Author Archives: Tyler Asaoka

Vancouver Canucks Vs New York Rangers Pregame Analysis

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The Vancouver Canucks are back in action tonight, as they look to grab 2 points from the New York Rangers in their home arena.

The Canucks lost their last game against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, with a 5-4 overtime loss. The Canucks fought hard that game, overcoming a 3-goal deficit, but ultimately still lost the game, leaving the Prudential Center with 1 point.

 

Some good news before the game was Canucks main goaltender, Thatcher Demko, was on the ice practicing with the team for the first time since his injury back on December 1st, 2022. He suffered the injury late in the 1st period of that game, and it’s believed the injury is a hip or right leg injury from when he tried to make a save. He was not able to leave the ice that game by his own power.

Unfortunately, he is not going to be suiting up for the Canucks tonight, as it has already been confirmed that Demko is not ready to return just yet, but seeing him back on the ice practicing with the team is a great sign for Canucks fans.

 

It’s been confirmed that Canucks goaltender, Spencer Martin, will be getting the starting role for tonight’s game at Madison Square Garden. 

The Canucks currently sit 7th last in the entire league, with their playoff looking slimmer and slimmer (if fans hadn’t already lost hope 3 months ago). 

 

The Canucks play again tomorrow in a back-to-back game that Canucks fans will not want to miss. They will face off against the New York Islanders, and it’ll be the first time that former Canucks captain, Bo Horvat, will face off against his former team only a week and a half since the trade commenced. The game will start at 4:30 pm (PST).

Vancouver Canucks Vs New Jersey Devils Postgame Analysis – February 7, 2023

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The Vancouver Canucks suffer yet another loss, this time to the New Jersey Devils. The game was a close one, as the Canucks fought back to tie up the game but ultimately fell to the Devils 5-4 in overtime.

This was the second (and final) time that the Canucks and the Devils faced off this season, with their last matchup occurring on November 1st, 2020, with the Canucks losing again to them. The final score of that game was 5-2.

 

This was the first game the Canucks played after their All-Star Weekend break, a break that will be remembered for a long time for Canucks fans. It wasn’t because the All-Star game was a thriller; if anything, it’s the complete opposite. This was the first game the Canucks played after trading away their leading goal-scorer and captain, Bo Horvat.

 

The Canucks weren’t lacking in scoring last night despite trading away their 30-goal scorer. They scored 4 goals all from 4 different players. Newly signed forward, Andrei Kuzmenko, opened the scoring 3 minutes into the game with a sick toe-drag move around Devils’ defender, Dougie Hamilton.

While that move was exciting for Canucks fans at home or in attendance, that was all to get excited about until later in the 2nd period, as the Devils stormed back scoring 4 goals. It got better for Canucks when there were 5-minutes left in the 2nd period, as they got goals from Luke Scheen and Curtis Lazar to end the period.

 

Heading into the 3rd period, the Canucks miraculously tied the game 6 minutes into the period with a goal from Phil Di Giuseppe. That would be enough for the Canucks to earn at least 1 point, as the game went to overtime.

The overtime period didn’t have too many exciting moments. The main highlight from this overtime was when Devils’ star forward, Jack Hughes, was rushing onto a breakaway but was ultimately stopped by his older brother, Quinn Hughes, who rushed back to stop the breakaway opportunity. 

 

With less than 2 minutes left in the overtime period, Canucks forward, Andrei Kuzmenko, got a penalty for hooking Devils’ forward, Jesper Bratt. With the rest of the overtime being 4 against 3 for the Devils, the Devils capitalized on the powerplay with a rocket one-timer from Jasper Bratt (ironically) to win the game against the struggling Canucks.

This was Anthony Beauvillier’s first game as a Vancouver Canucks after he was acquired in the blockbuster trade that sent Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders. He 0 points, 2 SOG, and had a +/- rating of -2 tonight.

 

The Canucks are back in action on Thursday when they face off against the New York Rangers at 5:00 pm (PST).

Super Bowl LVII Preview – Who Takes It All?

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This Sunday, February 12th, one of the biggest events in all of North America will be hosted.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CokDmPPMB8f/

The game will be held at 3:30 pm, with the 2 teams playing for the prestigious Lombardi Trophy being the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philidelphia Eagles. 

 

Both teams finished the regular season off with a 14-3 record (good for 1st in both their respective divisions and conferences), making both of these teams evenly matched. 

 

The game will be held in the State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Arizona. This is the 4th time that a Super Bowl is been held in the Arizona area, as the last time the Super Bowl was held in the Arizona area was in 2015 for Super Bowl XLIX.

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The halftime show this year will be headlined by Rihanna. This will be the first time that she will be performing at the halftime show in her career. She was invited to perform at the Super Bowl in 2019, but she ultimately declined to perform.

 

Currently, the Eagles are the favourite to win, but as sports have always proved every now and then, the favourites don’t always win. 

 

It’ll be a great battle between 2 star quarterbacks. Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs and Jalen Hurts of the Eagles will create a stellar show for viewers live in attendance and those who watch from home. 

 

As the stats compare, Mahomes has 5250 pass yards, while Hurts has 3701 pass yards. However, that doesn’t necessarily give the edge to the Chiefs, as previously stated, the Eagles are still the favourites to win.

 

Both teams have won at least one Super Bowl in the past 5 years. The Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018 when they defeated the New England Patriots 41-33, and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 2020 when they defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.

 

Regardless of who takes home the championship this Sunday, one thing is for sure. It’ll be an exciting event for people around the world to enjoy. 

Former Vancouver Canucks Captain, Bo Horvat, Signs 8-Year Extension with Islanders.

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Former Vancouver Canucks captain, Bo Horvat, has signed an 8-year extension with his new team, the New York Islanders.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoSwOwzPUIT/?hl=en

The Islanders acquired Horvat last week, sending forward Anthony Beauvillier, prospect Aatu Raty, and a conditional 1st round pick in 2023. The condition for this pick is it’s top 12 protected, meaning if the Islanders miss the playoffs and their selection falls into the top 12, the Canucks will receive the Islanders 1st round pick in 2024 completed unprotected.

 

It was a questionable move for the Islanders to acquire Horvat, as the team is currently not in a playoff spot. They sit 2 points out of the final wild-card spot. That spot is currently occupied by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have two games in hand compared to the Islanders.

 

Horvat is having a career year, with him currently having 31 goals, 23 assists, for 54 points in 49 games. His career high in goals is 31, which he achieved last season in 70 games. He’s on-pace to destroy his career highs in goals and in points. Additionally, he’s a great faceoff man and leader that the Islanders can rely on.

The deal is widely regarded as a risky one for the Islanders, as they currently do not sit in a playoff spot, and signed him for 8 years at $8.5 million. Horvat is worth that contract for his production this year, but his highest point total came in the 2018-19 season when he scored 61 points in a full 82-game season.

 

He’s 8 points away from creating a new career high, which he most certainly will hit this season. It’s a risky move for the Islanders, but they are hoping he only continues to develop and become a core piece for the team for the next 8 years. He’s just entering his prime and can be the missing scoring piece that the Islanders desperately need this season.

 

Horvat has played 621 career NHL games, having 201 goals and 219 assists, for 420 points. He will play his first game for the Islanders tonight when the Islanders face off against the Flyers in Philidelphia. 

Vancouver Canucks Game Day Vs. New Jersey Devils

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Today, the Vancouver Canucks are back in action after having a 9-day All-Star Weekend Break. The Canucks are looking to start the month on a high after winning their last game against the Columbus Blue Jackets back on January 27th with a 5-2 win.

This will be a challenging game to win, as the New Jersey Devils have a stellar record of 32-13-4 heading into this game at Prudential Center.

 

Today’s game will be a lot different for the Canucks roster, as this is the first game they will play without their captain, Bo Horvat. He was traded on January 30th to the New York Islanders in exchange for Anthony Beauvillier, prospect Aatu Raty, and a conditional 1st Round Pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Horvat would later sign an extension with the New York Islanders yesterday. The extension was an 8-year contract extension that would pay him $8.5 million per year.

 

Newly acquired forward for the Canucks, Anthony Beauvillier is expected to be in the lineup tonight for his first game with the Canucks. Prospect, Aatu Raty, has been assigned to the Canucks minor-league affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

 

Canucks head coach, Rick Tocchet, has confirmed that goaltender Collin Delia will be the starting goalie for tonight’s game. The 28-year-old has a record of 6-3-0 with the Canucks this season. He has a .898 save percentage with a 2.94 goals-against average.

This will be the second (and final time) that the Canucks will face off against the Devils this season. The last time these two teams faced off against each other this season was on November 1st, 2022, with the Canucks losing 5-2.

 

Canucks defender, Quinn Hughes, will face off against his brother, Jack Hughes, with many of their family members expected to be in attendance for tonight’s game.

 

The Canucks currently sit 6th in the Pacific Division with a 20-26-3 record. Their 43 points have them 6th last in the entire league and with the trade of their captain (and leading goal-scorer on the team)  just last week, the playoff hopes are looking more and more distant. 

The Underwhelming Persona 25th Anniversary Celebration

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Video game series and franchise “Persona” just celebrated their 25th anniversary this year and to celebrate, they launched many teasers of what they plan to give back to fans for supporting the series for this long.

Unfortunately for fans, it wasn’t really what we all expected. They made a website specifically for this occasion and had 4 “major” announcements to make for the Persona franchise.

Those 4 announcements were all pretty underwhelming except for one. To start, one of the announcements was just overpriced merchandise, with another being just digital posters you could download for free. The other 2 were a bit better, with one outshining the other. One of the announcements was a fighting game called “Persona 4 Arena Ultimax” getting ported to Steam and Nintendo Switch.

But the biggest announcement was Atlas (the publisher of Persona) announcing that they would be porting popular main series games Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden to other consoles, like Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox. Since all Persona games were originally Playstation exclusives, it’s nice for others who don’t own Playstations to finally have a taste of these fun and popular games.

But ultimately, that was the only “big” announcement made. They made no announcement of the newest installment (most likely Persona 6) in any of their announcements. The problem with Atlas and their Persona games is they take forever to release new ones, and never meet their initial release dates (ie: always gets pushed back).

As someone who is a huge fan of the Persona franchise, having played Persona 5 on my Playstation 4, Persona 4 on Steam, and Persona 3 FES on my Playstation 2, I’m pretty disappointed with most of the announcements. It would’ve been nice if Atlas at least gave us some news on Persona 6, like maybe the official logo, official artwork(s) of the protagonist, some of the main Persona characters, or pretty much anything. 

Fans like myself have been waiting a long time for any news on the newest installment, and I’m sorry to break it to you, but it’s very unlikely we will get any announcement of Persona 6 for another year or two. Just for reference, there was an 8 year gap between Persona 4 and Persona 5. Persona 5 released in 2016, meaning if the timeline stays the same, you can hopefully expect Persona 6 to release sometime in 2024.

Formula 1 United States Grand Prix this Sunday – What to expect

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The 4th last race of the 2022 Formula 1 season is upon us, and it’s been an enjoyable season to watch thus far. Even though RedBull driver, Max Verstappen, has already claimed his 2nd consecutive World Championship, there are still many battles to stay excited for with 4 races left to go.

The first battle to be excited for is the battle for 2nd place in the drivers standings. There is a tight battle between the other RedBull driver Sergio Perez, Mercedes driver George Russell, and the 2 Ferrari drivers of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. With only 1 point separating Perez (currently 2nd) and Leclerc (currently 3rd), it’ll be a tight battle to the end, but you cannot count out Russell and Sainz, as with a bit of luck and good performances, they can still take 2nd place in the drivers standings, even though are both close to 50 points behind.

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Personally, I have George Russell getting 2nd place because he’s my favourite driver, so I’m biased. But personal bias aside, he has been the most consistent driver this year. He has finished in the Top 5 in 15 out of the 18 races so far in a car that isn’t that competitive compared to the RedBull’s and Ferrari’s (he even got a Pole Position, the only driver to do so that’s not a RedBull or Ferrari driver).

Another thing to look forward to is the battle in the constructors’ championship. With the top 3 pretty much secured (1st RedBull, 2nd Ferrari, 3rd Mercedes), the battle for fourth will be an exciting battle, as Alpine has surprised many (including myself) with their good results and overall good performances. Because of their good performances, as well as the underwhelming performances of McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo, Alpine has surprisingly taken 4th in the constructors over McLaren. I’ve got Alpine taking 4th in the constructors over McLaren since I think it’s too late for McLaren to come back from their poor performances.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjf3eMwI9do/?hl=en

Even though the World Championship has already been won with 4 races left to go, there is still much to look forward to! Don’t forget that there are still 2 seats up for grabs (1 at Williams, 1 at Haas) and we could potentially get official announcements this weekend! The grand prix will be at 12pm this Sunday, October 23 in Texas, at the Circuit of the Americas.

Time to Panic for Vancouver Canucks Fans?

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In case you haven’t seen or heard, the Vancouver Canucks have started their season pretty poorly, so poorly that they have already been placed into the NHL history books only 4-games in.

So what was the stat that had the Canucks already placed in the history books? Being the first team to lose their first 4 games of the season while having multi-goal leads; in other words, blowing a lead of 2 or more goals.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj4JoIZOByC/?hl=en

Now I’ve been watching the Canucks for a long time now. I would say I’ve been watching the Canucks for around 15 years now, and it seems like a very “Canucks thing” to blow leads. I honestly have not seen a team blow more leads than the Canucks. I’m not trying to bash the Canucks here, I’m just merely stating what I’ve witnessed in my time of being a Canucks fan.

So this begs the question: Is it time for Canucks fans to panic? I think Canucks fans have a right to panic. In hindsight, the Canucks should have a record of 4-0 if they didn’t blow their leads. Additionally, it seems even the team is making panic moves by making winger Conor Garland a healthy scratch on Tuesday’s game versus Columbus, as well as making some changes in the lineup with players coming back from injury and calling players up from the minors.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj32hSnOGDZ/?hl=en

This seems like dĂ©jĂ  vu from last season, where the Canucks started the season poorly at the start of the season, only to turn it up after December.  I personally think if the Canucks have 10 losses in their first 15 games, it’s time to throw in the towel and tank for highly-touted prospect Connor Bedard. He is the projected first-overall pick in this upcoming draft in Nashville, and he’s a local boy from North Vancouver. Wouldn’t that be a perfect story?

Overall, I think the Vancouver Canucks can’t have a repeat of last season where they start poorly, then end strongly. They just have to either push now to be good or throw in the towel after the first 20 games. In retrospect, we should have kept the ninth-overall pick from 2021 to draft Dylan Guenther instead of trading for healthy scratch Conor Garland and soon-to-be declining Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram Accounts Restricted

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Twitter and Instagram have taken it upon themselves to resist the tweets and posts of global icon Kanye West.

Kanye has been in some controversy as of late, with a lot of posts on his Instagram page being very odd, and even very offensive.

To start, he had posts dissing Adidas and his partnership with them. Kanye’s very popular sneakers called “YEEZY” are under Adidas, but Kanye has posted his displeasure with the company, with him making claims that they made restocks of shoes without his permission, as well as making claims that Adidas released “new sneakers” that are very similar to his YEEZY shoes. For those interested, they do look like mere copies of his popular sneakers.

While those posts about him posting his displeasure with Adidas have since been removed, you can still find images of his posts online or on Youtube and TikTok.

Since Kanye has decided to publicly make posts calling out Adidas, as well as more recent odd posts (mentioned below), both Twitter and Instagram have made statements saying that Kanye’s posts have “violated their policies” and have now restricted his account.

In Kanye’s latest Instagram posts (that haven’t been removed yet), he posted a text message conversation he had with designer Tremaine Emory. In the leaked conversation, it showed Kanye speaking disheartedly about Virgil Abloh, a fashion designer who has recently passed away.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjb2MX7L7Ef/

While I don’t follow Kanye West on Instagram or Twitter, I have seen his posts and tweets on other social media platforms or other Instagram accounts. I have no idea what he hopes to gain by leaking text messages, posting vulgar statements about the higher-ups at Adidas, and making controversial posts. I don’t mind his music and his sneakers, but other than that, I wouldn’t call myself a big fan of Kanye himself. It’s hard to support someone who makes a lot of controversial posts and statements public.

TikTok Adds New Mental Health Feature for World Mental Health Day

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With World Mental Health Day taking place a couple of days ago on October 10th, TikTok took it upon themselves to launch a new feature to help raise awareness for mental health.

With social media being a key factor in low mental health for many teenagers nowadays, TikTok has taken the initiative by having some of their top content creators post videos concerning mental health awareness and resources you can use to get help.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjiu8aPhAA7/

For someone who is on TikTok and requires mental help, TikTok has launched 5 mental health-specific related hashtags to provide the help one might desperately need but might be too scared to go out and physically and verbally seek it. 

Those 5 hashtags are as follows: #MentalHealth, #SelfCare, #StressRelief, #HealingJourney, and #WeDoRecover. All of them are for specific stories/reasons, which I will outline below.

#MentalHealth is for personal stories and journeys that people have gone through to engage in thoughtful conversations.

#SelfCare are tips to help bring about greater peace with our actions and words.

#StressRelief are ways to help relieve yourself from stress and help you relax in tense situations.

#HealingJourney are heartfelt and honest conversations on the multiple ways in which healing from low mental health can happen.

#WeDoRecover are stories of perseverance through tough times that are very relatable and motivating. 

I also suffered from low mental health at one point in my life, but I didn’t have many resources to assist me, so to see more awareness being spread is great to see. For TikTok themselves to have their top content creators (ie: the ones with the most followers and most popular) make videos relating to those mental health awareness hashtags, it allows more people to see that there are resources of help within the app.

With TikTok quickly becoming a global sensation, adding these features will not only help the people who use the app, but also helps TikTok publicity-wise, as they are one of the first, if not the first, app to feature mental health assistance within the app.