21 Feb 2014 The Vancouver Sun BRAD ZIEMER bziemer@ vancouversun. com Twitter. com/ bradziemer VANCOUVER SUN Time to bring back the swagger Tortorella spends break looking for ways to restore team s level of confidence Arrogance is not a bad thing, says John Tortorella, who would candidly admit to knowing a thing or two about the subject. Tortorella hopes to see more of it from his Vancouver Canucks over the final 22 regularseason games. The Canucks have lost seven straight games. They have also lost that strut, that swagger they had earlier this season, most notably during their 10-1- 1 run in December. Tortorella spent much of the Olympic break at his Point Roberts home poring over tape of games, not just the tough ones during its recent swoon but also some of the good ones earlier in the season. We were playing at a.650 clip halfway through this year, we had a number of weeks where our D were involved, you could see our confidence within our game, he said after Thursday s practice at UBC. I thought we were defending very well, I saw us playing at a different level and not just for four or five games, but for a number of weeks. So it s there, it s there, and now from the coaching staff s point of view it s ( time) to teach and try to re- instil that and then hopefully some good things happen and we regain some of our strut... We do not play with arrogance right now and I saw us do it for a long time here and that s what we need to get back to. Tortorella is feeling frustrated by the fact so many players are missing for what he considers to be a crucial string of practices between now and Wednesday, when the Canucks meet the St. Louis Blues. He feels a bit like a teacher who has some very important points he wants to drive home to his students before a tough exam. Trouble is, half of them aren t here. Only 11 Canuck regulars skated in practice Thursday, along with four members of the UBC men s team. Injured players Henrik Sedin, Kevin Bieksa, Alex Burrows and Chris Tanev skated before practice with skills coach Glenn Carnegie. I have to admit I am a little frustrated because I thought more guys would be able to practise than are here, Tortorella said.
We have the four guys who are injured so we are just going to have to wait until we get some more numbers. Judging by how hard Bieksa, Sedin, Tanev and Burrows were skating on Thursday, they could rejoin the team in the next day or two. Getting some of their injured players back will help, but Tortorella knows that alone won t turn things around. He stressed again on Thursday that the team needs to focus on what he called the little details to get back on track. For example, he wants more pucks on net, more players in front of the net, more rebounds. He noted that the Canucks are 20th in the league in getting its point shots on net. They are even further down the list when it comes to rebound goals. Considerable time has been spent the last two days running drills designed to manufacture goals. We don t score enough rebound goals and it starts with not getting pucks to the net and on the net, he said. In practice we are trying to work on manufacturing goals and that s so important in these last 22 games. Tortorella also hinted that his team, most notably its stars, need to produce more consistently when games are on the line. During their recent sevengame skid, the Canucks had opportunities to win games. But they couldn t seem to get that big goal or big save when they really needed it. They need to become a more opportunistic bunch. I think we need to make big plays at key times, Tortorella said. We have been in a lot of onegoal games, where maybe if we score another goal or our power play comes through and scores our momentum rides there... I think our top guys are due to make big plays at key times for us offensively. Winger Chris Higgins, one of the team s most consistent forwards this season, said the Canucks simply haven t been helping themselves of late. During that recent streak, we didn t score too many goals, didn t help our goalies too much, Higgins said. I thought they played fantastic, but we weren t able to convert on the other end. I think we had opportunities to win games. The other teams weren t scoring too many goals against us, but we weren t able to find that final play to inspire the team a little bit. ICE CHIPS: Tortorella has delayed the start of Friday s practice by 90 minutes to 12: 30 p. m. to allow the team to watch the Olympic semifinal game between Canada and the United States... The
Canucks were on the ice when the Canadian women s team scored in overtime to beat the Americans on Thursday. Winger Zack Kassian started singing O Canada when he learned of the result. 21 Feb 2014 The Vancouver Sun ELLIOTT PAP epap@vancouversun.com Twitter. com/ elliottpap VANCOUVER SUN Booth bags an alligator, but needs to bag goals There is never anything dull about Vancouver Canuck winger David Booth, even if his scoring touch has been blunted by opposing NHL goaltenders. Booth took the opportunity during his Olympic break to bag a gator in Florida with a bow and arrow at least that s what he said and also get engaged to girlfriend Ashley Durham, a former Miss Tennessee beauty queen. Now he would like nothing better than to bag some goals and victories for the Canucks in the final 22 games of the regular season. First the gator story because, well, this is David Booth. It was a one- time thing, he said Thursday, claiming the gator was seven and a half feet long. I don t think I am going to become a gator hunter, but it s something where there aren t too many things open in February in a warm climate. So I got to go to Orlando for a couple of days and was successful. There was a guy there filming it. It s always cool to have those memories on camera. Now on to hockey where Booth hasn t netted a goal in his last 20 games. He is convinced he still has it in him and plans to demonstrate it. The Canucks, losers of seven straight, have sunk to 10th place in the Western Conference and desperately need someone, or everyone, to get them going. Their next game is Wednesday at home against the St. Louis Blues. There is no doubt in my mind I can still play and contribute and still be a great player in this league, he told reporters following practice at UBC. So I just want to prove that in the last 20 games or so. You look back on the year and it just hasn t really clicked but the year is not over yet and I still think there is a great opportunity to help this team get some wins. With just five goals and seven assists in 42 games, Booth is performing at a level far below expectations for someone making $ 4.25 million. He still has a year left on his contract and is a prime candidate to be bought out this summer. This week, to prepare himself for the stretch drive, he is doing extra work with power skating coach Barb Aidelbaum. David Booth, he knows the situation he s in, said Canuck head coach John Tortorella.
Let s face it, everybody knows it. He wants to come through. He wants to extend his career. He wants to help this team win and I think he s doing the things to do that. But we need some finish, too. He makes so many good plays but we also need him to bang in a goal or two along the way. I think he s approaching it the right way. I know, in his heart, it s killing him that he hasn t helped us enough. He wants to, and that s all you can ask of a player. Then you hope it comes for him and hope he gains some confidence also. Another player with much to prove down the stretch is right winger Jannik Hansen. He has no goals in seven games and just one in 19. Tortorella wants him to be more tenacious. Hansen wants just one thing. It s make the playoffs, he said. It s almost like a brand new season. By no means are we out of anything. The last little stretch before the Olympic break was not very kind to us and I think getting a fresh look at things and a fresh perspective is certainly going to help. The break was long enough that you re not feeling it s the same rut you ve been in. 21 Feb 2014 The Province Jim Jamieson jjamieson@theprovince.com twitter.com/jamiesoncanucks Booth bags a gator and a sweetheart Canucks forward has even found time to work on his skating during the Olympic break David Booth has put his 10-day Olympic break to pretty good use. He got engaged, he bagged an alligator in a quick Florida bow hunt and he s doing extra skating with a local coach to be quick off the blocks for the stretch run. Now, if only he could find a few goals to add to that to-do list. First, though, the hunting trip. It was actually really cool, said Booth of the two-metre-long alligator he stalked. It was actually a onetime thing. I don t think I m going to become a gator hunter. There s not too many things open in February, so I had to go to Orlando for a couple of days and it was successful. Booth must be hoping that feeling will carry over, now that he s back in hockey mode both for himself and the Canucks. With 22 games remaining, the NHL team has the difficult task of rebounding from a seven-game losing skid to playing the better than.700 hockey that will likely be needed to make the playoffs. Booth? Regularly cited as a compliance buyout candidate this summer, he needs to show he can still be a viable NHL player whether it s in Vancouver or elsewhere. Not that you can fault him in the
dreadful stretch of regulation losses that paused with the NHL s Olympic break on Feb. 8. Booth was one of the Canucks bright spots in that dark stretch. He was banging, crashing the net and shooting from everywhere. Still, it didn t translate into a goal. He hasn t scored since Dec. 17 and has just five on the season. It is frustrating, said Booth, following a practice at UBC on Thursday. I ve had some really good chances, but if I keep finishing my hits and get in front of the net, eventually those things can go in. If you look back on the year those things haven t really clicked yet, but the season s not over and I think there s a great opportunity to help this team win. When the Canucks acquired Booth in a trade from Florida early in the 2011-12 season, they were expecting a top-six goal scorer, one who d managed 31 in 72 games three seasons previously. He managed 16 that season in 62 games, but was slowed by a serious knee injury midway through. He s subsequently had to deal with groin problems and a broken ankle in the last two seasons where he s scored just six goals in 56 games. Booth, 29, knows he has lots to prove and he s looking at the Canucks final 22 games to do it. I m actually really excited for this last little bit, he said. I m just going to continue playing physical. I think getting hits is a big thing. It creates some energy. I think it creates a little bit more space for me. I still believe I m a goal scorer and I think playing hard is how I m going to start scoring goals. Goals, or the lack of, is of course killing the Canucks. They are 24th in that category and their once-feared power play is 28th. They ve scored just 11 goals in the seven-game losing stretch. Canucks head coach John Tortorella is well aware of the problem and lauds Booth for trying to be part of the solution. David Booth, I think, has worked very, very hard, said Tortorella. He knows the situation he s in. It s right there. Everybody knows it. He wants to come through. He wants to extend his career, he wants to help this team win. He s doing the things to do that, but we need some finish, too. He makes so many good plays, but we need him to bang in a goal or two along the way. I know in his heart, it is killing him that he hasn t helped us enough. That s all you can ask of a player and I hope it comes for him. Tortorella has spent the first two practices following the Olympic break stressing rebound work. He s not expecting his team to be able to fill the net, but he needs more. We are 20th in the league at getting our point shots on the net, which is unacceptable, he said. We need to get more pucks to there. I think as a staff we are trying to manufacture goals.
Injured players Alex Burrows (hand), Kevin Bieksa (foot), Henrik Sedin (ribs) and Chris Tanev (thumb) skated on their own in an adjacent rink at UBC. Tortorella wasn t sure if any of them would be cleared to practise with the main group when they practise on Friday. Tortorella did move the practice time from 11 a.m. to 12:30 to allow the players to watch the much-anticipated Olympic men s hockey semifinal game between Canada and the U.S.