Author Archives: Tyler Asaoka

Vancouver Canucks Vs Minnesota Wild Pregame Analysis – March 2nd

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The Vancouver Canucks are back in action tonight against the Minnesota Wild. Tonight will be a special night in Rogers Arena, as the Canucks will be celebrating First Nations throughout the game.

The Canucks won their last game against the Dallas Stars on Monday in an overtime thriller. Andrei Kuzmenko netted yet another Overtime-winning goal for the Canucks, and the victory didn’t come right away, as the officials took a long time to review if the play was offside prior to the goal going in. Ultimately, the play was ruled onside, giving Kuzmenko and the Canucks a 5-4 Overtime victory.

Tonight, the Canucks face the 34-21-6 Minnesota Wild. The Wild are currently on a 2-game winning streak and are looking to extend their streak tonight against the Canucks.

As previously mentioned, the Canucks will be celebrating First Nations throughout the game. There will be special performances throughout the game and special merchandise releasing at the Canucks Team Store and online at Vanbase. The merchandise will be limited and is expected to sell out quickly, so be sure to purchase your desired product soon if you are interested in any of the products.

Tonight’s game will also be a tribute to the late Gino Odjick, a fan-favourite Canuck during the 1990s. He was of First Nations and the logo designed for the special apparel is based of him.

The special warmup jerseys that the Canuck players wear will be auctioned off throughout the game, with auctions closing at the end of the game, but there will also be some exclusive non-player-worn jerseys that will be available during the game’s 1st intermission (if you are going to the game) or on Vanbase

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1631491008499445761

Thatcher Demko will get the start for the Canucks tonight, as they look to win back-to-back games to start their 6-game homestand.

The game will start at 7 pm (PST).

Vancouver Giants Vs Prince George Cougars Pregame Analysis – March 1st

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The Vancouver Giants are playing back-to-back games against the Prince George Cougars once again in the CN Arena.

The Giants played yesterday against the Cougars last night in a brutal 6-0 loss. It was a tough game to watch for Giants fans as they were completely blown out and it visibly showed after the 1st period and even more after the 2nd period, as the Giants only had 7 shots on goals after the 2nd period and then only 2 shots on goal to end the 3rd period. 

https://twitter.com/WHLGiants/status/1630961089394659329

An unproductive powerplay and a lackluster penalty kill were the main factors that cost the Giants the game last night. They went 0/5 on the powerplay and then let in 3 powerplay goals on 5 powerplay opportunities that the Cougars had. Staying disciplined should be another approach for the team tonight, as the Cougars have shown that they can capitalize on the opportunity, so as long as the Giants stay disciplined and not give the Cougars the powerplay opportunities, they should have a better chance of winning tonight.

https://twitter.com/WHLGiants/status/1630829514417901569

The Cougars have 4 players on their team that are from BC. They consist of Caden Brown from Prince George, Arjun Bawa from Vancouver, Zac Funk from Coldstream, an Ethan Samson from Delta.

The Giants are now currently on a 3-game losing streak. The Cougars, on the other hand, are currently on a 6-game win streak. After tonight’s game, either both respective streak will extend or both will be broken and start anew. 

After tonight, the Giants will return home for a game on Friday against the Victoria Royals in the Langley Events Centre.

The game tonight will be on at 7:30 pm (PST) instead of yesterday’s start time of 7 pm (PST), so make sure to not get the times mixed up if you plan to watch tonight’s game.

Vancouver Giants Vs Prince George Cougars Postgame Analysis

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The Vancouver Giants took a brutal loss tonight to the Prince George Cougars in a final score of 6-0.

https://twitter.com/WHLGiants/status/1630822787958063105

The Giants looked to be off to a good start, as they outshot the Cougars 13-7 after the 1st period, but the Cougars were able to net 1 goal after the 1st period from Koehn Ziemmer.

When the 2nd period rolled around, the tides seemed to change, as the Giants couldn’t produce much of anything, as they only had 7 shots on goal this period, while scoring 0 goals. The Cougars, however, were able to get 2 goals in 10 shots this period. Their goals came from Jaxsen Wiebe and Riley Heidt. 

The 3rd period was visibly the worst period for the Giants this game. The Giants looked defeated and unmotivated, having only 2 shots on goal this period, with yet again, no goals. While this was the worst period this game for the Giants, it was the best period of the game for the Cougars. They had 18 shots on goal this period and scored 3 goals in the process. They got their goals from Hudson Thornton, Chase Wheatcroft, and Prince George native, Caden Brown.

The game got rough at the end, as a visibly frustrated Giants team started to try and leave this disastrous game with something there were roughing calls and game misconducts near the end of the 3rd period. Giants’ Kyle Bochek and Cougars’ Chase Wheatcroft both received 10-minute game misconducts near the end of the game.

The powerplay and the penalty kill for the Giants is what ultimately cost them the game tonight. They went 0/5 on their powerplay and then let in 3 powerplay goals on 5 powerplays for the Cougars. This is something that will need to improve if they hope to win their next game, which is coincidently against the Cougars again.

The Giants will face off against the Cougars again tomorrow at 7:30 pm (PST) at the CN Centre in Prince George in a back to back battle.

Vancouver Giants Vs Prince George Cougars Pregame Analysis – February 28th

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The Vancouver Giants are back in action tonight against the Prince George Cougars. This will a back-to-back battle, as the Giants will face off against the Cougars on Wednesday in their home arena once again.

https://twitter.com/WHLGiants/status/1630598712484409346

The Prince George Cougars have already clinched their spot in the playoffs this year, while the Giants currently are unclinched for a playoff spot, with a playoff off looking highly unlikely at this point due to the Giants’ losing record this season.

The Cougars have 4 players on their team that are from BC. They consist of Caden Brown from Prince George, Arjun Bawa from Vancouver, Zac Funk from Coldstream, an Ethan Samson from Delta. Out of the 4, Ethan Samson has the most points, with 48 points in 48 games.

The last time the Cougars and Giants faced off against each other was 4 days ago at the Langley Events Centre. It was an exciting back and forth game between the two teams, which ultimately led the game going into overtime. The Cougars came out on top in overtime with an OT winner from Chase Wheatcroft. The final score was 5-4.

In other Giants news, the entire Giants team from 2006-07 will be inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame. This was the team that won the Memorial Cup and since then was the last time the Giants won the Memorial Cup. 14 players on that team ended up cracking an NHL roster after they won. It was a big moment for the team and for the city of Vancouver back in 2007. The main superstar on that team was Milan Lucic, who is currently playing for the Calgary Flames.

https://twitter.com/WHLGiants/status/1630737713770135552

The game will be played tonight at CN Centre in Prince George. The game will start at 7 pm (PST) and the Giants will be back again to face the Cougars in the same arena tomorrow, but this time, the game will be on at 7:30 pm (PST) instead of the usual 7 pm (PST).

Vancouver Canucks Defender, Luke Scheen, Traded to Toronto Maple Leafs for 3rd Round Pick

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After having Luke Scheen scratched for the past week or so, he has finally been dealt 3 days before the NHL Trade Deadline, and it’s to a team he has played for in the past.

The official trade was the Canucks trading veteran defender Luke Scheen to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 3rd Round Pick in this upcoming NHL draft. This will be Toronto’s own 3rd round pick in the 2023 draft.

The Maple Leafs have been busy days upon Friday’s Trade Deadline. The Leafs have added Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari, Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, Erik Gustafsson, and now Luke Scheen. Not only that, the also acquired a 1st round pick in 2023 and a 3rd round pick in 2024 in the process. It’s clear the Leafs are going all-in this year to try and finally break there curse of getting eliminated in the 1st round of the playoffs (usually in Game 7). With all the moves Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas has made, it’s make or break for the organization. If they fail to make it out of the 1st round again, it’s almost certain that someone will be losing their job in the summer, whether it’s Dubas, or the Leafs’ head coach, Sheldon Keefe.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1630695669328486400

On the Canucks’ side, this is a pretty solid return. I don’t feel the Canucks would’ve received anything higher than a 3rd round pick. Hoping for a 2nd round pick was a little ambitious, but at least the Canucks got what was Scheen was worth.

As for the 3rd round pick the Canucks received, there’s a lot the team could do with it. 3rd round picks are valuable, as they are great sweeteners in a trade or can be used to draft a player with solid potential to make the NHL, as the 3rd round isn’t too late in the draft and can still produce NHL-regular players.

Essentially, the Canucks can use this 3rd round pick to trade for an already established NHL player, use it to move up in this upcoming draft, use it as a sweetener in a bigger trade, perhaps even move it again before Friday’s Trade Deadline. The possibilities are endless, but regardless, draft picks are magic beans. The Canucks just need to make sure they have it sprout if they choose to select a player with this pick.

Regardless, this is a win-win trade for both the teams. The Canucks get a draft pick that can be used for many things and helps them with their rebuild and the Leafs get a veteran defender to help them in their push to the playoffs.

Toronto Raptors Vs Chicago Bulls Pregame Analysis – February 28th

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The Toronto Raptors are back in action tonight against the Chicago Bulls. It’s their first game back at Scotiabank Arena since February 23rd.

The Raptors lost their most recent game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a final score of 118-93. That loss snapped the Raptors’ 4 game-winning streak. Their last loss before this one came in a 122-116 loss to the Utah Jazz on February 10th.

Tonight’s game is important for both teams. Both teams are in the Eastern Conference and are both looking to fight for a spot in the play-ins to make the post-season. The Raptors sit semi-comfortably in 9th place, while the Bulls currently occupy the 11th place in the East, which is one spot away from the final 10th place play-in position.

A win tonight is important for both teams, as a win for the Raptors would move them further up the standings to create a more breathable gap between the teams below them. For the Bulls, a win tonight would bring them much closer to moving over the 10th-place Washington Wizards.

The starting 5 will be the same as their previous game, with VanVleet, Barnes, Anunoby, Siakam, and Poeltl.

After tonight’s game, the Raptors will embark on a 5-game road trip. Their next game won’t be until Tuesday, March 14th, when they take on the current top team in the West, Denver Nuggets. The start of their road trip starts against the Washington Wizards on Thursday and then once again against the Wizards on Saturday. 

It’s essential that the Raptors win tonight’s game and their next 2 games against the Wizards, as those are the 2 teams directly below them in the standings. 3 victories in a row would create a much bigger gap and have the Raptors much closer to the 8th-seed Atlanta Hawks and 7th-seed Miami Heat.

The game will start at the usual 4:30 pm (PST).

Vancouver Canucks Celebrate First Nations Night on March 2nd

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The Vancouver Canucks will host another celebratory night on their next home game this Thursday. The Canucks will face off against the Minnesota Wild and celebrate First Nations in BC throughout the game.

Along with this celebratory night, there will also be special and limited-edition merchandise to release during the game in the team store. However, the merchandise is already available online on Vanbase for those that are eager to secure a piece or two right now.

The merchandise includes a special jersey, t-shirts, hoodies, hats, pins, pucks, and mini sticks. 

The design on all the merchandise was designed by the late Gino Odjick’s cousin, Jay Odjick. The Algonquin artist designed the logo, which commemorates the special night and Gino. The logo is the Canucks’ popular flying skate logo, resigned with a Thunderbird crest in Algonquin design, which represents “the strong and powerful protector that Gino was.” 

Additionally, it has a lightning bolt at the center of the logo to symbolize Gino’s passion. The wings of the Thunderbird will include Coastal Salish inspiration designs to honour the First Nations communities of Vancouver and the surrounding areas. 

The shoulder patches will have Medicine Wheels to represent the “interconnectedness and balance of all elements of life, with eight feathers to represent the eight seasons Gino played as a Canuck.”

All the proceeds from sales of the collection will go to Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations youth programs.

Indigenous Canucks defender, Ethan Bear, is the model for this collection. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury 30 seconds into the Bruins/Canucks game on Saturday, February 25th, when a puck hit him in the face. He did not return for the rest of this game and missed the Canucks’ most recent game against the Dallas Stars on Monday. It is unknown if he will return for this special night; an announcement will likely be made tomorrow morning.

Vancouver Canucks Make Trade for Vitali Kravtsov – What to Expect from the Young Winger

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The Vancouver Canucks have made yet another trade upon Friday’s Trade Deadline. This time, it’s a trade with another New York team, but this time it’s the Rangers and not the Islanders.

The Canucks have acquired yet another young prospect from a New York-based team. This time around, it’s Russian winger, Vitali Kravtsov.

First, let’s dissect the trade at face value. The Canucks receive 23-year-old Russian winger Vitali Kravtsov; the Rangers receive 24-year-old Will Lockwood and a 2026 7th-round pick. 

Now as we look deeper into this trade, this is looking more like a win for the Canucks than the Rangers. The Rangers have been trying to trade Kravtsov for a while now, but the Rangers’ asking price was way too high, but you can’t blame the Rangers for trying to get a big return for him. After all, he is a former 9th overall pick back in the 2018 NHL draft.

There’s also a lot to like about his frame too, as he is 6’3 and 186 Ibs. Although his production hasn’t screamed 9th overall pick, it’s way too early to give up on him. I feel he just needed a change of scenery, as Kravtsov has been in trade rumors for around a year now. Additionally, with the Rangers going all-in for the playoffs this year, they don’t really need a young forward in Kravtsov, as it’s rumored they moved him for so little to make room for Chicago Blackhawks superstar, Patrick Kane.

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1629934327164456960

So for the Canucks, they make a low-risk, high-reward move. They get a young, once highly-touted prospect who desperately needed a change of scenery. He also joins a group that already has 2 Russians on the team in Vasily Podkolzin and Andrei Kuzmenko. The Canucks also have Russian coach Sergei Gonchar on the team too to make Kravtsov feel more at home.

This trade helps the Canucks and their rebuild (we don’t use the word “retool” anymore). Getting a young prospect for very little is an absolute win for the Canucks and their General Manager, Patrik Allvin.

F1 Aston Martin Confirm Young Driver, Filipe Drugovich, will Replace Lance Stroll if he is still Injured for the Bahrain Grand Prix

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The Formula 1 2023 season is right upon us, as the first race of the season is set to occur this Sunday, March 5th. 

It’s been a long time without Formula 1 racing, with the last race taking place in Abu Dhabi on November 20th, 2022.

With lots of new drivers, new team bosses, and drivers switching teams, it’s finally time to see if all these moves will be worth it for the teams. However, we might be without a regular Formula 1 driver when the lights go out in Bahrain. Canadian driver, Lance Stroll, has been out with an injury during a training session on his bike. He announced the injury on his Instagram page 1 week ago today. He stated that he should be ready to go this Sunday for the Grand Prix, but it looks like that might not necessarily be the case, as it seems his recovery is taking longer than initially expected.

There was lots of speculation on who would replace the Canadian driver if he would not be ready to suit up this Sunday. There were talks about Aston Martin reserve driver, Stoffel Vandoorne, getting the call to race. Other talks were saying their young academy driver and Formula 2 winner, Filipe Drugovich would get the call, even some reports going out that retired Formula 1 driver, former Aston Martin driver, and overall fan-favourite driver, Sebastian Vettel, would get the call to race one more time.

However today, all those rumors and guesses can be put to rest, as Aston Martin has confirmed who will replace Lance Stroll, should he not be ready to race this Sunday. The driver to replace Stroll will be their young prospect, Filipe Drugovich, which to me, made the most sense.

They have nothing to gain by putting Vandoorne in the car, and while everyone loves Vettel, he chose to retire last year, meaning he willingly gave up his seat. It’s the smart call by Aston Martin to give their young driver a chance, should they need to.

The first race of the season will be in Bahrain, with the race starting at 7 am (PST). This is an hour later than it usually starts, so thankfully we can all get an extra hour of sleep for a more doable watch time.

Vancouver Canucks Vs Dallas Stars Pregame Analysis – February 27th

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The Vancouver Canucks are back in action tonight against the Dallas Stars. Right when the Canucks faced the top team in the East, the Boston Bruins, on Saturday, they have another formidable opponent tonight against the 2nd best team in the West.

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1630260412859154436

The Canucks are coming off a loss against the Boston Bruins in a lower-scoring game than many expected. The final score was 3-1, when many, including myself, thought that the Bruins were going to score 5+ goals on the Canucks.

Although the game was low scoring, the game was all over the highlight reels as Bruins goaltender, Linus Ullmark, scored an incredible goalie goal to become the 13th goalie in NHL history to score a goal. This is the 2nd time in the Canucks’ history that they allowed a goalie to score on them, with the other time occurring back in 2002 when former San Jose Sharks goaltender, Evgeni Nabokov also fired a shot from his own net and landed it perfectly into the net.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1629675231450214402

There will be some roster changes for tonight’s game in Texas. Canucks defender, Ethan Bear, has been placed on injury reserve after he left the game against the Bruins 30 seconds into the 1st period. He took a puck to the face and will not play tonight against the Stars. The Canucks have called up Noah Juulsen from their AHL team, Abbotsford Canucks, to fill in his spot.

The injuries don’t stop there though, as one of the Canucks’ top forwards, J.T. Miller, is also out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Miller’s name has come up in trade rumors the past few days, but this injury may affect the market for him. His new extension of 7 years, $8 million per year kicks in after this season concludes. 

The game tonight will on at 5:30 pm (PST). After tonight’s game, the Canucks will return home for a 6-game homestand, starting with the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.