Working On A Moose Thang

This upcoming weekend the Vancouver Canucks farm team, the Manitoba Moose make a return to Ontario. Woodpeck plans on attending the Saturday night affair at Copps in Hamilton vs. the Montreal farm team, the Bulldogs. Sunday aft, its a showdown the Toronto Marlies the Maple Leafs affiliate. Reports pre and post to follow!

NHL 2009 Trade Bits & Bites #1

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you’ll more than likely know already that the NHL trade deadline is fast approaching.  Here’s some food for thought that weve been chewing on of late:

• The Pittsburgh Penguins need a Scoring Left Winger Badly.  Ever since Ruslan Fedotenko went down with an injury they’ve had ziltch for scoring from that position.
• The Vancouver Canucks are looking at having a lot of UFA’s leaving their roster come the summer.  Look to see a couple of moves made.
• The Ottawa Senators still need a number 1 goalie.  If they can trade Spezza for one on at least a 2 year deal, jump on it!
• Yes Virginia, Dominic Moore (unless he signs a long term deal) and Nik Antropov’s days as Maple Leafs are numbered.

More Trade Talk to come!

Just Do Something Mats!

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!

You Don’t Want to Give up a Soft Goal Here

We watched a listless Leafs in the first period last night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  It was horrid hockey to watch.  Not much until the final minute of play from the Leafs meant we bailed to watch chick flicks the rest of the night. It was V day so the trade off was valid.  Lo’ and behold, we see the Leafs pulled out a 6-2 win!  Looks like they exploded in the 3rd in a big way!  Vesa got booed coming off in the first after allowing 2 goals quickly.  He shut the door from there on which is his usual forte.  “Allow a couple of easy ones then decide to show up.”  Just recently he hadn’t even been doing that.  Perhaps a return to form then?  Well, at least for one night…

Moving on, we’ve been watching Jockey’s.  Tis an enjoyable horse racing show on Animal Planet.  4 episodes in and we’ve learned a lot about the inner workings of being a jockey.  Breaking into the scene in Southern Cali is the main theme we are hearing and its been particularly tough on the the newbies who’ve come there having already been successful at home and then having to start again from scratch.  They are constantly weighing the pros and cons of staying or returning to their former place of glory. We found it particularly odd that they showed one male newbie getting his first win and being “initiated” afterwards but then when the female Aussie won her first race there was no “initiation” shown.  Old boys club?  hmmmm?  Did they ignore her first win or did they do something that couldn’t be shown?  Who knows?  Just very odd that it wasn’t even addressed.  By ignoring it, the producers have left it open to speculation so away we go!  Next week, Chantel the Canuck races against her boyfriend… which could and should be interesting.

Today, the Canucks face the Habs.  Les Canadiens are struggling betweeen the pipes and team confidence is at an all time low.  Guy’s time at the helm may be coming to a close as it would appear the team is tuning him out.  That’s just a theory though.  But judging by his mannerisms the last few games and his recent interviews, he seems like a man defeated.  The Canucks have to take advantage of the situation cuz its not going to get any easier this coming week on the road.  Since they seem to historically let the foot off the pedal against weaker opponents, this would be a key time to do the opposite.  Key to victory = get the puck on net.  Shoot often ‘Nucks!

Finally a Hills shout out to our first sponsor!  Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company!  Delicious!!!  OH YEAH!

Hittin’ the Weekend Links

Here’s a wrap on what we found of interest on the net this week:

• Super Bowl Porn on the US Airwaves
• Ivan Gazidis, the new Arsenal chief executive, is offering his first impressions of life in the Barclays Premier League
• America could make strong World Cup bid
• Toronto papers VS. Bettman reaches new heights
• Adam Loewen trying to restart his career as a hitter

Looking fwd to Canucks vs. Hawks and Habs vs. Laffs 2nite!  Yes, in that order. Keep your stick on the ice, Mats!

CBJ vs. Sens Recrap

We sat down and watched the Ottawa Senators vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.  OK, don’t ask us why.  We just did ok?

What a snoozer of a match!  Auld got the start for the Sens and was ok.  He didn’t play bad which we think is a good thing if you are a Sens Fan.  Auld needs to be the number One Goalie in Ottawa for his confidence’s sake but he also can’t play every night.  He’s never been the best goalie endurance wise so giving him 60-70% of the starts is the perfect way to go.  Lets hope Hartsburg keeps him fresh.  At the other end, Steve Mason made some key saves late but was otherwise untested in this 1-0 shutout.  His surprising 7th of the season.  Whether it was Ottawa’s sputtering offence or the Hitchock inspired defensive plan that made this game so boring is up for debate.  It took the Sens half the first period to muster a shot on net and the most exciting thing to happen was Chris Neil got sent off with a game match penalty for being the 3rd man in during a silly scrum.  The following PP resulted in what was the only goal of the night. Onwards to 2nite’s games that feature the Pens vs. Leafs and Minny vs. Nucks! We predict 4-3 Pens and 5-3 Minny. AV’s last game as coach? We’ll keep hoping!

We’re Still Missing a Few Pieces to the Puzzle

despite a maLFunctioning caPS key, a few things are on our miNDs today:

1. the world baseball classic lineups are “provisionally” announced.  compare canada to the states.  lets hope for home field advantage!
2. Maple Leafs winger, Jason Blake had a 5 point night over the weekend.  in the post game interviews he remarks about his struggles last year with finding the net and dealing with cancer.  yet at the time, Blake did not use his disease as an excuse.  most often going out of his way to say that he was feeling good.  now all of the sudden, he admits things weren’t so good last year?   seriously, if Blake needed time to rest last year he should have taken it.  to come out now and say what we all were thinking about his time as a Leaf in the 2007/08 campaign is just a slap in the face to all the fans and to the team who stuck by him.  we guess when you are in the heat of the season, as a player you must think that you’ll turn the corner the next game or the next game or the next game.  if Blake realized even halfway thru last season that he just wasn’t anywhere near 100%, why not sit out a bit?  no one would have thought any less of him at the time.  now that he’s come out and admitted the disease drained him last season only puts salt in the wound of last year’s disappointments for the team.  is Blake stubborn, dumb or selfish?  now matter how you say it, he mailed it in last season and we’d be pissed if we bled blue and white.
3. finally, the once Mighty Vancouver Canucks are in dire straits.  they just ended a homestand with a lousy one point out of a possible ten.  they could not even muster a win against the Blue Jackets on Sunday night.  they have lost sight of the division lead, they are on the verge of not making the playoffs and if the ship doesn’t right itself soon, could be in the west basement.  we know the players are there.  now its all on the coaches.  AV was never a great coach.  never a great one for changing his game plan.  he preaches defense first,  not the offensive style that the team hoped for at the season’s beginning. now they are in the worst losing skid of the season, they face the NHL’s number one team tonight and then have a massive all star break.  whether or not they win tonight,  the time to make a mid-season coaching change is now or it will be too late.  we like Pat Quinn to return.  his offensive approach to the game and past/current relationships with the city, team and some of its players make him number one with a bullet on our lists.  we are most likely not the first to peg him to return to the helm of the Canucks and at this current pace, we won’t be the last. 

This Week in Under 300 Words

Well, we’ve been busy at Nowpublic.com trying to kick start some sports debate on their site. Whether or not that happens, time will tell. Check out what we’ve been saying here and join in on the debate.  Just one word of advice.  Make sure you are using Firefox since IE seems to bog down on their site.  Firefox will avoid any lags and a ton of frustration.  We’ve even attempted a debate on fighting in hockey!  We must be nuts!

In other news:

• Sundin’s Debut was a bit of a bore.  At least he didn’t suffer the ever popular “groin” injury that most vets attain when they rush back info action!  I’m sure he’ll tally something by the end of the weekend.
• We’re trying to get to Montreal’s QV match in February.  More news on that in the weeks ahead.
• Road trip already planned for some Vancouver games in February! YAY!
• Can you  imagine getting a lashing from your coach in front of your fans?  Hull can.  Hope it helps their season and proves to be an effective one-off for the manager.  Talk about last resorts!  Didn’t Paul Maurice do that just b4 he was canned by the Leafs last year?
• Canada gets a D for fitness.  C’mon and get off the couch!  Who cares if its cold out?
• NFL pîcks this weekend are Giants, Carolina, Tennessee, Pittsburgh.  Yeah, its a bit of a stretch!
• and finally… somehow we were asleep at the wheel when this first came out but damn, the irony that …
  

  Steve Francis is a Grizzly again!

is beyond just being slightly funny! LOL!

Gimmie Five!

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.

The Canucks Stanley Train Arrives Early! Thanks Santa!

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.