Jersey | All Kinds of Team Sports

Senior Goalie

June 21st, 2010 admin No comments

Senior Goalie

Professional men's Ice Hockey team namely, the Vancouver Canucks - based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). In 1970, they joined the NHL as an expansion team. The Canucks play their home games in GM Place. The Canucks have made it twice to the Stanley Cup Finals, but faced un unfortunate defeat from each of the two New York teams: the Islanders in 1982, and the Rangers in 1994.

In 1945 the Pacific Coast Hockey League instituted an ice hockey franchise in the city of Vancouver. Recognized as the Canucks, they immediately earned success by winning PCHL championships in their first (1946) and third (1948) years of existence. In 1952, the PCHL combined with the Western Canada Senior Hockey League to give rise to the professional Western Hockey League. With abundant star players coming through the ranks like Johnny Bower, Andy Bathgate, Tony Esposito, Allan Stanley, and Phil Maloney, the Canucks would again win the President's/Lester Patrick Cup in 1958, 1960, 1969, and 1970. The team played at the Vancouver Forum.

After more than a decade of discreet performance, finally the Canucks made an effective appearance in the post-season of 1982. After finishing three games under .500 over the course of the regular season, Vancouver blew through the Campbell Conference playoffs, going 11-2 in games against the Flames, Kings, and Blackhawks. It is noteworthy that regardless of having a losing record, Vancouver had home ice advantage in each of those three series, due to the astonishing number of upsets which occurred during that season's playoffs.

After their implausible Stanley Cup run, the Canucks slipped back into mediocrity for the rest of the 80s. Their distinguished players in the 1980s included collaborative forward Stan Smyl, who pensioned off from the franchise leader in most scoring categories; Swedish imports Thomas Gradin and Patrik Sundstrom; penalty minute king Tiger Williams, who led the NHL in penalty minutes during two of his Canuck seasons; hardrock defenceman Harold Snepsts, one of the most famous players in franchise history; and high-scoring right winger Tony Tanti.

After the 1994 playoff run, Vancouver continued to be in power for the next two seasons, acquiring Alexander Mogilny and Markus Naslund were traded from the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, to further perk up their offence, correspondingly.

In the 1997 off-season, the Canucks made a big splash and signed Mark Messier from the Rangers to a worthwhile three-year deal. When being in Vancouver, Messier often remained injured and the Canucks went through a fire sale in his second year. The third nevertheless saw a renaissance in the team which paved the foundations for the team's victory in the coming years, the team was once again expected to finish close to dead last in the league but the Canucks shocked all by fighting for the playoffs the whole year.

During the 2005-06 season, some hockey analysts considered the Canucks as Stanley Cup favorites. Nevertheless, the team failed to come up to par with the fans expectations and hopes and completed the regular season in an unsatisfactory 9th place in their Conference hardly missing a playoff position to the Edmonton Oilers, which caused some major discussion about the effect of the point awarded for overtime or shootout loss, newly put forward by the NHL. The season was illustrated as an under-achieving performance, most conspicuously in the first line of Naslund, Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison, which was projected to generate higher point totals under the new league rules. Morrison had a career-high 84 penalty minutes. Meanwhile, his wingers, Bertuzzi and Naslund, had a combined -37 in Plus/Minus Rating. Vancouver's highest-scoring line was that of Carter and Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

On April 7, 2007, the Canucks won the Northwest Division title for the 2nd time in three seasons with an overtime win over the San Jose Sharks, the win also gave goalie Roberto Luongo his 47th win, tying him for the preceding single-season win record with Bernie Parent, having been lately obscured by New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur.

During the 2007 playoffs which took place on April 11, 2007, the Canucks made a franchise record with a quadruple OT win in the opening game of round one of the playoffs against the Dallas Stars. The game was the greatest in Canucks history and the sixth longest in league history. In addition to this, the Canucks set a record in this game for shots against, allowing 76. The Canucks won this seven-game series notwithstanding a lack of goal-scoring; Stars goalie Marty Turco recorded three shutouts in the series. They were defeated in the second round in five games to the 2007 Stanley Cup Champions, Anaheim Ducks.
For more information about Vancouver Canucks Tickets visit:
http://www.ticketluck.com/sports-tickets/Vancouver-Canucks/index.php

About the Author

Macie is a staff writer for Ticket Nest ( www.ticketnest.com ) and enjoys writing about her travel, theater and concert experiences. She can be reached at macie@ticketnest.com