Author Archives: Braeden Boyd

Verstappen extends Championship lead in Mexico.

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On Sunday, at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. Formula One World Driver’s Championship leader Max Verstappen extended his lead to reigning Champion Lewis Hamilton to 19 points with just four races to go in the 2021 season.
The Red Bull star took the lead from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas on turn 1 and never looked back onto his 11th win of the season. He only briefly lost his lead when he pitted on the 34th lap of the Grand Prix, giving teammate Sergio Perez the lead of the race. Perez became the first Mexican driver to lead a lap in the Mexican Grand Prix, which he did until lap 41 when he pitted for new tires.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1457423784319799299

Although, this was no sure thing that the Red Bull drivers would dominate the race. On Saturday during qualifying, Mercedes had their first front-row lockout of the 2021 season (after having 12 in the 2020 season) on a track that typically favours the Red Bull machinery. Bottas has a great first lap in Q3 of qualifying with a 1:15.875 to take pole position. Teammate Lewis Hamilton had a scorcher of his own with a 1:16.020 putting him 2nd on the grid. The result was shocking as Red Bull dominated free practise 2 and 3 and the early going of qualifying on Saturday. With Red Bull’s Verstappen and Perez locking out the 2nd row with times of 1:16.225 and 1:16.342, respectively.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1457146783201640454

The rest of the grid lineup like so: Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), Mick Schumacher (Haas), Nikita Mazepin (Haas), George Russell (Williams), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), Lando Norris (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), and Lance Stoll (Aston Martin). The latter five started from the back because they each had penalties for their engine or gearbox.

The thrill of Bottas’ surprise pole position was brief as Verstappen swooped around the outside of both Mercedes into turn 1 of the opening lap. Then things got even worse for Bottas. He was taken for a spin by McLaren’s Ricciardo, causing Bottas to be spun and facing the wrong direction and a dangerous obstacle in between turns 1 and 2 for opposing cars. Thankfully everyone in this incident was left uninjured, Bottas able to rejoin after the dust had settled. The mayhem didn’t end there, though, as the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda was sent in the air sideways and landing on the bollard. After bumping with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who slowed down to avoid colliding with Bottas further down the grid between turns 1 and 2 as well. Tsunoda wasn’t the only victim, as the Haas of Mick Schumacher had to retire as well because the other side of Ocon clipped him. These incidents caused a lap 1 safety car to be deployed. So that Tsunoda and Schumacher’s cars could be removed from the track.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1457430094595641350

Bottas pit stopped for hard tires during the safety car period, and Ricciardo pitted for hard tires and a new front wing. The racing Stewards opted not to take any action over the lap 1 incidents. The safety car lasted until lap 5, when Verstappen then started the race back up. Verstappen led comfortably and by lap 21 had built a seven-second lead over rival Hamilton in second. By lap 27, the other Red Bull Perez was within two seconds of Hamilton. Mercedes decided to pit Hamilton on lap 30.

On lap 34, Verstappen pitted, giving Perez the lead of the race. Setting the Mexican fans into an eruption of cheers as Perez became the first Mexican driver to lead a lap in the Mexican Grand Prix. Verstappen regained the lead on lap 41 when Perez pitted for hard tires. Hamilton was then sandwiched between the two Red Bulls again, exactly nine seconds between each driver. Verstappen took hold of the fastest lap on lap 52. On lap 60, Perez was just one second behind Hamilton and began his attack.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1457436190408384519

Hamilton struggled to lap Lando Norris, preventing him from taking advantage of the Drag Reduction System (DRS) on the straights to help his defence against Perez, who used DRS. Ultimately in the final eleven laps of the race, Perez was unsuccessful in trying to overtake Hamilton. Although he would still break a record, becoming the first Mexican driver to get on the podium in a Mexican Grand Prix.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1457436190408384519

Pierre Gasly would have a calm and relaxed drive into fourth place, cementing himself as one of the most consistent drivers on the grid and a typical lock for a top 6 finish. The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz would finish in that order in P5 and P6. With Ferrari briefly ordering Leclerc to let Sainz pass in an attempt to take a run at stealing P4 away from Gasly. Ultimately, providing null and the drivers exchanging places before the checkered flag. Ferrari also took over sole possession of P3 in the Constructor’s Championship after being tied with McLaren. Apart from the battle for P1, this will be the closest battle heading into the season’s final races.

Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, and Fernando Alonso finished P7, P8, and P9, respectively. They were giving fans a reminiscent old-school finish. Raikkonen is entering the final four races of his career after announcing he will retire at the end of the season. He was able to have one last battle with the two other elder statesmen on the grid. Rounding out the points was one of the youngest drivers on the grid Lando Norris. He had an incredible drive considering he started P18 due to an engine penalty.

With five laps remaining, Mercedes’ Bottas attempted to take the fastest lap and was going to until Verstappen held him up. Then, heading into the stadium section of the track, causing Bottas to abandon and pit for new tires and another attempt. Finally, Bottas was able to do on the race’s final lap, and he set a new track record with a 1:17.774.

The rest of the grid finished like so: P11 Giovinazzi, P12 Ricciardo, P13 Ocon, P14 Stroll, P15 Bottas, P16 Russell, P17 Latifi, P18 Mazepin, DNF Schumacher, DNF Tsunoda.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1457449153601093635

The next Grand Prix is on November 12-14 in Brazil. It will be critical to both World Championship, as will every race here on out as Mercedes leads Red Bull by one point and Verstappen leads Hamilton by 19.

What is up with youth hockey culture?

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Last week, while doing my usual lay in bed do nothing but sit on my phone. I stumbled across a Twitter thread from former New Jersey Devils captain Bryce Salvador, who admittedly I hadn’t heard of or thought of since he retired in 2015. But I read the first tweet and then the thread, and it was very eye-opening and got me thinking.

As you can see, Salvador was coaching his u-12 hockey team at a tournament. Unfortunately, one of his players sustained a severe injury during the semi-final game. So profound the player said they couldn’t feel their back for 5-7 minutes, so much so that an ambulance had to come, and the player needed to be placed on a stretcher and taken off the ice. He decided to call off the game with under a minute left, and his team was winning 4-1. So his team gets the win, so that’s good, right?

He decides after this semi-final game to tell the tournament director that they are going to forfeit the final match. Give the other team the win. They’re going to go home and make sure everyone is okay. After all, these are 12-year-old kids. They don’t know how to deal with seeing their friend and teammate having to be put into an ambulance. On top of this injury, this was the second player that his team had lost to a severe injury that weekend. These are kids. They don’t know how to manage emotion. They’re feeling mad, sad, and scared, amongst other things. What they need is a mental break and return to being kids again. So, I believe this decision by Salvador to be very logical and reasonable.

Wrong, chaos ensued. Parents, coaches, even players are yelling around freaking out. Parents came up to Bryce, saying, “what that’s it? We’re just going home?” The opposing team’s coach came up to him and said, “What do you mean you’re not playing? Do you have enough guys to play?” Not asking if his player is okay, not understanding that he needs to make sure his player is doing okay. Parents are acting like NCAA, NHL, Junior Hockey scouts in the stands to watch a u-12 hockey tournament in Boston. Coaches are acting like this is game seven of the Stanley Cup finals.

This situation highlights how parents, coaches, and adults can sometimes live through their kids or players. To fuel their egos or to feel a fulfillment in themselves that they never got. Unfortunately, this has been going on for far too long. When I was younger playing rep hockey, I remember seeing some of my teammates getting bombarded by their parents because they only had one goal, or they should’ve hit this kid and so on. This shouldn’t be a thing; the reason your son or daughter or player is in this sport is that they love it and enjoy being a part of a team.

Salvador was stating something I think parents and coaches sometimes overlook. “They were hoping they’re gonna be back to New Jersey for trick-or-treating.” These are kids who just want to have fun and maybe win a tournament and go home, put their costumes on, and go trick-or-treating. This is something legitimately all 12-year-olds think about when it comes to Halloween is candy. Sure, they want to play and win, but they also just want to be kids because they are.

He also notes that this is different from a player blocking a shot who now has a swollen foot and can’t skate for a shift or two. This was very traumatic, and a teammate had to be stretchered off, which is a scary incident whether your 12-years-old in a tournament in Boston or 33-years-old in game 52 of the NHL season. And people, regardless of age, need time to process what just happened and how to deal with that.

Salvador also notes how every ref he runs into or talks to wants to quit because all anyone does is scream and blame them for everything. This is an unfortunate truth, and I think many players, coaches, and fans are to blame for this. Not just in youth hockey but even all the way up the chain to the NHL, but we’re focusing on youth hockey today. I’ve had excellent coaches coming up playing rep hockey in Williams Lake, Kamloops, and Chilliwack. Unfortunately, every one of them yelled at the ref, and it got increasingly more as the age rose. Unless a game is truly getting out of hand and the game is getting dangerous. Then there is no actual reason for anyone to get mad at the ref who is doing it as a side job. They don’t have all the time to master their craft like a professional ref for comparison.

Sometimes a missed call is just that: a missed call. Sometimes a non-called goal actually isn’t a goal, and you just need a second to realize that.
Now, maybe some of this franticness and want to continue playing no matter what is a product of the COVID-19 pandemic causing youth hockey to miss an entire season. Maybe parents just want to watch their kids play and, unfortunately, are willing to even when another player is severely injured. Maybe players, coaches, and fans/parents are having such a short leash with the ref due to this. Whatever the case, I think it would be in everyone’s best interest to take a quick step back and look at the situation as a whole.

You’re a parent and are travelling a few hours for a hockey tournament a year ago that would not have been possible due to the pandemic. Just enjoy the fact that you can do that again, don’t worry about the scoreboard or ice-time or how your child plays. Appreciate that you’re able to watch them play the sport you and they love. If you’re a coach, take the same approach, you haven’t been able to coach your team for a year. Enjoy the fact you can do that again, don’t yell at the ref over an offside call because it ruined a scoring chance, or you think you need to play the final game because you can win this tournament. After all, the other team’s best player is injured. Accept the fact that sometimes things out of your control happen, and you need to respect that.

Finally, if you’re a player, just enjoy being back on the ice with your teammates playing the game you love.

Hockey culture. Does it need to change?

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The sport of hockey and its culture has been a significant talking point across North America in the last few months, especially in the past couple of weeks. The findings of the Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault investigation revealed on October 26th, 2021, shook the hockey world to its core. Every news and media outlet was talking about it. Old and new school fans were talking about it.

Before getting into the report, let us talk about hockey culture and what exactly that is. What it is, is how hockey is set in its ways. Meaning it doesn’t do anything that might rattle someone’s cage, doesn’t ruffle any feathers, doesn’t try to stand out. Say the safest thing possible. Please don’t take a stand for anything unless it’s your team, gm, coach, or teammate. Hockey culture is also an old boys club, meaning a lot of front offices and people of power in the NHL and hockey have been around for a while. They have relationships with lots of other people, which creates a safety net for that person. In this example, many players, coaches, and media reporters came to GM Stan Bowman’s side saying things like, “that’s not the Stan I know.” This culture and ideology may not seem the worst, but it encourages the need for zero changes. It also encourages people not to speak up or do the right thing in case that might rub someone who is in your corner the wrong way, causing them to have your back no longer.

The findings of the investigation were sickening. The law firm Jenner & Block confirmed that a sexual between John Doe 1 and at the time Chicago video coach Kyle Beach had occurred in early May 2010. According to the report, days later, senior director of hockey operations Al MacIsaac was notified of the encounter and that Aldrich may have sent explicit photos to another player. On May 23rd, the head leadership of the organization including, MacIsaac, President John McDonough, executive vice president Jay Blunk, general manager Stan Bowman, assistant general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, head coach Joel Quenneville, and mental skills coach James Gary. Held a meeting to discuss what had been brought up to MacIsaac.

Ultimately, no action had been decided or made on the matter nor on Aldrich. He stayed with the team, won the Stanley Cup, and even had his day with the cup. Jenner & Block also discovered that Aldrich made advances on a 22-year-old intern with the team.

Bowman recollects Quenneville told him, “It was hard for the team to get to where they were, and they could not deal with this issue now.” This quote right here emphasizes everything that is wrong with the sports and hockey ideology of “win at all costs.” In this situation, the Blackhawks organization had an option. 1. Win the organization’s first Stanley Cup in 56 years, or. 2. Be a decent person and protect an individual who has been violated and must deal with seeing their violator every day with no repercussions for his actions.

Not only see them going along with their everyday life as nothing happened. But also, be teased by their peers, as the report says multiple players and staff knew of the incident. Plus, some teammates teased John Doe and used anti-gay slurs towards him. Those same teammates who are supposed to be brothers in arms out on the ice.

Eventually, after the Blackhawks got what they wanted, their first cup in 56 years. Finally, the director of human resources met with Aldrich and gave him a choice to resign or have an investigation into the incidents. Aldrich resigned and was given a good reference to work for a Michigan high school hockey team.

The day after the report was released, Kyle Beach revealed himself to be John Doe 1 in a heart-wrenching 27-minute interview with TSN’s Rick Westhead. Beach from North Vancouver was the 11th overall pick by the Blackhawks in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He was a standout power forward in the WHL and looked to be a crucial part of the rising Blackhawks core of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook. At the time of the incident, Beach was just 20 years old, freshly called up to the NHL to finally achieve his dreams. He got called up to the Blackhawks to be a “black ace” during the 2010 Playoffs, which is a player who gets called up from the minors during the playoffs but is typically a scratch and participates in practice, sometimes so they can gain experience.

In the interview, Beach says that he had reported it and was told it made it all the way up the chain of command, and nothing had been done. Beach said that when he saw Aldrich continuing his day-to-day life and getting his day with the cup and his name on the cup, he “felt sick to his stomach.” However, he continued to say that he believes everyone on the team knew about the incident, even staff and media, due to the comments made towards him.

This comment is so jarring, he believes everyone knew, but none of them offered their support to Kyle. Instead, they made homophobic slurs and jokes to him and told him it was his fault for putting himself in that position. Or uneducated takes like why not just punch the guy you’re 6’4″. As opposed to, especially if you were a leader on the team like Toews, Keith, Seabrook, Hossa, or Kane, talk to him ask if he is okay and what they can get the rest of the team to do to support him. If you were a natural leader, that is what you would’ve done.

Instead, they all chose to continue their pursuit of a Stanley Cup. They did what hockey culture taught them to do, which is to win at all costs, no matter the price. Only in this situation, it was a young hockey player’s career, life, and mental wellbeing instead of a broken foot, hand, or rib. In my opinion, hockey culture does need to change and badly. It has been this way for far too long, there is a reason why youth hockey registration has been falling for a number of years now. There is a reason why there aren’t many visual minorities in the upper levels of the sport. And, this change needs to happen now and it starts with you and me.

Call of Duty Vanguard is it good?

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At 9 pm pacific standard time, Call of Duty Vanguard will release in the pacific time zone on all systems PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. This will be the eighteenth Call of Duty (CoD) video game. This is also one of the most hyped ones, at that is saying something considering every Call of Duty franchise game is very hyped. I am also writing the first half of this article before playing the game myself. After I have played it for a few hours, I will then finish the piece to give my feedback and see if it matches the hype. Vanguard is going back to the franchise’s roots; World War II. While this isn’t anything new to the franchise, it is a fresh take on WWII. For the first time, the campaign will take you to four different theatres (or frontlines) of WWII: the Pacific War, Eastern and Western Front, and the North African Campaign.

https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1456471393755881481

Campaign Mode

Not only does the game bring a first with the four different theatres. But it also brings a first with a destructible environment and a blind fire mechanism (which also carries over to multiplayer). The destructive element is something that fans (including myself) have wanted in CoD for some time now. We’ve seen that be a staple and a central selling point for Battlefield since Battlefield 4. Battlefield is CoD’s main competition in the first-person shooting (FPS) genre. In comparison, the destructible environment isn’t anywhere close to Battlefield’s ability to shoot down entire buildings. In CoD’s version, you can break down “breakable” areas such as wood and weak walls.

Vanguard will continue with Modern Warfare (2019) ’s gameplay engine, including tactical sprint, mounting your gun on certain surfaces, interaction with doors, and takedowns.

https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1456686796436291584

Multiplayer

After last year’s divisive Black Ops: Cold War, which I would say the majority of the fanbase didn’t enjoy. Therefore stayed playing Modern Warfare (2019) or stuck to Warzone solely. This year’s multiplayer looks promising. It uses Modern Warfare’s engine, which I think fans enjoy more (I definitely do) over Cold War’s engine. Vanguard also comes with one of the most significant content drops on launch day since maybe Black Ops 2. With twenty full multiplayer maps, “combat pacing” means the gamer can choose to play either 6v6, 10v10, 12v12, and “Blitz,” which is 24v24 (similar to “Ground War” in Modern Warfare). Finally, for the first time in Call of Duty history, you can pick up to ten attachments onto your weapon! Which is a far cry from the “OG” Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, where you could only pick one attachment.

https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1456353486367608834

Zombies

As for zombies, I’m not a crazy fan of zombies (partly because I’m 23 and still get scared at times), but with Vanguard, it continues the Cold War zombies storyline. A new game mode blends classic round-based zombies with Cold War’s “Outbreak” and “Onslaught” modes. Which should be fun; I enjoyed “Outbreak” in Cold War. Unfortunately, this is all I know and what I could find about the new zombie mode. I’ll see you in a couple of hours after I try the game myself.

 

Initial Impressions

Alright, I played the game for the first time last night. I opened right at 9 pm, and I played until 3 am. Needless to say, I enjoy the game very much. First, I started with the campaign mode, then I played multiplayer for a couple of hours and went back to the campaign before I got too tired. So, I will cover the campaign then move into multiplayer since I played more of the campaign.

First thing first, this game looks fantastic. It looks like a movie during the cutscenes, and Arthur Kingsley’s narration during the cutscenes is excellent. Side note I have a powerful PC so that I can run the game in ultra settings. Suppose your PC can’t run ultra settings, don’t, since it can be very harmful. For example, my PC has a GPU temperature between 77-83 degrees while running at ultra, which is very high.

But back to the graphics of the game, the opening mission you’re in Hamburg, Germany, near the end of the war. It’s nighttime you’re on a train, but you can look straight across to Hamburg, and the city is on fire from being bombed, and it just looks incredible. The vibrance of the flames in the night is just so unbelievable.

Now onto the storyline; I enjoy it so far without spoiling anything. After the first mission, Kingsley narrates each of the team’s background stories and why he chose them. This was super cool, and this is where the four different theatres of the war come into play that I mentioned earlier. Kingsley and Webb are British and were a part of the airborne operations during the early morning of D-Day on the Western Front. Polina fights her way through Stalingrad the day it gets overtaken by the Axis in the Eastern Front. Jackson is an American pilot during the Battle of Midway in the Pacific War. This is about where I am in the story. I’ve done two missions of Jackson’s story, one of Kingsley and Webb, and about to start the second of Polina’s. So far, so good. I really enjoy the campaign.

https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1455203379848830987

Playing the multiplayer has made me feel like I’m 13 again grinding the new CoD after waiting outside Walmart for the midnight release. It plays very smoothly, gunfighting is good, and all the maps are good. I’ve only played the “Blitz” mode so far because I enjoy the chaos of a higher number of players in a match. Still, I also think the lower player count modes would play well, especially with some of the smaller maps. But the quick pace is delightful, and the time to kill isn’t too long or too short.

The destructible environment, which is just wooden blinds and doors, will take time to get used to. For example, sometimes you try to run through a doorway that looks open, but there is a small fraction of the “door” left, and it blocks you, which can be annoying. The same goes for windows; you might try to mantle out and can’t because there’s a sliver of wood, and you need to open it. But I don’t have any complaints other than that.

All in all, I will say that Call of Duty: Vanguard has lived up to the hype so far. The campaign is top tier so far; the only thing that can ruin it is a terrible ending which I don’t see happening. I haven’t tried zombies yet, but I will because the three zombies’ mastery camos look very nice. The multiplayer is very good so far as well, it is better than Cold War’s, and it feels like a quicker-paced Modern Warfare (2019), which I like. So if you’re on the fence about buying it, I would tell you that it is worth it.

 

Sights and sounds from the Canucks first home win of the season

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On Tuesday night, I attended my first Canucks game since February of 2020. You might be thinking that isn’t very long Braeden, I’ve never watched a game live, or I haven’t seen one in five years and so now. But for me, it is a long time. I usually get to watch at least one game a season which is a privilege. This one was special, though; this was the first heavily attended event I will have attended since the pandemic began. I was curious to see if there would be a lot of fans. Would the vibe be the same?

It didn’t have the same attendance as normal or as much as a weekend game, but it was still a lot more than I have experienced since February 2020. The vibe pregame, apart from the nervous and anxious was about the same; I still felt the excitement, maybe because there were probably many people in the same boat as myself.

I will say that if you are going to attend a Canucks, Lions, or Whitecaps game or a concert. Arrive early because the line and wait for the vaccine passport is quite long and time-consuming. Like double what the wait for ticket scanning is. During the game, however, the vibe changed.

It was dead silent throughout the first period, and it was a disappointment since the Canucks had lots of shots but no goals. Then, three minutes into the second, the feeling was even worse after the Rangers got a 1-0 lead. You could hear a pin drop in Rogers Arena after the 2-0 goal. Media members tweeted that “boos” and some chants about firing the coach and/or GM were starting but not gaining traction. Meanwhile, the only chant I heard in my section was buddy in the bar yelling “Messier sucks” every two minutes.

Thankfully, early in the third period, J.T. Miller scored, and we had something to cheer about. Then, almost exactly four minutes later, rookie Vasily Podkolzin ripped a one-timer past the Rangers, and it’s 2-2. Finally, the crowd is awake, and it feels like a hockey game, and then.

This was by far the craziest sequence I have ever witnessed in a hockey game live, in my entire life, either as a spectator or player. I have seen goalies make saves without a stick, blocker, or glove, for that matter, but I’ve never seen one like this before. I will build up the moment for you.

The Canucks go 0-for-6 on the powerplay, which is never a good sign for any team. It means you aren’t generating anything nor being effective when given the advantage. But this also means there are going to be some “make-up” calls coming your way. This means the officials think we need to even out the penalties because one team has gotten too many. Yes, this really is a thing in hockey, yes, it is idiotic and shouldn’t be a thing, but that’s for another day. This leads to questionable or “soft calls” being made against a team.

The Canucks experienced that with Nils Hoglander getting called for holding even though he had both hands on his stick and Rangers’ defenceman Adam Fox draped around him. Then with thirty-six seconds remaining in Hoglander’s penalty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson gets called for hooking on what was essentially a stick-lift. The penalty is giving the Rangers a 5-on-3 powerplay with under 5 minutes left in the game.

The call creates an outburst from the generous count of 18,257 fans in attendance, and the “boos” are showering down onto the ice. The Rangers take the thirty-second timeout to regroup and rest their top powerplay group. In the meantime, all 18,257 fans begin the loudest “ref you suck” chant I’ve ever heard in my life. And I’ve been to Canada vs Russia World Junior games, in which those chants happen often). It lasted the entire thirty-second timeout right up until the puck dropped on the ensuing faceoff.

Alright, let’s fast-forward a little. Hoglander’s penalty has been killed off; it is now a 5-on-4. Much maligned Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers gets the puck on his stick; if he clears it, boom, twenty seconds killed off the 1:10 left on the penalty. Nope, weak backhand attempt, and the Rangers keep it in the Canucks’ zone. Ryan Strome passes to Artemi Panarin, who whiffs but gets it to Chris Kreider with a wide-open net. Tucker Poolman laying out to block the pass, sprawls out (like a prime Martin Brodeur) and blocks the Kreider shot with his arm!

The puck goes into the corner. Kreider passes across to Panarin, who is on the other side with a wide-open net and Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko with his back to him, waits… shoots… Demko turns quickly and stacks the pads (like Captain Kirk McLean) without his blocker! In the chaos earlier, J.T. Miller dives into him, taking off his blocker and stick, now both stuck in the net.

Panarin gets the rebound and shoots again with nothing in the way but Demko on his stomach and Miller making his best street hockey goalie impression. Demko gets a piece of the puck as he throws his right leg in the air! Demko looked exactly like the Ridiculousness logo. The puck rings around the boards, and the Rangers get it back. Meanwhile, Demko is yelling and waving his bare blocker-less right hand at the ref to blow the whistle. But the Rangers tee Panarin up with a one-timer that Demko kicks aside with ease, and finally, the ref blows the whistle to stop play, and Demko can get re-equipped.

All 18,257 and the entire Canucks bench erupt onto their feet, cheering and applauding. For what was probably the most chaotic and amazing thirty-second sequence of hockey they’ve ever seen.

The craziness didn’t stop there, though. The third period ends tied at two apiece; we’re going to sudden death 3-on-3 overtime. About halfway through the five-minute overtime, after the Rangers almost scored on an odd-man rush broken up by Elias Pettersson.

Instead, J.T. Miller gets sprung on a breakaway on a pass from Quinn Hughes. Miller all alone tries a forehand to backhand deke but gets stopped by Igor Shesterkin, who loses sight of the rebound. However, Miller picks up the rebound for a classic wraparound and buries the puck in the corner of the net, and the Canucks finally get their first home win of the 2021 season!

Flyers, Canucks to finish season series tonight

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Tonight, will be the last meeting between the Canucks and Flyers, as the two get rid of each other early in the season. The Canucks won their first meeting 5-4 in a shootout after they seemed to have an easy regulation win, but the Flyers stormed back quickly to force overtime. Jaroslav Halak will make his 2nd start for the Canucks while North Vancouver native Martin Jones starts the 2nd game of a back-to-back for Philadelphia.

McDavid and the Oilers in town

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Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers are in to play the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Tonight, will be the 2nd of 4 games between the two this season. The first meeting between these teams was on opening night, with the Oilers winning that game 3-2 in a shootout. Canucks Thatcher Demko stood on his head that game with 32 saves. Who will start in net for the Canucks while Edmonton will go with Mikko Koskinen.

Canucks lose home opener to Wild

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The first Canucks game in Vancouver to have fans in 595 days didn’t end the way the team hoped. The Minnesota Wild came out with a 3-2 win, and goaltender Cam Talbot stayed undefeated on the season. Mats Zuccarello opened the scoring for the Wild on a breakaway. Jonas Brodin scored early in the 2nd to make it 2-0. Later in the 2nd, Alex Chiasson scored on the powerplay to make it 2-1. The Wild had an answer for that in the 3rd, with Matt Dumba scoring on a two on 1. Horvat would score late in the 3rd, but it was too late as the Canucks lost their home opener.

Couturier leads Flyers past Canucks

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Canucks lose 2-1 to the Flyers, Sean Couturier opened the scoring just 22 seconds into the game on a two on 1. It marked the 6th time in 8 games the Canucks gave up the first goal. 2 minutes later, Quinn Hughes tied it with a point shot; but before the end of the period, he took a penalty, and Philly made him pay quickly with James van Riemsdyk scoring just 10 seconds into the powerplay. North Vancouver’s Martin Jones made 27 saves for the Flyers and secured his 2nd win for his new team. The Canucks have a chance to get their first home win on Saturday vs Edmonton.

Canucks remain winless at home after loss to Oilers

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On Saturday night at home in Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Canucks lost 2-1 to the Edmonton Oilers. They have now lost the first three games of their seven-game homestand. Warren Foegele and Leon Draisaitl scored the Oilers 2 goals on the powerplay, increasing their league-leading powerplay to 47.8% to start the season; Draisaitl also scored the game-winner late in the second period. Mikko Koskinen had a shutout with 7 seconds left in the game until Brock Boeser ripped a wrist shot past him to avoid the shutout.