Qiao Canucks corner The Ring of Honour? By Josh Martin, Sports Editor he Canucks ended their four game losing skid last week against the Colorado Avalanche in a memorable game, particularly for former Canuck goaltender, Kirk McLean. “Captain Kirk” was honoured before hand in a pre-game ceremony and inducted into the Vancouver Canucks Ring of Honour club, joining former and first ever Canuck captain, Orland Kurtenbach, to become the second official member. McLean was arguably the best goaltender that the Canucks organization has ever had the privilege of having, especially before the Luongo era when the Vancouver Canucks organization was known as the goalie graveyard. They literally had goalies coming in left, right and center with no such luck between the pipes whatsoever. McLean dawned a Canuck jersey for exactly 10 years from the 1987-1988 season to the 1997-1998 season and holds the all- time regular season record for games played (516) and wins (211) as a Canuck. On top of that, McLean is the franchise leader in a single post- season with a stifling record of 15 wins, four shutouts and 1,544 minutes played and has also been nominated twice for the Vezina Trophy, as the league’s best stopper, in his career. He has got what it takes to be part of the Ring of Honour. McLean is most famously known for back-stopping the Canucks right into the Stanley Cup Finals of game seven at Madison Square Garden, where the Canucks of course ultimately came up short in the 3-2 decision. The whole Ring of Honour deal has been newly introduced this season and carries a specific criterion that honours players that have made a lasting impact and impression on the franchise. There’s going to be two more members that will be inducted into the club to join Kurtenbach and McLean later on this season that remain anonymous. On a side note, hopefully the Canucks will be able to gain some momentum off the 4-2 win over the Avs and finish off November with the way they started it...in a winning fashion. But hey, at least they’re doing well in the special team’s category for both the penalty kill and the power play. They’re currently the number one power play unit in the NHL at 25.6% with 20 goals on 78 opportunities and sit at fifth in the penalty killing department at 86.8%, allowing only 11 goals on 83 attempts with the man advantage. Maybe it’s because the Canucks have been so dominant in the faceoff circle that they’re looking good with the special teams. Just look at Manny Malhotra, ~ he’s been dynamite this season with 62.3%, placing him in second position in the NHL among top centre men while Ryan Kesler isn’t that far off at seventh position with 58.6%. All of the little things are going to add up to success, especially when one of those little things is winning faceoff’s; it’s a huge part of the game. Luckily the Canucks have two of the top faceoff men in the league to lead the charge. New kid on the block By Josh Martin, Sports Editor teven Stamkos of the Tampa S Bay Lightning has been creating a lot of hype around the league for his spectacular play so far this season. The young 20 year old centre men has already accumulated 21 goals in just 22 games and has a really good shot at scoring 50 goals in his teams first 50 games of the season to join that elite club of hockey players who have already succeeded in doing so. The most recent player to pull it off was Brett Hull in the 91’-92’ season but ever since then no one’s been able to answer the call. The 50 in 50 marker has only been done eight times in NHL history by five different players and now Stamkos might be able to pick up the phone and answer the call and join that elite list of players which include Maurice Richard, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky (three times), Mario Lemieux, and Hull. 16 Stamkos is already in his third NHL season with the Lightning and is leading the league this season in goals and points with 21 and 38. I think it’s pretty safe to say that this guy can officially be respected in the Ovechkin and Crosby group of players in the sense that he’s a threat on the ice wherever he is in any given situation. Give him the puck and he will either deliver it in the back of the net or come.close and create some sort of scoring chance. He’s that good. Last year Stamkos finished the year off with 51 goals to tie for first in the league alongside Sidney Crosby. He also had 95 points on the year finishing fifth in that category. The only thing that has been troubling the sniper has been his plus/minus in his last couple of seasons. Stamkos was a -13 in his rookie year and a -2 last year despite winning and sharing the Rocket Richard trophy as the top goal scorer in the league. However so far this season it hasn’t been as bad with number 91 sporting a + 8 in 21 games. Line mate and winger Martin St Louis is looking not too bad himself with 29 points and currently topping off the top four point leaders in the league. With Stamkos’ contract ending at the end of the year it’Il be interesting to see what the Tampa Bay organization will do with fellow teammates Vincent Lecavalier, St Louis and Ryan Malone taking a big chunk out of the payroll. Lecavalier is locked up for the next eight years averaging $7.7 million while St Louis is signed on until the 2014-2015 season for $5.2 million a year and Ryan Malone is banking $4.5 million a year and sticking around until the 2014-15 season as well. You can expect Stamkos will be getting a big raise on the $875,000 he’s already making this year with his top notch performances. When you got the top goal getter in the league on your team it’s most likely that the W’s are piling up rather than the losses and that’s just the case in Tampa Bay. They’re sitting pretty in the Eastern Conference at fourth position and to top it off are currently on a five game winning streak. It ~ doesn’t get much better than that.