams. The 2-1 final score could have easily had been 6-5!
Disappointed as we were with the final result, we couldn’t help but thinking that at least this game would tie up in the final minutes. Jason Labarbera was good in net. He got lucky a few times. Stopping the 3 on 0 rush was the highlight. We thought for sure he was toast. Credit to him for stopping that and other key stops. BTW, is that Metallica on his helmet? Anyways, Turco looks to be shaping into form as well that that doesn’t bode well for the other teams in the west. Dallas is finding their form as a team just at the right time and if there ever were a darkhorse pick in the west, it would be them. No one wants to face Dallas right now and now we saw why. Despite a free flowing game with fluky stuff happening all over, they still won and looked good doing so.
Sundin looked tired. Alex Burrows looked good on the top line. Kesler and Pyatt also had decent games we thought. Bieksa was off. Often we were left scratching our heads on his pass choices. Shane O’Brien seemed solid and played an error free physical game which is what he needs to do more of. Modano once one of the fastest skaters in the league now looks like Trevor Linden did last year. Just a few step behind all the time. He still plays smart but the speed is just not there.
Categories: hockey
Tagged: Alex Burrows, Dallas Stars, Jason Labarbera, Kesler, marty turco, Mats Sundin, Metallica, NHL, Pyatt, Shane O'Brien, Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canucks
… and beyond is a 4 game week long West-East Canada Roadtrip! Its clutch time for the Canucks! The standings are super tight and we need the wins!
Watch tonight for Alex Burrows to be on the top line with the Sedins vs the Coyotes. Hopefully that will spark them into some offense. Did the twins even play against the Blues the other night? Really though, if the trade off is a pointless night from the twins and a lot of secondary scoring that equals a win, we’ll take the win in a heartbeat! Keep the other team’s shutdown line busy out there and good things will happen for the team. Don`t worry twins, the points will come.
Though we like the move, generally speaking AV’s constant line juggling is getting annoying. But in this case its actually needed. We predict a 4-3 Canucks victory in OT. The Coyotes are coming off an impressive 1-0 win over the Red Hot Dallas Stars. We doubt that they’ve got that type of game 2 nights in a row. Ilya Bryzgalov can’t stop ‘em all. We’d like to see Roberto Luongo have a stellar game at the other end. Its been awhile and we need the reassurance all is well in net!
And lastly, Mats Sundin. What can we say about a 3 point effort vs. the Blackhawks and a followup 2 goal game! He’s come into form and hopefully that continues and the opposition keeps getting confused about what really is the top line on the Canucks. Now off to watch, drink and be merry!
PS: did you know the Canucks have a prospect page that they update… we didn`t either!
PPS: on a completely different note… the EPL flexes its muscle and gets this top-notch soccer site to rid itself of its logos. all in the name of dollars and non-$en$e! and again its the fans that suffer! BOO!
Categories: hockey
Tagged: alain vigneault, Dallas Stars, EPL, Ilya Bryzgalov, Mats Sundin, Phoenix Coyotes, pinheads, roberto luongo, St. Louis Blues, swedish twins, the offside, Vancouver Canucks
February 4, 2009 · 1 Comment
Well not only do we feel better that we ranted yesterday about scrums and got that monkey off our backs, the Vancouver Canucks also won a feel-good victory last night over the Carolina Hurricanes. Yep, the once Mighty Canes got whipped by the capable Nucks! (ok we kid about the Canes being mighty which means no1 should be getting stupid excited about 1win.) Mats Sundin had his first multi-point nite of the year & other than stumblin’ once over his own skates & a blown pass back to his D Men, actually had his first decent game. The determined look on his face after his wrap-around goal spoke volumes that the passion is returning in step with the rust falling off. Woodpeck fave, Alex Burrows scored the dramatic short-handed winner & in his post game comments totally gave all the credit to his teammates. Nice on ya Alx!
Of concern was Bobby Lou’s shaky netminding. He looked horrid on Pitkanen’s goal thru the 5 hole and from then on it seemed like he was playing on marbles. BL’s hasn’t impressed much since his return from injury and Woodpeck is wondering what the issue might be. Is the injury still not 100%? Is it too much for him to be the captain & deal with those responsibilities while trying to prepare for a game? Does he not have confidence in himself and/or his defence? Is his head not quite in the game? Is he wondering that he could be injured again at any moment? Something is amiss with him. The sooner the issue comes to light, the sooner we can sleep easier at night. Admiting there’s a problem is the first step to a solution & resolution BL!
Time for a doughnut breakie! The shoppe is finally open & we need the energy to devise a way to get AV away from the bench…
Categories: hockey
Tagged: Alex Burrows, Carolina Hurricanes, coffee, doughnuts, Joni Pitkanen, Mats Sundin, NHL, roberto luongo, sleep deprivation, Vancouver Canucks
OK. We are back from the holidaze. Congrats to the Canadian Juniors on a thrilling tourney victory! The atmosphere was amazing on the TV so we can only imagine how great it was to be there. Talk about a home field advantage. How can a visiting team that is so young cope with all that? So just how do you order tix for Buffalo in 2010/11? Are they for sale yet? Can we bring the wii?
Moving on, we did get to a game over the holidaze. Nope, it wasn’t the Maple Lafes but we did get to see their farm team in action against the Mighty Manitoba Moose! There are pics at our Flickr site so check em’ out there. As for the game itself, the sound system needed to be louder. The kids in my section and us had a good war of taunts going on that was all in good fun. Of course we were there representing the Moose (YAY CANUCKS!). As for the talent, the Moose lacked a lot of it. Perhaps now that Hansen and Schneider are back that will help the Moose because the team we saw did not have much in the way of NHL ready talent. Don’t get us wrong though! The game was good enough and entertaining. It featured the likes of a lazy Jiri Tlusty, a solid Justin Pogge (that was the game diffence) and a good old fashioned ref punching. Steffan Kronwall was also a standout force on the ice for the Marlies. Both he and Pogge are NHL ready and should get some serious time up at the top level before the year ends.
Now back to the Sports bloggin’… there’s so much to catch up on!
ps: Mats Sundin makes his debut for the Canucks in Edmonton on Wednesday night. Why else would he bother with the trip? It only makes sense if he’s playing.
Categories: hockey · sports
Tagged: ahl, Canadian Juniors, Cory Schneider, Gold medal, Jannik Hansen, Jiri Tlusty, justin pogge, manitoba moose, Mats Sundin, Steffan Kronwall, Toronto Maple Leafs, toronto marlies, Vancouver Canucks
WOW! Mats Sundin finally proved he can make a decision! Ending what was a ridonkulous soap opera that was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy beyond annoying. Even though we boldly predicted he would go to Ottawa many moons ago, we can’t complain with the team he finally did choose. Today is a good day to be a Vancouver Canucks fan and we’ll be the first to tell ya, there haven’t been that many days of late that are worthy of celebrating (Linden aside) and when we can get a day like today, we’ll take it with no questions asked!
Honestly we screamed “NOOOOOOO!!!!!” at first news of the signing with the Vancouver Canucks. We’ve currently got a good thing going with an underated team over-achieving into a first place spot in the Northwest Division. Could Mats wreck the train? It is possible… Could Mats help the train? It is possible… and here is why… since we believe that an over-achieving Canucks team will one day run out of steam and that is where we think the Mats Signing will begin to show its true worth. This is about keeping the team competitive down the stretch and into the playoffs. The current unproven roster will need a boost to get it over the hump and with Mats now on board the Canucks Stanley Train is ready to leave the station and make dreams of a deep playoff run possible. Thanks Santa! This gift is awesome! Today a good team just got better.
Categories: hockey
Tagged: Mats Sundin, NHL, Santa Claus, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks
October 31, 2008 · 1 Comment
Gotta prep for Hallowe’en so won’t be writing much today. Therefore, just a few tidbits:
- Don’t understand why everyone keeps dumping on Steve Nash. Last time I looked his production wasn’t waning yet everyone seems to think the end is near for the former MVP. If we were him, I’d take this slight and prove ‘em all wrong with your best season ever. The better question about the Suns should be about the other parts of the team and not about Nash.
- AJ Burnett’s agent says the pitcher will decide by Monday whether or not to leave 24 million on the table and use his player opt out clause. At least that is one version of the story, the other is that AJ has until Monday to decide if he wants his agent to go to the Autumn GM meetings with him on the “currently available” roster. Regardless, its difficult to imagine when 12 million a season is just not enough (sigh) but we think AJ has flown the Jays Coup for greener pastures. The only reasons he returns to the Jays fold would be that he values the current comfort and pitching staff (Arnsberg) more than $$$ and that the current financial turmoil might have his agent thinking that he’s better off with his current deal and/or maybe they can swing a lucrative extension with the team. Pfft! Who are we kidding? There’s always someone out there in MLB land with the cash. See ya AJ!
- Daniel Alfredsson re-ups with the Ottawa Senators. His relative cheap yearly salary of just over 5 million for 4 years has us thinking that this opens the vaults for free agent & fellow Swede Mats Sundin to join him. “C’mon on down Mats! You’re the next Senator on the Price is Right!” So far so good for our prediction even though Mats was sighted at the Kings/Canucks game last night.
- We thought the parking woes of this NHL callup were hilarious! Talk about only thinking of the short term!
Happy Hallowe’en Everyone!
PS: Check out our growing Blogroll on the left hand side if you’ve got the time!
Categories: baseball · basketball · hockey · sports
Tagged: AJ Burnett, Blue Jays, canucks, Daniel Alfredsson, Kings, Mats Sundin, mlb, NBA, Parking, Senators, Steve Nash
