Well a new season is upon us, and with it a new format for our updates.  There was getting to be far too many so we have archived the off-season, the pre-season and are starting fresh for the 1999-2000 season.

20/03/00 - 2 points back!!!!
    WE'RE 2 POINTS OUT OF A PLAYOFF SPOT!!!!! Thanks in most part to Felix Potvin who stopped 36 shots, the Canucks managed a come from behind victory over the Colorado Avalanche.  The winning goal was scored by... Brent Sopel! his first of the season! Harold Druken and Todd Bertuzzi with his 20th also scored for the Canucks.  Next challenge, Wednesday night in San Jose who were chasing for that last playoff spot. And, in keeping with the Canucks recent success, Markus Naslund was named Player of the Week beating out Nicklas Lidstrom, Roman Turek and our dear old friend, Pavel!  Markus had 13 points (5 goals and 8 assists) in 3 games, 4 of those points coming against Buffalo last Thursday tying his career record points in a game! Yay Markus!!! And finally, a few little notes from the past few weeks:  Marty McSorley has been officially charged by Vancouver Police and a trial is set to take place  in late August, early September.  Also, the Canucks have sent Bryan Allen back to Oshawa in the juniors. And Harry York, Steve Kariya and Artem Chubarov have been sent down to Syracuse, while Brent Sopel and Harold Druken have been brought up. As you can see, it helped tonight as they scored the game tying and winning goals!!

14/03/00 - Deadline Deals: Mogilny says good-bye to Vancouver
   As hinted for many weeks, there was a trade between the New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks.  However, the much talked about Messier deal did not occur, instead RW, Alex Mogilny is on his way to join the Devils as they drive for the cup.  In return, the Canucks acquire home-town boy C Brendan Morrison.  Hailing from Pitt Meadows, just 45 minutes outside Vancouver, Morrison should be a welcome addition to the line-up.  Mogilny, who has developed from a designated "goal scorer" to a more all around player this season, and has been showing more interest in the game lately, battling for the puck, instead of waiting for the next goal opportunity.   Morrison, who has spent quite a bit of time in the press box is not immediately equal to Mogilny, but the Canucks are hoping he will develop into an important role player, and gives them more depth at centre, a constant problem for the team.  Trading Mogilny also gives the team $5.2M to use during the off season.  The only other deadline deal announced so far (although the deadline has passed, deals could still be in the approval process) sees D Chris Joseph going to the Pheonix Coyotes, who picked him up on waivers.

29/02/00 - He shoots, He scores!
    It only took 139 games, but he's finally done it.  Jason Strudwick has finally scored his first NHL goal!!  Congratulations to Linda who won the First Goal Pool, and congratulations to Jason!!!!  It all happened at happened at 19:37 of the 1st period vs the L.A. Kings and tied the game up at 1-1.  In a cute/funny story, Todd Bertuzzi was so excited for Jason, he punched Jovonavski in the face! So they were all concerned for Jovo amongst their happiness for Jason! but YAY JASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27/02/00 - "I spy with my little eye": More problems for Mattias
    Mattias Ohlund revealed Friday that the vision in his right eye had decreased since he rejoined the team.  Injured in a pre-season game against the Senators, Ohlund returned to the line-up in January, with 70% vision.  His vision has since fallen to only 50% in his right eye, and cataracts are further complicating the situation.  Although Ohlund says he can see the players on the ice, he admits he does lose sight of the puck when it is flipped into the air (which occurred in Friday's game, and resulted in an L.A. goal).  Ohlund is already scheduled for surgery at the end of the season, but claims he is not being pressured to play by the team.  Losing Ohlund again would certainly damage any hope the Canucks have of making it to the playoffs, but if he continues to lose his eyesight at this rate, the Canucks should be worrying about losing Ohlund permanently.

26/02/00 - NHL comes down hard on McSorley
    The league suspended McSorley for the remainder of the season plus the playoffs for the Bruins, and if McSorley wants to play again next season, he has to plead his case with Gary Bettmen to be reinstated.  We all hope that McSorley will have the dignity to fade into the woodwork.  With that I think we'll leave this topic once and for all; except to say that at last night's game Brash had a message of thanks to the fans posted on the screen and we all gave him a 'Standing O', it was really touching!

* Vancouver Police have decided to press McSorley with "assult with a weapon."  His lawyer is set to appear in court on April 4th.  More details will be released after that date.

21/02/00 - In the grand scheme of things: It's just a game
    The Canucks, along with many other teams, have been riddled with injuries all season long.  But Monday night's injury to Donald Brashear was much worse than broken fingers and black eyes.  Brashear was slashed by fellow tough guy Marty McSorley in the final seconds of the game against Boston.  The two had been battling all night, and although McSorley claimed he was only trying to entice Brashear into another fight, the result was much more serious.  The force of the slash cut Brashear, and pulled him backwards.  Brashear knocked his head on the ice, losing both his helmet and consciousness.  He was carried off the ice as his teammates circled around him.  Last reports indicated that Brashear was conscious and walking around the locker room.  After a season with incredibly serious injuries (think Trent McCleary), hopefully Brashear will not suffer any long term consequences.  In other Canucks news, Todd Bertuzzi scored two goals: and then left the ice with a dislocated thumb. Post game reports suggest that Bertuzzi will be back in the line-up quickly, if not for Wednesday's game in Anaheim.  Peter Schaefer returned from the knee injury he suffered in Pittsburgh, and Brent Sopel and Chris O'Sullivan have been sent down to Syracuse.  And in news that carries very little importance in light of Brashear's injury, the Canucks did shut down the Bruins 5-2, winning 3 games in a row.

This just in:  Josh Holden and Steve Kariya have been recalled from Syracuse.

15/02/00 - The Injury streak lives on....
    Just when it seemed the team was finally healthy, the Canucks have now got a new injury streak going and are losing players at an increasing rate!  Alex Mogilny when down in the Toronto game on saturday with a separated shoulder that will keep him our for a week, and last night both Schaefer and Cooke were injured.  Schaefer suffered and knee sprain after being hit but played till the end of the period; while Cooke fell right onto the stick blade of one of the Penguins late in the third.  It is not clear whether either of them will miss any games but Cooke received 30 stitches to the outside and inside of his cheek, so I imagine he's in a significant amount of pain.

10/02/00 - Adrian Aucoin all cut up about injury
    After an miraculous come from behind win against calgary last night Adrian Aucoin underwent surgery to repair nerve and ligament damage to his middle finger after a strange collision with a calgary player, who's skate cut through Aucoin's glove while falling to the ice.  Aucoin is expected to miss five to six weeks with this injury and Zenith Komarniski has been called in to fill out the Canucks roster.  Mark Messier had one of his best games recording two powerplay goals and setting up Mattias Ohlunds game winner in OT.

02/02/00 - Bryan Allen to play first professional game later this month...
    A news report today featured Bryan Allen who wouldn't say he was healthy, just that this was the best he had felt in ages.  Some of you may be wondering where he's been since all the young defense hype of late last season where Burke was dropping his name like a hot potato.  Well he broke his foot at home just before the prospects camp in the summer, and since then has had another major knee injury aswell as a shoulder injury, both of which required surgery.  Allen has been practising with the Canucks lately and Marc Crawford said he passes well to break out of the zone and he looks good.  BUT the official word is that his first professional appearance will be with the Syracuse Crunch.  The coaching staff feels he needs to go down there and prove that he's ready to play at the NHL level.  Working with Smyl will be good for Allen, and if he does well, he will surely be called up before the end of the season.

28/01/00 - Mini-Me gets set to the Mini-NHL!
    The Canucks announced today that rookie Steve Kariya would be sent down to join the Syracuse Crunch.  Although this is not a completely unexpected move, due to Kariya's recent lack of playing time and frequent benchings, the demotion does go against the 'great expectations' of the early season.  Actually, Kariya's season has mirrored the Canucks season in many ways.  Both got off to great starts, and seemed to be living up to the promise seen on paper.  The Canucks spent the first month at the top of the conference, while Kariya notched a few goals - on Saturday's at least.  The truth is, most of the expectations (and pressures) for Steve Kariya come from his last name, and from his older brother Paul.  Perhaps this stint in the minors will give him the opportunity to fully develop his skills, playing more often and once again competing at the level of the top players.

26/01/00 - Strudwick does good...
    In a road game against Edmonton late last week, our boy Jason, defending Garth Snow's job fell onto Potvin.  Well actually Bertuzzi pushed a guy, who crashed into Jason, who landed on Potvin.  The upshot being that Potvin has a 1st degree knee sprain and has been put on the IR, meaning he will miss at least a week.  This is good news for Snow who gets to step in and show Crawford what he's got.  Also, Corey Schwab has been recalled from Orlando to warm the bench in Snow's place.  In other injury news - Ed Jovonoski is set to play again, Alex Mogilny is starting to skate again after and unusual pelvic injury. Darby Hendrickson has been recalled from Syracuse to add some offensive spark which seemed to work since he scored 1 of 4 goals last night, Trent Klatt, not long up from the farm has also shone offensively of late.  Congratulations to Matt Cooke on scoring his first NHL goal in his 47th game as a Canuck! We're all happy for him, just wish Jason could be in the news for doing the same instead of for injuring Potvin. On a business note, the Grizz have been sold to get another billionaire, hopefully this one has good intentions! Also, the Canadian government relinquished their 20 million a year subsidy to NHL teams after a major public outcry.  Well that about sums it up.

20/01/00 - To Stay or Not to Stay?
    The Canucks sister organization, the Vancouver Grizzlies, were at the forefront of discussions today, as potential owner, Bill Laurie, pulled his bid out, announcing that he would not be buying the Grizzlies.  The opens up many interesting potentials for the Canucks, as current owner John McCaw, has to make some financial decisions.  Does he revert to his original plan, and attempt to sell the Canucks, the Grizzlies and GM Place as a package, which would almost guarantee that the teams would remain in Vancouver, even with a new owner?  Will McCaw, in light of his failed attempt to sell the Griz, put the Canucks on the market, which could lead to a move down south?  Or will he stick around a little while longer, and see if he can force some money out of the provincial government, and use the federal subsidies to cut his loses?  It may be too soon to speculate on the future of both teams, but with the low dollar, poor results and a recession in BC, it is also impossible to ignore the possibility of a move. *Note: the Canadian government announced today (21/01/00) that they would no longer give subsidies to hockey teams, which leaves the Canucks with one less source of income.

14/01/00 - New Sheriff in town ( borrowed that from BCTV, thanks Squire)
     Vancouver Canucks announced today that they have acquired right wing Vadim Sharifijanov from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a 2nd round choice in the 2000 Entry Draft.  They also agreed to trade 3rd picks in the draft. The 24 year old Sharifijanov has played in 20 games for New Jersey this season, scoring three goals and four assists (3-4-7) as well as recording eight penalty minutes. He was tenth in rookie scoring last season (11-16-27).  The six-foot-0 and 205 pound native of Ufa, Russia was picked 25th overall in the 1994 entry draft. * one more thing: Zenith Komarniski has been recalled from Syracuse to fill the gap left by an injured Jovonoski.

06/01/00 - Holden sent into holding
    With the return of Mattias Ohlund on the horizon, the Canucks have sent Zenith Komarniski and Josh Holden back to the farm.  Why Josh? I don't know! They've also recalled Lubomir Vaic.  This is good news for Jason, though, because he'll get to play some more. Until Mattias comes back that is... In his old age, Mark Messier just can't seem to shake the injury bug.  He's got bursitis in his knee because he came back too soon after his injury in December.  After 4 decades in the league, you'd think he'd haved learned a lesson like that! He turns 39 on the 18th of January.

19/12/99 - Good Mourning: Merry Christmas, Mr. Grinch!
    With the clock ticking towards the Christmas roster freeze, it had become fairly clear to Canucks fans that centre Dave Scatchard's days with the team were numbered.  This was confirmed Sunday night, when Brian Burke proved the rumours of a trade with the Islanders true.  In exchange for Felix Potvin, and the Islander's 2nd and 3rd round picks in this years draft, the Canucks lose Scatchard (23),  along with "goalie of the future" Kevin Weekes (24), and fan favourite, "BC BOY" Billy Muckalt (25).  This trade is anything but an early Christmas present for Canucks fans, who are losing three young players with a lot of potential in exchange for a 'used-to-be-good-but-haven't-done-anything-in-three-years' goalie who is supposed to assume the #1 position.  Trading Weekes means that Ed Jovanovski is the only player from the infamous Bure trade still playing with the team.  So, we are officially in mourning for the loss of entertaining Dave, amazingly sarcastic Billy and intellectual Kevin.  As you read this, we request you pay respect to these three players, who have been traded to a city where the fans couldn't tell hockey from a hole in the wall, with a moment of silence.  Best of luck boys, and say "hi" to Gino for us.

17/12/99 - Bodger hangs up his skates
    Ok, so we haven't had an update in a while, but here's a few things that have happened over the last week.  After sitting out most of the season, Doug Bodger decided to retire after clearing waivers to be sent down to the minors in Syracuse. Bodger, 38,  had played in 1,071 NHL games with Pittsburgh, Buffalo, San Jose, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Vancouver and had recoreded 106 goals and 422 assists for 528 points over 16 season.  The Chemanius, B.C. native plans to enjoy his retirement with his wife Tracey, daughter Rachel and son Ryne (who's hockey team he hopes to coach).
    In other Canuck news, Alexander Mogilny, Adrian Aucoin and Mark Messier have rejoined the team off the injury reserve (although they didn't help much in our 2-1 loss to Ottawa).  The team has also called up Chris O'Sullivan and Brad Leeb from Syracuse and has sent Harold Druken and Ryan Bonni back down.  However, with the return of Adrian and the outstanding play of rookie Zenith "Zeke" Komarniski, Jason has been forced to sit out. He's never gonna get that first goal is he doesn't get to play!

09/12/99 - North Kariya vs. South Kariya
    Yesterday marked the first head-to-head NHL meeting between the Kariya brothers.  Although he was not scheduled to play on the top line, Canucks coach Marc Crawford moved Steve up to the first line, and put him on him off wing, allowing him to face off against Paul, the older of the two.  Both brothers got in on the action, Steve with an assist on the Canucks goal, while Paul scored for Anaheim while Steve sat in the penalty box for elbowing (just a side note, elbow it was not!).  The game ended in a tie, which was a good result for the Kariya family, but disappointed the boys, since both teams could have used the extra point.  In other hockey news, Matt Cooke has rejoined the team, and, thanks to Wendy, Jason now knows all about the official first goal pool!!  Now he just needs to score!

20/11/99 - Farmers come in from pasture
    Canucks have called up Jarku Ruutu and Zenith Komarniski from Syracuse and sent Artem Chubarov, as healthy scratch of late, back in return.  We have also sent 3rd goalie Corey Schwab to Orlando of the IHL.  With these changes the team is now carrying 8 defensemen and will be one player over the allowed 23 when Garth Snow return to the line-up tonight.
16/11/99 - Busy day at the Canucks Injured Reserve Admin Desk...
    I'll keep this short and to the point Josh Holden (hernia) and Garth Snow (finger) have both been cleared for full practices and participated in today's workout.  Greg Hawgood suffered a sprained knee in the third period against Colorado last night, and in the moment when Harry York was salvaging the game with his heroic final minute tying goal, Martin Skoula was doing some logging.  He hacked Mogilny behind the knee in what at the time seemed to be a severe injury. However good new!! Mogilny was able to walk it off ( turns out he happened to hit him where there is no padding) and he will be in the line up on wednesday.  What a relief!! we can't afford to lose him at this stage in the game.
09/11/99 - Awh, That's too bad! San Jose goes Moose Hunting!
    Only one minute into Tuesday's game against the San Jose sharks, Mark Messier was done for the night, leaving the game with a knee injury.  Although there has not been any conformation of a serious injury, the lack of any official announcement has led Canucks fans to think that the injury could take the captain out of uniform for some time.  For the Canuck fans who caught tonight's game, another incident stood out.  Corey Schwab entertained us all with his net tricks!  It's off, it's on, oops, off, on, hello, ref, it's off!  Nope, it's on.  Missed the game?  Email us for the whole story.  In other, terrible news, injured defenseman Mattias Ohlund is scheduled to undergo eye surgery tomorrow.  It was initially hoped that time would stop the bleeding and swelling in Ohlund's eye, but slow improvement has not made the situation look promising.  On behalf of the Odds and Endzone, let's all wish Mattias a speedy recovery.

30/10/99 - Will the real starting goalie please step forward?
    As if losing Garth Snow with a finger injury just after we put Manny Legacy back on waivers wasn't bad enough, the Canucks are having even more goaltending problems.  In Thursday's game against the Coyotes, Kevin Weekes suffered a knee injury, and is doubtfull for the next game.  Rookie Alfie Michuad filled in, and let in four goals in the loss.  In order to compensate for the falling goalies, Burke sent a conditional 2000 pick to the Thrasers for goalie Corey Schwab.  In other Canucks news, Trent Klatt was sent back down to Syracuse. Check back soon for a complete update of the 5th annual Canucks Family Carnival.

24/10/99 - Young Guns shut down the Rangers
    The Canucks pulled of an EXCELLENT 3-0 win tonight in NY city against the Rangers.  24 year old Kevin Weekes played very well earning his first career shutout against the team off of whom he got his first win a few weeks back.  One exceptional save came off of Theoren Fleury who had an almost empty net to shoot at.  The last time the Canucks had a shutout in Madison Square Gardens was on Nov.20 1977 when Caeser Maniago shut out the Rangers.  The Rangers have now been shutout 3 games in a row.  HAHA! The Canucks are on a 2 game unbeaten streak.  Also, playing his best game of his young career, 22 year old Peter Schaefer scored 2 goals and got an assist on the empty netter.  He's now up there in rookie scoring.  And finally, 21 year old Steve Kariya took a BIG hit in the first period, doing a flip right into the boards.  But, as Ryan Walter and Jim Hughson put it, he's full of elasticity and he just jumped right back up and skated off to the bench.  25 year old Harry York also had an excpetional game. So here's to our young boys!  Weird that the 3rd goal was scored by grandpa himself, Mark Messier.  That goal tied him with Mario Lemieux on the all-time list with 613 goals.

16/10/99 - Weather doesn't call for Snow anytime soon...
    Garth Snow has been placed on the injury reserve with a fractured finger on his blocker hand.  Snow originally injured the finger a while ago, but the Canucks tried to pass it off as a groin problem (and it worked too).  That is until he took a shot off the blocker in the game against Calgary on Oct.13 and re-injured it.  He's expected to miss about a month.  In the meantime, Kevin Weekes will be our starter and Alfie Michaud will be our back-up.  The 2 have a combined win total of 2. Kevin's 2 from last week... If last night's game is any indication then this is not going to work too well... Let's hope last night was just a REALLY bad night for the team.

15/10/99 - Odds and Ends
    It's time to keep you up to date on some of the things happening with the Canucks that haven't been big enough for updates of their own.  First of all, Trent Klatt has been sent down to Syracuse to join the Canucks.  Then, Manny Legacy, the goalie we picked up on waivers, was put back on waivers, and ended up back in Detroit!! What was the purpose of this whole thing, you ask?  Air miles, it has to be air miles (and a little west coast vacation for Legacy!)  On the injury front, Dave Scatchard fell in practice, and missed last game, but it looks as if Darby Hendrickson is getting closer to rejoining the team.  And in the most important off-ice Canucks news, Billy Muckalt was the proud winner of the Canucks fishing derby, no shirt and all!

09/10/99 - 30 Greatest Canucks Announced
The 30 Greatest Canucks

Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure, Kirk McLean, Harold Snepsts, Dennis Kearns, Gary Smith, Greg Adams, Cliff Ronning, Jim Robson-Tom Larscheid, Orland Kurtenbach, Doug Lidster, Garth Butcher, Larry Ashley, Petri Skriko, Jack McIlhargey, Stan Smyl, Thomas Gradin, Don Lever, Tony Tanti, Andre Boudrias, Richard Brodeur, Patrik Sundstrom, Pat Quinn, Griffiths family, Glen Hanlon, Jryki Lumme, Dave (Tiger) Williams, Darcy Rota, Geoff Courtnall, Gino Odjick.

05/10/99 - All Set, and Ready to Go
    The Canucks completed the team today with the re-signing of defenseman Adrian Aucoin.  After an amazing season last year, with a career high 23 goals, Aucoin was rewarded with a two year deal worth 3.1M Dollars.  Adrian will earn 1.5M the first year, and 1.6M the next.  GM Burke was happy to finally have everyone under contract, and end the distractions for the team.  Aucoin made it clear how pleased he was with the deal. Well, I would be too with 3.1M.  The team will have to make a roster move in order to make room for Aucoin, but no word of any moves has been released.  But of course, we'll keep you posted!

02/10/99 - We win! Kevin Weekes wins!!
    The Canucks won their season opener tonight with a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers.  Not only was it the team's first win of the season, it was also Kevin Weekes' first regular season NHL win!  Congratulations Kevin!  And it was well deserved as he stopped 32 of 33 Ranger shots.  We were there, and let me tell you that it was a very exciting game!  Newly re-aquired defenseman Chris Joseph got us on the board in the 1st when he scored on the power play to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead.  The Rangers tied it up in the 2nd when Mike York scored his first NHL goal.  But then in the 3rd, Markus Naslund scored on a 2-1 after a beautiful pass from Billy Muckalt.  Another highlight of the game was watching Janice and Darren from Z95.3, Larry and Willy from 99.3 the FOX and Sean and Craig from Global's Sportspage play Sumo hockey in the 1st intermission!  After the game, the 1st 10,000 fans were given the 1st of 5 commemorative pucks featuring the 5 different jerseys the team's worn over the past 30 years.  There was also a special 30th anniversary video feature at the start of the game.  Very exciting!  I believe it can be downloaded and viewed on the newly re-vamped Canucks official website.