Players, please ignore The Provies

Transcription

1 Players, please ignore The Provies Tony Gallagher The Province March 14, 2014 In a hockey-mad city, reading the web chatter might contribute to problems on the ice Every day in this business, it seems your inbox contains at least one missive from somebody promoting a study done on some aspect of a sport usually hockey in this country. And if you take the time to look, most are flawed in one way or another and it usually stems from the fact the professor undertaking the study hasn t a clue about the game in the first place, and the person or persons approving the money for said studies know even less. But Wednesday night on Scott Rintoul s evening show on The TEAM, former Vancouver Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell mentioned something that would make an interesting study for some motivated researcher. When asked about how his old team has gone into the seemingly endless tailspin they are experiencing, he indicated it may have something to do with the hockey-crazed environment in which they play. We had our own rough stretch down here, the L.A. Kings defender said, commenting on the fact his squad had lost seven straight before they righted the ship, then promptly got on the positive roll they re enjoying at the moment. Down here, when we don t do well, the players can go home to forget about it and there are lots of other sports the media can focus on and they leave us alone. That s not happening up there. An interesting study: Does the focus on the sport in a town as hockey crazy as this one actually extend team slumps or perhaps even lengthen positive runs, relative to other cities? A lot of variables would need to be taken into account for the results to be statistically valuable, but it might serve as an interesting hypothesis. Consider all that goes on in this town, not the least of which beware shameless Province promo here is our new online must-read after games called The Provies. It s an extension of the little throwaway section that started running on the sports pages a few years back, featuring the best press-box quip, best quote, best troll and so on, after every game.

2 Well, Jason Botchford (and sometimes Ben Kuzma) has extended this in an online feature to bring in all sorts of colour, analysis and fan reaction on Twitter, replete with online tiffs with fellow media personalities and commentators with whom they might disagree. This forum has to be seen to be believed. Granted, it could be called a little self-serving, in that it often promotes what they ve been tweeting, which is going to give everyone in the fray more followers. And having a lot of Twitter followers is going to have an economic benefit at some point, so there is that. But it s entertaining, which is why the fans are going to it on a regular basis, and it s clear that the players are not averse to clicking on it either, despite what they would say if they were asked directly. If your team isn t doing terribly well, as has been the case with the Canucks, that can t be a very good idea. Because if the stuff in there that is meant to provide information and entertainment for fans by bringing together all sorts of keen and cutting observations were to get into a player s or even the general manager s head at any point, it might indeed cause a slump to last longer. Last week, your agent happened to be talking to Kevin Bieksa together with Botchford, who asked the Canucks defender a question. The emerging leader of the team, who always has an awareness of what goes on in this town, smiled knowingly and replied: I m not falling for your stuff. That made all three of us chortle, but it also indicated that Bieksa or some of his teammates have indeed been reading, when in fact Mitchell, for one, might recommend they didn t. Does the environment have any affect on performance? Perhaps not. But it might be worth a study. Something to cling to, even briefly Jason Botchford The Province March 14, 2014 Wednesday s shootout win over Jets gives Vancouver lineup a positive to rally around It was fascinating to see what a shootout goal could do for the Vancouver Canucks fragile psyche. Never mind that the playoffs seem implausible. Forget they were out shot 16-5 in the third period Wednesday by a Winnipeg Jets team that didn t have its best centre. Don t even think about Ryan Kesler s knee injury and how his absence this road trip craters the Canucks forward lines. For the first time in a long time, after Chris Higgins scored, the players could ignore the negative fog that had enveloped them for months. Even if it turns out to have been a fleeting moment,

3 they had a morsel. They had two points in their pocket, and more importantly, some hope to dig their nails into. We can relax and prepare for the next game with a smile on our faces, Henrik Sedin explained. We had a tough time for a while where we couldn t get out of the losing streak. But I think the last week, we ve shown tremendous team effort. It s a different feeling where everyone is battling for each other. And we re playing more aggressively. Alex Burrows didn t just score once, he scored twice. Hallelujah. Henrik Sedin reanimated playing alongside Nicklas Jensen. Eddie Lack showed tremendous poise, piecing himself together after shattering in Monday s third-period collapse against the New York Islanders. And the Canucks counter-punched Winnipeg late, overcoming a thirdperiod deficit instead of blowing a third-period lead. These are all encouraging signs. But it could just be for next year, especially if you believe this season officially ended the moment Kesler s knee buckled, leading to him fly to Vancouver for MRI tests. As for this year, players are still trying to wrap their heads around how they went from the team they were in December to the team they are now. We ve been spoiled, the team and the fans, because we ve been already in the playoffs 15, 20, 30 games before the season ends, Henrik said. But those days are long gone with the Northwest division. Of course, management should already be focusing on the offseason and next year. It should be trying to figure what went wrong in this one, and it should be doing that without blaming injuries, because that s a red herring if there ever was one. John Tortorella admits the coaches haven t done a good enough job. I think we started playing too defensively. We stopped making plays when we had the chance. Henrik Sedin They have to answer some serious questions of their own. Was this roster ever going to be tailored for Tortorella s system? Can a team led by the Sedins and a group of skilled puck-moving blueliners ever win Tortorella s way?

4 Did they play Kesler too much, tempting fate by ignoring his injury history? Did they take put a governor on the Sedins creativity by making them block shots and kill penalties? When Henrik was asked about it, he said, We love playing for these coaches, then described a system that has choked the team s offence, one where the Canucks seem to need to play nearly perfect hockey to win. They put in a system where we know we can win each and every game, Henrik said. But what s been missing this year is (not) making mistakes. It s cost us each and every night. When you put in a system like this, you have a team you know is not going to score as many goals as before. We all knew that. I m unsure how many people knew that. It s been different from before, Henrik said. We had been a team that could make mistakes. We could do some turnovers. It wasn t going to cost us at the end of the game. But if you re going to be in a lot of these games and you keep making mistakes, you are going to see us lose most of those types of games. That s been our biggest problem. This certainly wasn t the training camp pitch, when the Canucks stressed that a harder forecheck and a more active defence would mean their goal-scoring wouldn t plummet. The belief from many then was that Tortorella would open things up some from what he was doing in New York. But, in fact, as this season has progressed, it s been just the opposite. I think we started playing too defensively, said Henrik. We stopped making plays when we had the chance. From unknown to hot commodity John Humphrey The Canadian Press The Vancouver Sun March 14, 2014 Canucks prospect tearing up OHL with 62 goals in 64 games Dane Fox has transformed himself from unknown commodity in the Ontario Hockey League to blue- chip Canucks prospect. Scoring at almost a goal- a- game pace will tend to do that.

5 The 20- year- old Erie Otters leftwinger has led the OHL in goal scoring from virtually the opening faceoff this season, scoring 25 goals in his first 25 games. He now has 62 goals in 64 games heading into the last weekend of regular season play. Those are heady statistics for a player who had scored only 54 goals in 176 games in four seasons prior to the current OHL campaign. Fox also has 39 assists and 101 points good for second in the league behind teammate Connor Brown along with 118 penalty minutes. I m paying a lot more attention to all aspects of my game, Fox said. I m focusing on playing effectively at both ends of the ice. I m finishing my checks better than ever and that has led to some scoring chances both for myself and my teammates. Having already graduated from high school, Fox also has dedicated himself to being the best player he possibly can be this season. I go to the rink to work out in the morning and then go home to rest for a bit before coming back for practice in the afternoon, he said. I m in the best shape of my career and I m focused on getting the job done. Otters head coach Kris Knoblauch said the overage forward from Thamesville, Ont., is a major reason for the team s success this season. I think Dane may very well have had a breakout season for us last season had he played the entire season, Knoblauch said. He was our go- to guy at both ends of the ice and he averaged nearly a point a game on a bad team that won only 19 games last season. Fox missed the first half of the season in due to a foot injury and scored 19 goals and added 17 assists in just 37 games. While Dane has been scoring more goals for us this season, he hasn t neglected the defensive side of his game, Knoblauch said. He s one of the forwards we ll have out there if we are protecting a lead late in the game and before we traded for fellow Canucks prospect Brendan Gaunce, he was taking all of our important faceoffs. Since we acquired Gaunce, he and Fox have shared the role of taking the big faceoffs for us. Fox s 62 goals are the most a player has scored in a single season since the team has been based in Erie. The franchise record is 66, held by Mike Bullard with the Brantford Alexanders and Mike Millar with the Hamilton Steelhawks. Playing on a star- studded Erie team this season allowed Fox to fly under the radar, until he started goals at a faster rate than everyone else in the OHL this season. Heading into Thursday s games, Fox led the goal- scoring race by 16 over Barrie s Andreas Athanasiou.

6 We ve got guys like Connor McDavid, Connor Brown, Andre Burakovsky and now Brendan Gaunce, and the other teams know who they are and what they re capable of, Fox said. I don t think as many people knew who I was and they didn t pay as much attention to me, and I think I ve been able to take advantage of that. Fox s stellar play this season caught the eyes of many NHL scouts and teams. He signed an entry level contract as a free agent with the Vancouver Canucks in December. Torts & Co. get vote of confidence from Cpt. Hank Elliott Pap The Vancouver Sun March 14, 2014 WINNIPEG As captain of the Vancouver Canucks, Henrik Sedin does a lot of media work and says a lot of things on a variety of topics. He is honest and well- respected and hardly ever controversial. In short, a consummate team man. So here s what the straight- shooter had to offer when asked if Wednesday s no- quit effort against the Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 come- from- behind shootout win was an indication the players were still listening to head coach John Tortorella: We love playing for these coaches, that s the bottom line, said Henrik. I mean, they put in a system where we know we can win each and every game. What s been missing this year, so far, has been us making mistakes and it s cost us. I think that has been our biggest problem. We have a lot of guys in here who care extremely much about this team. Henrik s endorsement may mean little to Canucks ownership and management if they have already decided to make Tortorella the fall guy. GM Mike Gillis, in listing reasons for the team s second- half swoon, brought up an incident in January that was hard to describe during his scrum Wednesday with reporters in Florida. The incident, of course, was Tortorella s attempt to storm the Calgary Flames dressing room on Jan. 18 to confront coach Bob Hartley. The Canucks were already in the throes of their stupendous slump one win in nine games prior to Tortsgate but the apparent feeling from management was the incident only exacerbated matters. The players, however, insist they haven t packed it in. Aside from the one horrendous sevengoal thirdperiod on Monday against the lightweight New York Islanders, they have performed

7 reasonably well in their last three outings, two of them wins. They ll get a chance to make it threeoutof- four tonight when they play the Capitals in Washington. I think we know what we have in this locker- room and we re all proud and competitive guys, said winger Chris Higgins. We still feel like we re in it. We know we have to put together a pretty good record but we want to play. We don t want to be done. We want to extend the season. We want to give ourselves a chance. If we keep playing with the same effort, I think some good things are going to start to come. Assistant GM Laurence Gilman is travelling with the team and, before leaving for the airport Thursday, said he was pleased the players were able to overcome the Islanders debacle, ignore the noise surrounding Tortorella s future and perform with the appropriate spirit. Our players have a strong will to win and they clearly believe in themselves, noted Gilman. Obviously, Wednesday s game was one we needed to win. They showed up and played hard from the outset and we expect we re going to play every game down the stretch in the same manner. I would use the word debacle to describe what occurred Monday but it s one game and, in this business, you have to put those kinds of games behind you and show up for the next one. In this case, we got the win and now we move on to Washington. They ll be moving on to Washington, and Florida and Tampa after that, without centre Ryan Kesler, who suffered a knee injury in the Jets game when hit by Jim Slater late in the second period. If Kesler s right knee is sprained and it s a four- to six- week recovery period, he ll be lost for the remainder of the regular season and perhaps his career as a Canuck if he is traded in the off- season. The only hint that it s likely a serious injury came from Tortorella postgame. His standard response all season on injuries has been: I haven t talked to the trainers yet or it s daytoday and he said neither. Instead, it was: He s out for a while. Gilman avoided the topic. I m not going to comment on the state of Ryan Kesler s injury, he said bluntly. Kesler was spotted Wednesday on a flight to Vancouver wearing a brace on his right knee but was without crutches. Gilman also said the Canucks have no plans to summon a replacement from the Utica Comets, who happen to be in Abbotsford this weekend to meet the Heat in a weekend doubleheader. Zac Dalpe was a healthy scratch against the Jets and can fill a centre spot in the bottom six, while newcomer Shawn Matthias takes Kesler s spot in the top six. As well, right- winger Zack Kassian has served his three- game suspension for his hit- frombehind last Thursday against Dallas Stars defenceman Brenden Dillon. Rookie Jensen a bright light in a dark time

8 Elliott Pap The Vancouver Sun March 14, 2014 Winger learning on the fly with a shot on first line WINNIPEG Maybe in another time, Vancouver Canucks rookie Nick Jensen would have been banished to the minors or at least stapled to the end of the bench for a bad penalty that led to an opposition power- play goal that led to a total team meltdown that led to a crushing defeat. Jensen s offensive- zone holding penalty Monday against the New York Islanders was an unforgivable mistake but the 21- year- old Dane has apparently been forgiven. In Wednesday s 3-2 shootout victory here over the Jets, Jensen played 19: 57, most of that on the team s first line with Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows. He looked big, confident and played during the 4- on- 4 overtime. For a Canucks organization desperately seeking to become younger, Jensen s performance in the Peg might have been the best news, aside from the win, of course. It was our original intention to leave Nicklas down in Utica because he was becoming a more complete player, but his development has escalated and it s happening at a time where we need goal scoring, Canucks assistant GM Laurence Gilman said Thursday before the Canucks flew to Washington for tonight s date with Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. Nicklas has a decent amount of size, he s picked up a step or two in his pace and he likes to shoot from all angles. Those are attributes we need right now. The question for Jensen is: Can he maintain this level tonight and then maintain it beyond that? I m so happy to be getting this chance, said Jensen, listed at 6-2 and 202 pounds. Obviously, it s huge that they re showing faith in me. I know I took a bad penalty in the Islander game and the fact I got another chance to play on a line like this, I needed to show up. You can t just take a chance like that for granted. Jensen appeared in two games last year during a brief call- up and didn t look even close to being ready. This time around he does, despite some of the penalties he has taken. For me, personally, just being able to play a few games has helped me for every time I step on the ice, Jensen said. I m playing with great linemates, which helps me out a lot. I feel more confident and strong on the puck and more into it, like, in a good way. I think it s just going to get better and better. Henrik Sedin thinks so, too. Nick is going to be a very good player and you can tell he s taken a huge step, said the captain. I mean, what a difference from when he came up last year. He s big, he s strong and he s not afraid to make plays. His penalties, that s one thing about being a young player, there are going to be mistakes.

9 He is very impressive to me. There are small things, like protecting pucks, but there is an upside there and that s something we really want to work with, said embattled head coach John Tortorella.