The Fifth Liners

This week Vancouver Canucks winger Alex Burrows received a three game ban for this hit on Montreal Canadiens winger Alexei Emelin  But it appears that after the Canucks 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place last night (thanks Derek Dorrsett!) it seems that Oilers captain Andrew Ference will be hearing the phone ringing from the League quite soon in the coming days after his frankly awful hit on Canucks player Zack Kassian ! See below... Now when you consider that Burrows got a three game ban for his offense, should the league be tougher on Ference who is a previous offender? Burrows' hit was admittedly a careless one as he went in late and this type of extremely hard contact could have resulted in some serious damage to Emelin. Receiving a three game suspension though seemed slightly rash by league standards as we have seen more serious hits only receiving a one game ban. But Ference however, had been scrapping with Kassian all through the match and his inte...

Vancouver Canucks winger Alex Burrows has officially suffered a broken jaw after their 3-2 win over Carolina Hurricanes. After surgery on Monday, it has been confirmed that he will miss up to 4 weeks of action. After missing the opening 12 games with a broken foot, this will no doubt add to Burrows' frustration. He has also gone 22 games without scoring and currently has 3 points and a minus 7 rating in 17 games. Wish you a speedy recovery, from one Alex to another!

Yesterday while deep in enjoyment watching robots fighting gigantic beasts in Pacific Rim, my phone buzzed and when opening it I was asked a question by Mike which struck close to home as the question read, "What's it gonna take for the Canucks to take home the Stanley Cup this season?" being a Vancouver fan this one that needs some serious analysis, so to work I go. The short answer to this question would be 'a hell of a lot!' and after reaching the 2011 Stanley Cup final, the last two season have been a massive disappointment under Alain Vigneault which lead to his dismissal this May. John Tortorella has been appointed as the new Head Coach of the Franchise and I'm certain that journalists up and down North America are thrilled about more imminent explosions! Previously I have expressed both my delight and upmost fear about this appointment because although JT brings with him a Stanley Cup win, he has also failed to raise his game when need while coach o...

Well my eyes have finally dried after the Canucks 4-3 overtime defeat against San Jose last night which ensured the Sharks took a deserved clean sweep of the series. Sadly it seems that Mike's decision to back them was the correct one! Brent Burns put San Jose on their way early in the first period but the Canucks quickly leveled through Dan Hamhuis. But Logan Couture's powerplay goal restored the Sharks' one goal lead towards the end of the period. After a scoreless second period, Vancouver made a brighter start to the third period of action with Alex Burrows' powerplay goal  and Alex Edler scoring midway through and their fans were hopeful of us putting a win on the board- but as is tradition, Joe Pavelski scored on a powerplay four minutes before the end to once again send this tie to overtime! After 13 minutes OT Patrick Marleau knocked a rebound past Cory Schneider to send the Sharks through and leave the Canucks to the chants of "Sweep Sweep Sweep...

The Vancouver Canucks gave new hope to making their mark in the playoffs with an impressive 5-2 win against Calgary Flames at the Rogers Arena last night led by an outstanding display by the Sedin Brothers who were directly involved in almost every goal! Dan Hamhuis gave the Canucks fans the perfect start with a goal inside 34 seconds! Soon Dale Weise would deflect a Jason Garrison shot to put them 2-0 up before the periods end. But Flames winger Dennis Wideman would score to reduce the score to 2-1. The second period however, the Canucks would firmly take charge and Alexandre Burrows and a spectacular slapshot from Alex Edler would push them forward. But the scorelines didnt reflect the match and the Flames continiously pressed forward and finally midway through the 3rd period, Alex Tanguay gave Calgary hope and a tight finish looked likely. But the Flames would find themselves continually frustrated by the excellent goaltending of Cory Schneider who made several im...