March 10, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As of Thursday, March 7, the
Vancouver Canucks ended a four game
losing streak in style with an entertaining
6-2 win over the visiting Nashville
Predators.

Vancouver has been going
through a rough patch lately. They gave
away two games against Colorado and
Columbus before getting humiliated by
the lowly Chicago Blackhawks at the
United Center. This unsightly streak
saw the Canucks drop out of the playoff
picture before their timely win over
the Predators, a team that is fiercely
competing with the Canucks for a spot in
the Western post-season.

The win over Nashville had
all the ingredients Canucks fans had
been craving. They received secondary
scoring, their defense looked moblie, they
played well at both ends of the rink, and

 

Canucks stop the slide

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

they played with passion—something
that was sorely lacking in their recent
4-1 loss against Chicago.

After Nashville agitator Jordan
Tootoo gooned Canuck’s defenseman
Aaron Miller with little time remaining
in the game, the Canucks stood up for
their teammate. Luc Bourdon raced
over to confront Tootoo, a player who
has shown absolutely no respect for the
game during his time in the league, only
to be cross-checked in the mouth by the a
dirty player known for his cheap shots.

The final two and a half minutes
took much more than that to play, as
scrums and fights repeatedly broke out.
Kevin Bieksa, who scored a goal in the
game, was tossed and given 22 minutes
in penalties for his part in a mass brawl
that saw him square off twice in one
shift, including one memorable bout with
Greg De Vries, who Bieksa subsequently
beat the hell out of. Tootoo was given a
five-minute major for boarding and a
two-minute minor for crosschecking and
was removed from the game.

The scoring came from all over
the place. Daniel Sedin finally broke out
of his slump by recording three assists
and was named the game’s first star.

Alex Burrows was a
whirlwind, scoring
the game’s first goal
shorthanded only 37
seconds into a wild first
period. He would later
add an assist on Matt
Petinger’s goal at 6:09.

Alexander
Edler had a tremendous
game that signified his
status as the best young
player in the Vancouver
system. He scored an
excellent goal and was
a force throughout the
contest.

Mason
Raymond each had a
marker to their credit,
and Sami Salo looked, isi
for one game at least,
like the defenseman from a few years
ago who had one of the best offensive
skill sets in the game.

The Canucks chased goaltender
Dan Ellis, and peppered his replacement
Chris Mason for the rest of the night
with a 44 shots and a six goal output
that matched their season high against

 

Minnesota earlier in the year.

While it is only one game,
the win is a big one for the Canucks. It
moves them into a tie for the last playoff
position with the Predators, and puts
them only three points out the division
lead currently held by the Calgary
Flames and the Minnesota Wild.

 

Where Are They Now?

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

 

 

Bret Hart

Bret “Hitman” Hart, 50, is now out of
professional wrestling after sustaining
a massive concussion several years
ago.

Life after wrestling hasn’t
been particularly kind to the most
famous Canadian wrestler of all time.
Hart, also known as “the excellence
of execution”, has had to endure
not only the debilitating effects of
his concussion, but also a crippling
stroke he still hasn’t fully recovered
from, divorces from his two previous
wives, and seemingly irreconcilable
differences with several family
members.

Hart recently wrote a detailed
personal biography that covers all
aspects of pro wrestling and many
of the significant events in his life.
He has been inducted into the Pro
Wrestling Hall of Fame, and has been
featured in a number of recent WWE
video games.

 

 

Bob Goodenow
Few people have experienced the highs
and lows that former NHLPA executive
director Bob Goodenow has.

Goodenow was the first ever-
executive director of the player’s union,
and was instrumental as the driving
force in transforming the NHLPA from
pushovers into the beast that repeatedly
hammered the owners in contract
negotiations, resulting in the massive
player salary spiral of the 1990s.

The end came for Goodenow
in 2005 when he was asked to step
down and relinquish his position after
giving into the owner’s demands for
a salary cap. Players feared that the
indomitable will of Goodenow had
been broken and tossed him asunder,
replacing him with Ted Saskin, whose
short stay as the union’s top man was
an even bigger bungle.

What the players didn’t
realize at the time was that Goodenow
appeared to have constructed a pretty
good deal. The owners still can’t resist
the urge to dole out millions to fourth
liners and salaries are still on the rise.

These days, Goodenow,

55, has been recruited to help Igor
Larionov set up the new European ice

 

 

Lhockey league.

    

 

 

One of the best money players in the
history of sports, Bird, 51, retired from
the NBA in the summer of 1992 after
spending his entire career with the
Boston Celtics.

Just before announcing his
retirement, Bird was a member of
Team America’s ‘Dream Team’ that
easily won gold at the 1992 Summer
Olympics. Immediately after retiring,
Bird’s number 33 jersey was raised
to the rafters by Boston. He was also
inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.

Bird was a special assistant
for the Celtics from 1992-1997. He
left that post to take the head coaching
reigns of the Indiana Pacers, where he
would be named the NBA’s Coach of
the Year for 1998 and would guide the
team to a conference championship in
2000.

Bird resigned as coach after
the 2000 campaign. He moved into the
upstairs management as the Pacers’
President of Basketball Operations in
2003, the position he still holds today.

 

 

 

Magic Johnson

Bird’s storied rival for all those
years, Johnson, 48, played his whole
career for one team, the Los Angeles
Lakers, from 1979-1991, with a brief
comeback in 1996.

A multi-time MVP and one of
the greatest of all time, Johnson was
also a member of the 1992 Olympic
‘Dream Team.’ In 2002, Johnson was
enshrined in the basketball Hall of
Fame.

Johnson’s initial retirement
was forced due to him contracting HIV
and since then he as been a huge help
in raising funds and awareness for the
virus.

In retirement, Johnson has
kept busy. He has authored a book,
opened movie theaters, operated
a number of business ventures,
commentated for NBC, and toured
various places in Asia and Australia on
a barnstorming tour with former NBA
and college players. He ran a short-
lived talk show, The Magic Hour, in
1998 and is a very vocal proponent of
the US Democratic Party.

 

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