Saturday 12 November 2011

Great Players Needed Before Not After A Pulled Goalie

    Tonight's game wasn't without chances for the Canucks in all periods , it was without goals in the first 2 periods for Canucks . It was also without a Canucks defense allowing the ducks best chances that turned up being goals because of  the ever prominent poor man coverage that Vancouver has been suffering from this season . So lets evaluate these simple issues further . First great chances are always good for a team even if they get shutout those chances will eventually equal goals , more than making up for all the bad Ju Ju feelings those missed great chances created . Therefore this problem is normal and is fixable . Second is setting up good defense in the attack zone which is met with good man coverage and taking away the passing lanes and finishing checks . With the exception of finishing checks Canucks defense was not doing well tonight even when Rome was on the ice . Also fixable and Canucks proved both above points are fixable first by scoring 3 goals on 22 shots and when the Canucks put up the no vacancy sign in the ducks attack zone they held them to a measly 2 shots when they did manage attack zone presence . A excellent third without a doubt what is in doubt is the Canucks leaving Luongo out to dry , sure they bounced back in the third improving their game on multiple levels in the third trying to win the game back for their goalie they let down in the first two periods , and yes Luongo let in goals he should had in those first two . Luongo was amazing yes amazing in the first and those of you who disagree need to check out the first period were he stopped all 9 shots with bad defense coverage and had some lucky bounces that feeds a goalies confidence . It wasn't until the second with more bad man coverage in the Ducks attack zone that goals were scored . The fact is a teams level of play and commitment to man on man coverage and grit and passion for finding the back of the net shouldn't be forced out of a players because their goalie is pulled , and they want to make it up to him . It makes no sense to save your next gear for staving off a 4 - 0 blowout with a pulled goalie . Now people can argue a pulled goalie is at fault and your backup is the savior when your team gets their act together and scores some goals . I can agree with that 100%, but when a teams third period is better than both its first period , and second period combined with a passion that had me out of my seat the entire 20 minutes of play , and had the Ducks arena looking like a Canucks home game i disagree 100%. It isn't Luongo letting his team down it is his team not being their for him and Luongo falling apart because of it as he does everything in his own end . Canucks as a team have dropped the ball not Luongo alone, it is not playing 60 minutes of hockey not what the goalie isn't doing in his own end after his defense falls apart , and why do fans and media take the easy out in blaming the goalie and not just in our franchise but all the others as well it is ignorant and narrow minded to look at any one player and blame them for a team loss especially the last line of defense .

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Alain Vigneault Working Canucks Just Right

     Canucks looked great in the first keeping Calgary busy with 14 shots to their 8 with 1 even strength goal from the ever improving Higgins 6th goal and 2 PPGs' from Burrows 4th and Daniels 5th . But then came the 2nd period with Calgary making up for their sleeping 1st with 12 shots to Vancouvers 4 still Canucks scored 2 even strength goals from Hodgson and Edlers 3rd goal.But also dont forget AV was also playing the bottom 6 more than usual and the top 6 less than usual. Canucks got a good easy game tonight playing  a strong first and basically rested for the last 2 periods and this is were AV deserves credit for not making this game 7 - 0 and not over working his top players.Also credit to the bottom 6 for working like the top 6 something that was pointed out to me by @ArtemChubarov. So for once lets thank AV.

Thursday 27 October 2011

Last Line Of Defense First One To Blame The Life Of A Vancouver Goalie

After yesterdays 3 - 0 loss to the Blues this is a perfect time to talk about the tunnel vision some Vancouver canuck fans have when pointing to Roberto Luongo whenever canucks lose. These fans remind me of drunk drivers with no excuse to be behind the wheel of a vehicle. The symptoms Tunnel vision and nodding off at key points were attention is paramount are all transferable to a Luongo hater during games. For some reason when Luongo is scored on everyone forgets about the forwards who lost control of the puck in the attacking zone to the oppositions teams defense who help their goalie to not get scored on.At this point the puck is moved out of the attacking zone and if the opposition manage through open ice past our defense there forwards move into their attacking zone and bring up their own defense to keep the puck in.This is the hockey Tunnel vision Luongo hating fans miss.The hockey play which has nothing, nadda, zero, zilch to do with our goalie. Now moving onto the oppositions attacking zone as they set up it is up to our own defense/forwards to force the puck away from the opposition and past their defense and out of their attack zone if this cant be done right away.they have now set up in their attacking zone and they are going to make plays to score and until then our goalies only job so far has been communication with his players.So until the opposition shoots the puck at the net and if it gets past our defense it is then and only then that our goalies main job is called upon to stop the puck from going in or to stop the play, and if the puck does go in canuck fans hate on Luongo bringing us back to the nodding off at key moments missing everything that happened before the goal or in the drunk driver analogy the car crashing So lets break this down even further for the drunk fan driving the proverbial lets hate on and occupy Luongo no-mind mentality. With all the other players that have lost or had the puck taken from them or were beaten on 1 on 1 why would some fans blame a goalie the last line of defense when a goal is scored? This brings us back to the Tunnel vision of seeing a goal on their team and who lets in that goal the goalie. and with the nodding off at key moments not seeing all the plays missed or screwed up, the one on ones lost, this brings to end my drunk driver to Luongo hater analogy. I think it is time Luongo haters realize its still October look not only at your starting goalie stats but the stats of other starting goalies.Now once you have done all this if you still hate on Luongo and no one else i suggest you all stop drinking during games cause it is inhibiting your ability to use common sense when watching a game.Still need further proof of what i am saying ok i take you all back to last night how many of you blamed Schneider for last nights shutout loss? Why has Luongo been blamed for shutout losses?Thats right because it was Luongo but yet Schneider is not blamed for the same thing, case check point made, and remember only you can stop stupid from speaking