Fan In Van

Dropping Like Flies

So instead of studying for my last exam on Thursday, I’m here blogging. One, because I love blogging, and two, because I really don’t care much for 20th century literature. So here goes:

Word on the street is that Roberto Luongo is day-to-day with a rib contusion. He sustained the injury during the game against Minnesota way back last Sunday where the Canucks fell 2-1 to Aaron Voros and the rest of that Minnesota garbage. I found it a little strange because after those games he still found the strength to get straight wins in Nashville and Chicago before standing on his head against Pittsburgh. But nonetheless, an injury is an injury and the Canucks cannot afford to take any chances with their star goaltender. As a result, Curtis “The Courtesy Bear” Sanford will be making his second straight start against Anaheim tomorrow night. But with the Canucks playing back to backs in California with San Jose the night following, are they really going to go with Sanford again the next night? Or will it be Drew MacIntyre getting the call? To be honest, I’m betting on neither option. Luongo may be injured, folks, but if I’m a betting man, he won’t want to miss more than two games of action, and he’ll have had four days of rest.

The other word on the street is that Brendan Morrison’s iron-man streak is in grave jeopardy. 542 games, while very impressive, means nothing if Brendan Morrison is playing injured. I think everyone knew that it would be difficult for Morrison to even come close to shattering Doug Jarvis’ ungodly record of 946 consecutive games played, and now that the streak is over, Morrison can begin to do the right thing and sit out when he is felled with an injury. I’ve criticised Mo in the past for not being a “team player”, most notably in September’s training camp when he refused to sit out for the season opener in October with a wrist injury (An injury which has since been re-aggravated and is the reason why he will sit tomorrow night out). Time to change the oil, Mo.

Jeff Cowan is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury after getting crunched by big mother George Laraque. Cowan has, needless to say, been very ineffective this season as the Brabarian has yet to punch in with a goal, or a fight, for that matter.

How come the Vancouver Canucks always seem to have a problem with the Los Angeles Kings? For the life of me I can’t remember a time when the Canucks outplayed the Kings, who have been out-of-playoff players for the better part of seven seasons. And with Marc Crawford coaching the team and Dan Cloutier floundering with their minor league affiliate, my hatred for the club has only been strengthened. Combine all that with the fact Anze Kopitar, a star who the Canucks passed up for Luc Bourdon, is on pace for another 70-point campaign, I was, needless to say, a little perturbed the Canucks got beaten in yet another yawnfest in La-La Land last night.

However, things ain’t all bad for the Canucks. The team’s unheard of eight games in eight cities campaign is coming to a close and with the holidays approaching, the club could use a small break before they head into the second half of the season. By then, hopefully the rest of the roster, including Kevin Bieksa, will have returned in January to finish the season stronger than it has in the last few games.