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Vancouver Canucks

Canucks Numbers, HHOF Patience, Sid’s Back, Women’s Drama

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Vancouver Canucks, skate logo
The Vancouver Canucks logo from the late 1970's to the mid 1990's.

The Vancouver Canucks have a short turnaround after last night’s come-from-ahead 7-4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Canucks will experience puck drop just after 5 pm pacific Sunday in Anaheim against the Ducks, a team that beat Vancouver at Rogers Arena in overtime 3-2 last Tuesday. This is the finale of three games in four nights on the road for the Canucks before they return home for three games in a row starting Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche. While we wait …

Let’s Skate! …

They’ve been waiting an extra year, but the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2020 will finally have its big night Monday in Toronto. The Covid-19 pandemic prevented the induction ceremony last November, and also led the Hall of Fame not to make selections for a new class in 2021.

The 2020/2021 inductees include Marian Hossa, a Memorial Cup champion with the Portland Winterhawks and a three-time Stanley Cup winner with Chicago, six-time Stanley Cup champion defenceman Kevin Lowe, former Norris Trophy winning defenceman Doug Wilson, prolific scorer and all-around power forward Jarome Iginla, Canadian women’s national team multi-Olympic Gold Medal goalie Kim St. Pierre, and current Edmonton Oilers GM and former 4-time Stanley Cup winning executive with the Detroit Red Wings Ken Holland.

In one of the media categories, long time Vancouver Province writer Tony Gallagher earned the 2020 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award “to recognize distinguished members of the newspaper profession whose words have brought honour to journalism and to hockey.” He’s not considered a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, nor is this year’s Foster Hewitt Award winner, Rick Peckham, who wrapped up his TV play-by-play career with Tampa in 2020.

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic hero and three-time Stanley Cup champion Sidney Crosby plans to return to the ice Sunday as his Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Capitals in Washington. Crosby has played only one game this NHL season, wedged in between his recovery from off-season wrist surgery and his recent bout with Covid protocols. The Pen’s actually expect to get a handful of players back from protocol absence.

Sunday brought a flurry of activity in top tier women’s hockey as the final qualifiers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games were decided. Sweden held off France 3-2 in Lulea, the Czechs beat Hungary 5-1 in Chomutov, and Denmark advanced on points despite losing 3-2 in a shoot-out to Germany in Fussen. Denmark needed a single point to advance and they got it with the tie in regulation. Germany was the only home team not to advance to the Olympics out of the weekend qualifier round robins. The Danish women will play in the Olympics for the first time; same for the Czechs.

— Here are some Canucks numbers to ponder as we await the start of play Sunday evening. Vancouver sits in 7th place in the eight-team Pacific Division with a record of 5-8-and-2 and 12 points. They’re three points behind the 6th place San Jose Sharks and three points ahead of the 8th place Seattle Kraken. The Canucks goal differential for the season is now minus-10, which is a bit misleading because of the recent losses of 7-1 and 7-4 to Colorado and Vegas respectively.

The Vancouver Canucks sit 23rd in the NHL in power play effectiveness with a success rate of 15.5%. The Canucks are dead last in the NHL with the penalty kill at 63.3 percent.

Expect Jaroslav Halak to get the start in net, looking for his first win as a Canuck.

Enjoy the Hockey Action!!
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