With the Canucks' 32nd season now complete, we're getting ready for the regular season to begin. Check out the archives for last season news.

29/07/02 - Off-Season Blues
    It's been over 3 months since the Canucks were knocked out of the playoffs by the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings and not much has gone on in Canuckland since then.  Burke has been very quiet this summer, making only minor deals on draft day and through this free agent month.  Some players leaving the Canucks are Josh Holden, who was traded to Toronto for prospect Jeff Farkas, Scott Lachance, who signed on with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Jason Strudwick, who signed on with the Chicago Blackhawks.  The Canucks have added a couple minor league players:  defenceman Nolan Baumgartner, goaltender Tyler Moss, and defenceman Jaroslav Obsut.  In other news, the Canucks will be holding their training camp in Kamloops this year, and will also be hosting a Training Camp 10K race to raise money for the Canucks for Kids Fund.  Only 2 months and 12 days til the regular season begins on October 10th!

30/04/02 - Thanks for the Great Season!
    Well, the season's over.  We all hoped it would go on a little bit longer, but the Detroit Red Wings came alive and showed us all why they won the Presidents Trophy this year.  In December if someone had told you the Canucks were going to make it to the playoffs and even win 2 games against Detroit, you wouldn't have believed them.  The Canucks were at the bottom of the Western Conference and looked to be going nowhere.  But something happened.  Whether it was the arrival of Trevor Letowski, the leaving of Donald Brashear, or the big talk Brian Burke gave to the team, we'll never know.  Whatever it was, this team turned themselves around and had one of the best records for the second half of the season.  They finished as the top scoring team in the league, led by Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi who finished 2-3 in league scoring.  There are a few players Burke needs to re-sign (Andrew Cassels and Scott Lachance are both unrestricted free agents, while Brendan Morrison, Jason Strudwick and Brian Helmer all need new contracts), but hopefully he can do that and keep this team together for next year.  If the Canucks can play a whole year like that have the past few months, then look out, cause the Canucks will be the ones winning the Presidents Trophy next year!

24/04/02 - 2 down, 14 to go continued....
    When the Canucks won the first 2 games of the best of seven series against Detroit, everyone started talking about a sweep.  Well the Canucks have now lost 2 in a row after a 4-2 loss last night at GM Place, and sit tied with Detroit going into game 5 tomorrow in Motown.  Despite outshooting and outplaying the Red Wings, the Canucks couldn't put the puck behind "The Dominator", Dominic Hasek.  The Canucks got some bad breaks, however, as the first goal was put in by Brent Sopel, the second a tip off of Trevor Linden, and the third going in off the shaft of Dan Cloutier's stick.  The fourth goal was an empty netter.  Hopefully the series will continue as it's been going, with Vancouver winning each game in Detroit, and vice versa.  We're not about to give up just yet! We're still tied 2-2 and we need to shift the momentum back into our favour.

We were at last night's game at GM Place, and it was absolutely electric.  The crowd of 18,422 was wild with towel power!  By the 3rd period, every single playoff towel in the building had been sold and the 50/50 draw was an NHL record $29,000!!! Wow!!!  Canuck fans are awesome!!!

20/04/02 - 2 down, 14 to go!
    The road to the Stanley Cup continues as the Canucks kicked some serious bum, winning 5-2 against the Wings last night.  Our top line (the "Assembly Line") finally got going, as Todd Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison all made it onto the scoresheet for the first time.  Scott Lachance had a great game, scoring his first goal of the season and assisting on another.  Bertuzzi, Naslund, Andrew Cassels and Matt Cooke also scored for the Canucks.  The Canucks now lead the best of 7 series 2-0 coming back to Vancouver.  The city is totally pumped for the big game tomorrow as a few hundred fans turned up at the airport to welcome the team home at 2am.  Unfortunately the players went out a different exit, but Brian Burke went through the terminal and even stopped to sign some autographs.  Most fans were just happy to cheer with other fans :)   Game time tomorrow is 7:00pm PST, so if you're in the lower mainland and you're planning on going to a pub/bar to watch the game, get there early!!  Cause it's gonna be CRAZY!!!! CUP CRAZY!!!! GO CANUCKS GO!!!!

Check out our newest SONG entitled "Score on Hasek One More Time"

18/04/02 - 1 down, 15 to go...
    The Canucks pulled off an incredible victory last night in Detroit, beating the Red Wings 4-3 in overtime taking the first game of best of 7 series.  Henrik Sedin scored half way through the first overtime period to give the Canucks their first playoff win in 6 years, and their first overtime win in 7 years. Todd Warriner, Andrew Cassels and Trevor Linden also scored for the Canucks.  Pretty much the entire lower mainland had their eyes glued to the TV and the Canucks are definitely the talk to the town.  If they hadn't caught the attention of most people around the NHL, they sure have now!  These boys are for real, and they're not about to stop til they win the cup!  Only 15 more wins needed!

15/04/02 - Stanley Cup, here we come!
    If any of you have ever gotten emails from us as webmistresses, you'll know that at the bottom of our emails we've always written "Vancouver Canucks, 2002 Stanley Cup Champions".  Now, 3 years later, we're keeping our word!!  The Canucks managed to squeak into the playoffs for the 2nd straight year, but because of some bad luck, had to settle for 8th spot.  This means they'll face Detroit in the first round, starting on Wednesday.  Most of you may be thinking, forget it, they don't have a chance!!  Just keep these things in mind:  The Canucks are on an 8 game unbeaten streak, and have only lost twice in their past 16 games.  Detroit hasn't won in 7 games.  Vancouver is a young team with a lot of energy, Detroit is a very old team and after a long season might not be able to keep it up in the playoffs.  Last year the Canucks played one of the best series against Colorado, who went on to win the cup, without their two best players at that time, Naslund and Cassels.  One last point: The Canucks have the best fans in the NHL rooting them on, and have admitted that we're the loudest fans they've ever heard.  So cheer loud, and cheer proud, cause our boys are going all the way!!! GO CANUCKS GO!

28/02/02 - TEAM CANADA IS GOLDEN!
  Check this out, 2 new posts in a week!! Incredible!!  First of all, congratulations to Team Canada on winning the GOLD medal in men's hockey at the Olympics!!!!  It's was AWESOME!   All you Canadians know what I'm talking about ;)  The scene around Vancouver was amazing, with downtown streets being shut down for hours!
    I was at GM Place for the game and the Canucks practice before hand.  The team had split into 5 countries, but because of the abundance of Canadians, some had to "switch citizenship" pretty quick!  For the mini Olympic 3-on-3 tournament they had, Jason Strudwick and Todd Bertuzzi became Czechs, Andrew Cassels became Swedish, Matt Cooke and Trevor Letowski became Russian and Brent Sopel and Bryan Helmer became American.  It had been going on for a few practices, and Sunday was the finals.  Team USA and Team Sweden went to shootouts, but Sedin (I think it was Henrik) put an end to that pretty quick.  Since the team didn't have any gold medals to give out, they presented each winning player from team Sweden (the Sedins and new Swede Andrew Cassels) with Team Canada jerseys :)
    Now that the Olympics are over, it's back to business for the Canucks!  They tied St.Louis 4-4 the other night, and play Dallas tonight in a crucial game.  The Canucks are only one point up on the Stars in the tight scoring race in the West.

22/02/02 - Olympic Break...
    I don't know about you, but I've been glued to the TV for the past 2 weeks!!! You gotta love the Olympics!!  There was an article in the paper today with Trevor Linden saying he too has watched every single olympic event during this break.  Tune in Sunday at 12pm PST as Team Canada plays Team USA in the men's gold medal game!!! Congratulations to the women's team who beat the USA last night to win the gold medal!!!
    In Canucks news, the team has started practicing again, and will hold an open practice at GM Place on Sunday followed by a showing of the Gold Medal game on the big screen!  Tickets are being sold for $5, with all charities going to the Canucks for Kids Fund.  Dan Cloutier's sprained ankle seems to have healed and he will start our next game on Tuesday.  However, Trent Klatt's abdominal is still inflammed, and it has not been improving at all. So, don't expect to see him in the line-up anytime soon...  Hopefully the team can pick up where it left off, which was a 13-3-1-2 record since the New Year.  With a team record tying 15-game point streak, Todd Bertuzzi led the way for the Canucks who just had a 9-game unbeaten streak snapped.  Also playing the best hockey of their careers are Markus Naslund, who was named NHL player of the month in January and is tied for the NHL scoring lead, and Brent Sopel, who was named Player of the Week after a +6 rating in one game last month.  With only 2 months left in the season, the Canucks are neck in neck with 4 other teams for the final few playoff spots. Let's hope they can go on another winning streak and pull ahead of teams like L.A., Dallas, Phoenix and Edmonton.  Go Canucks Go!! And GO CANADA GO!!!!!!

01/01/02 - Happy New Year!
    Man we've been horrible at updating!  Ok, here's some of the goings on from the last couple months.  The Canucks have been on a terrible downslide all season, but things sort of seem to be turning around a little as the team has made 2 trades in the past 2 weeks.  The first saw Donald Brashear head to Philadelphia in exchange for forward Jan Hlavac.  Hlavac had a great year last year scoring 64 points, but has yet to show that form this season.  He did have 2 goals in a 4-2 win last Saturday, though, and has shown moments of brightness on a line with Naslund and Cassels.  The second trade saw Dennis Pederson and Drake Berehowsky go to Phoenix for centre Trevor Letowski, minor leaguers Todd Warriner and Tyler Bouck, and a 3rd round draft pick.  Warriner and Bouck were sent down to Manitoba, and Letowski has added some quickness to the team in the 2 games he's played so far.  In other roster news, Justin Kurtz was sent down to Manitoba to make room for Alexei Tezikov (a defenseman we acquired a few months ago from Anaheim) and Bryan Helmer has been called up to replace Murray Baron who's injured right now.  Harold Druken was also sent down to the farm on a condition stint to help re-hab a sprained ankle he suffered a few weeks ago.
    In olympic news, 4 players from the team are headed to Salt Lake City to play for the respective countries in February.  Markus Naslund and Mattias Ohlund will play for Sweden, Jarkko Ruutu will play for Finland and Ed Jovanovski was chosen to play for team Canada. Good Luck boys!

10/11/01 - Welcome Home: Captain Canuck comes full circle
    It happened during dinner... I had just taken my first bite of Maui Chicken, when Ron McLean (on behalf of Brian Burke) made me a very, very happy girl.  TREVOR LINDEN IS COMING HOME!!! Saturday night, the Canucks sent the first round draft pick of 2002 to Washington in return for one of Vancouver's best-loved heroes.  Vancouver also has to pick up some of Linden's previous contract with the Capitals.  Is he a goalie? No.  Does he cost a lot of money? Yes.  Do we care? NO!! WE'RE JUST HAPPY HE'S BACK!!!  We'll give you more information as it comes, but for the time being, I'll just let you know that although I did choke on my chicken, I'm doing fine now.
 

25/10/01 - The Revolving Door
    Where to start? Over the last 2 weeks the Canucks have made a ton of little moves.  It all started when Todd Bertuzzi was suspended for 10 games for leaving the bench to join a fight vs Colorado. Shortly there after, the Canucks starting going on a little losing streak, causing management to make a few changes.  Steve Kariya (who'd been called up to replace Bertuzzi), Bryan Allen and Harold Druken we're all sent down to Manitoba, being replaced my Artem Chubarov, Mike Brown and Justin Kurtz.  All three were in the Canucks line-up Tuesday night vs Nashville.  However, in the same game Andrew Cassels caught his skate in a rut, causing a 2nd degree sprain to his MCL.  With Cassels out for 4-6 weeks, the Canucks recalled Druken who'd barely had time to unpack in Winnipeg.  To make things even weirder, remember Josh Holden?  He's the on the Canucks placed on waivers back in September and was picked up by Carolina.  Well, the Hurricanes decided they didn't have room for him anymore, and placed him on waivers today.  The Canucks wasted no time in re-claiming Josh, and quickly sent him down to Manitoba to join the Moose.  Ok, got all that? I know, it's confusing.  Let's just hope the boys can put together a nice winning streak or there's definitely going to be more changes, and I'm not just talking swaps with the minor league team.  Could a trade be in order??? Only time will tell...

05/10/01 - Ohlund eyes new contract
    The Canucks signed Mattias Ohlund to a 3 year contract extension today.  Ohlund, who's in the final year of 5 year, $10 million contract, will make $8.25 million over the next 3 seasons.  After missing 38 games in 99-00 and another 17 games last season due to a serious eye injury, Ohlund says he feels the best he has in years.  We look forward to seeing him grow and improve until atleast 2005!

04/10/01 - 81-1???
    The Canucks opened up the regular season tonight at home, losing 5-4 to the Chicago Blackhawks.  The Canucks started strong scoring right at the start of the game, but Chicago poured it and the Canucks just couldn't catch up.  There were some excellent chances in the last minute with Cloutier on the bench for an extra attacker, but Chicago goalie Jocelyn Thibault was strong robbing the Canucks numerous times.  The game was a sell-out, and was also the debut of the team's new 3rd jersey.  While I think it's rather sharp and dozens of people were buying the jersey at the game, sportscasters around the league think it's one of the ugliest 3rd jerseys anyone has ever worn.  Come on, nothing's worse than the Bruin's yellow 3rd jersey with the bear on it!  We'll see how fans react over the season as the team will wear the jersey 14 more times this season.

In other news, Harold Druken decided to switch numbers, taking #9 which he wore in junior.  With #15 now vacant, Drake Berehowsky decided to grab it, ditching his familiar #17.  Check out the new roster for all the info on all the players on the team.