Canucks and Beyond

"Be Ready for Anything"

11/21/2007 at 2:42pm EST

So said the Hulk, beating his chest for the media yesterday.

But first, about the Oilers. The dark powers of boys named Alice (shootout specialist extraordinaire) and his partner the WhoreCough, plus a temporarily functioning powerplay, was all it took to give Edmonton their second s/o win over Vancouver in a week. But neither loss should devastate a Canucks fan—great games, right? (Although Tony Gallagher had a serious difference of opinion on that subject a few days ago—but I’ll worry about agreeing with Gallagher when the earth shifts on its rotational axis…)

Anyway, with all the fuss from Derek Boogaard, threatening retaliation on Markus Naslund or the Sedins tonight, there’s a lot of posturing going on. And I like posturing, my favorite part so far being this promotional poster for the game, found in the Pioneer Press today:

image
*image credit to the Pioneer-Press and TwinCities.com*



Nothing is likely to come out of it (and god knows, that would be for the best) but what’s wrong with a little drama? It’s entertainment. And it’s particularly amusing coming from Boogaard, given that I think most of his bombastic chatter comes largely out of the fact that last Sunday night, Little Alex Edler (6’3”, 220lbs… it’s all relative, when staring up at 6’7”, 258lbs of Boogey) somehow knocked him on his ass about three times.


Every time Boogaard nailed him, he just bounced off Edler like the kid was a telephone pole. Clearly Boogey could kill him in a fight, so that might have been a bit embarrassing.


Anyway, best if everyone shut up from now until game time. To this point it’s been amusing; any more of this nonsense, however, and it starts to sound like Brad May egging on Todd Bertuzzi to retaliate for the Naslund concussion that fateful night that we all try to forget. No one needs that.


(Update 11:00am PT: for a humorous take on a phone call between Colin Campbell and Boogey, check out Two Minutes for Blogging. The apple-martini zinger is a very nice touch…)


There’s a fine line between trash talk and trash behavior. I think Boogaard’s a quality guy, but it’s game time now, and the posturing needs to stop. As Michael Russo said this morning in his blog at the Star-Tribune, “Hopefully sanity prevails and it’s just a good, hard-fought hockey game.”


Amen to that. And I’m sure it will.


After all, Marian Gaborik is on the ice tonight. And the World’s Most Breakable Hockey Player probably doesn’t need to worry about Ryan Kesler & Friends looking for their own payback tonight.


As it stands, it’s kind of like the Cold War—both teams have their finger on the button, but neither wants the consequences of pushing it. Like some hockey version of détente. It seems likely that everyone will survive the festivities.


To end this on a lighter note, I grabbed some video of Alex Burrows snazzy little short-handed goal last night. I wished I’d picked up Naslund’s goal as well—also a bright spot—but this’ll have to do for now.


Updates of Related Stories


I’ll just add stuff here randomly through the day. First, some thoughts from TSN:

That was just the latest incident in a growing rivalry between these two clubs.

Last February, Brian Rolston was bloodied by a Canucks’ high stick that clipped his ear. Burrows fanned the flames by giving the bleeding Rolston a subtle slash after the whistle.

The next month, Burrows was in the middle of it again, getting a misconduct after flipping the puck at Wes Walz as time expired. The Star Tribune reported that it was the capper to a hard-hitting game that also featured Todd Bertuzzi telling Nick Schultz, “I’ll take your head off.”

The Canucks have won three of their last four contests with the Wild, but have also lost in four of their previous five trips to Minnesota.

Create an Account

In order to leave a comment, please create an account.

About Canucks and Beyond

Most Recent Posts

Most Recent Comments

Comment by Paul in Kukla's Korner Hockey from the entry NHL Short Notes - 3 hours ago
Comment by Paul in Kukla's Korner Hockey from the entry NHL Short Notes - 3 hours ago
Comment by Steeb in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Quick Recap- Wings/Hurricanes - 3 hours ago
Comment by calquake in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Quick Recap- Wings/Hurricanes - 4 hours ago
Comment by StargateSG1 in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Quick Recap- Wings/Hurricanes - 4 hours ago