Category: Hockey

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Hockey Night in Canada: The Trivia DVD Game

Our good pal Bradley gave us a pretty swanky gift for our first year, and we finally got around to checking it out last night. Hockey Night in Canada: The DVD Trivia Game!

HNIC DVD Game Ok, maybe that isn’t swanky to you, but Rebecca is all about the trivia. I’m a bit of the same, but my hockey knowledge gets pretty fuzzy from 1990 and beyond. How hard could it be though? Right?

My biggest problem is the lack of CBC knowledge, so anything about former broadcasters is pretty out of reach for me. We only played two rounds, each splitting the wins. There are some of the guess whatever-you-are-instructed-to before the bell dings, and you have to be the first person or team to do it. This was fun with the picture puzzles or word scrambles, so it becomes a guess by yelling sort of affair, the closer to the end of the round equals being the loudest.

The trivia can be pretty trying, but I was surprised with how much I actually knew. There were some rounds where you get a clip to watch, and then the following questions were in reference to the clip. Still, not all of those questions are directly related to the clip as much as the people or team. It actually taught me a little bit, even made me look up the 1976 game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Russia to get more back story on the questions it asked me that I knew nothing about.

I think we still have a few more games left to play of it. I’m not sure if there are more or will be more editions of this made, but for off season entertainment, it’s pretty good.

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The Canucks jerseys will change

Rick Ball - Team 1040I got a note from GZ Expat the other day about a recent episode of the Canucks Lunch podcast from Team 1040 that aired on May 31, 2007. Being that I still get a lot of hits from people searching for results about a potential logo change for the Canucks next season, I thought I would pass on this little bit of info that popped up on this show.

Rick Ball had CEO Chris Zimmerman of Orca Bay Sports Entertainment (who will be changing their name in the coming months, according to this interview) on the show, and he had some very interesting things to say, one of them alluding to their efforts to connect better with Canucks fans. Does that have any reference to what we are doing with The Crazy Canucks? I’m not completely sure, but the hands that have been extended to us is evidence of that. If you think there is still a ways to go, then I think it’s safe to say that they do, too.

But, the jerseys. Will they change? Zimmerman says yes, and there isn’t much more beyond that. Ball gave out some statistics about what that change should be, in terms of a logo, there isn’t any hints. In regards to the stick-in-rink, gives a long response about respecting the past and great traditions that have come before today’s team, and the “next era of Canucks hockey” will also “pay tribute and respect the past.”

Fin is here to say, and the orca will be a long lasting image with the team. However, we’ll know exactly what will happen just before training camp starts, and that was the major piece of news that he let out in the interview.

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Guest editing for the Canucks Outsider

HockeyNW.com DaveO had the opportunity to catch the celebration of the Vancouver Giants success in winning the Memorial Cup at Vancouver City Hall this past Tuesday afternoon. He captured some great audio, even snagged an interview with the legendary Pat Quinn!

The only issue he had was cranking out the audio into an all out podcast episode, so he asked if I would help him out. We’ve talked about this concept before, and it worked out fairly well. When you have all the audio laid out for you, it’s easy to put it all together. It also helps that Dave is really good at formulating an entire episode in pieces, all set up for sliding them together and splicing music to segue between all the parts.

It was a treat to do it, and I could really get used to the production side of things if I ever found myself doing this on a regular basis, full compensation, of course.

You can find episode #54 of the Canucks Outsider at HockeyNW.com, edited by yours truly.

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Downer to the Canucks post-season

I know that I am so late to the post, but there is not an easy way to approach the end of the Canucks season. I’ve been busy with some projects at home and having some job opportunities to explore that getting time to get The Crazy Canucks gathered and the studio pumped up to record has been a hassle.

Am I depressed? Kinda. No one wanted to see the season come to an end like that, and I doubt that anyone wants to see their team in any sport get booted out of any sort of elimination process like that. It’s the way the game is played, and you can’t forget that.

Saying that, I was prepared for the season to be over for the Canucks, but the beam of hope is something I never gave up. In fact, in the second period of that game five against Anaheim, I was was calling for a 9-1 victory for Vancouver. A bit of a stretch, but hasn’t the whole season been that way?

So here comes the excuses, and this is only because there are those out there that would call it that. I like to call it facing the truth because the fact is, we went from a painful season last year, to a clueless start to this one, and wound up with something no one in their right mind thought was possible. Sure, the dedicated ones will tell you that they always knew, but that’s just the legacy of a fan.

At the end of last summer, so many people knew that we had a good goalie. How good remained to be seen, but we all get the picture now. Alain Vignault was… well, no one had a clear picture other than what could vaguely be recalled about his previous experience as a NHL coach.

And don’t forget the new faces. So many fans we’re trying to figure out, “Why the hell did we toss down money for Mitchell?” And now we sit here saying, “Oh… right.”

There were other things that I am really lazy as to listing off, but for a season that was often viewed as a rebuilding year, we whooped all the predictions, aside from those few who called it a long time ago (good for you, now shut up and get over yourself).

The Canucks fell short? I don’t think so. I know that this season was a blast to watch, and Luongo probably had a large part to do with that. The rest of the chips fell into place, but not enough to push the team further than what all of us fans wanted to happen. Yet, I can’t say that I am disappointed at all.

When Luongo let that absentminded goal go in, I wasn’t upset or angered by his sudden drop of the guard, not that it’s excusable. But after everything he did in that game five, not to mention the entire season, I can truthfully say that I was not let down. If anything, I am more excited for next season and can care less about the rest of the playoffs.

Well… almost.

Go Sens

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Crazy Canucks Outsider live on Ustream.tv

Attention Canucks fans! A first time event for myself, but Dave will be taking the Canucks Outsider live again tonight on Ustream.tv. In addition, Rebecca and I are partaking in the event this evening, expanding our conquest into the realm of new media and tossing in some representation from The Crazy Canucks at the same time.

Check out the goings on here or just come back to my site because this goes live tonight at 7PM PST. You can watch it on this page, but you’ll really been interested in going to the Ustream site to get in on the live chatting action.

For those of you within viewing shot of the game on TV, here’s a neat little tip. Bypass the crap that comes at intermission and commercials with keeping the Ustream going on in the background. What I did last time Dave went live with the video feed is to have my computer hooked up to the TV and then switched over to him during said times. His hi-jinks gave you all the Canucks love that you need in these feverish playoff times. Hopefully we’ll be able to add to that.

Go ‘Nucks!

Update: Depressing end to a game that saw the Canucks start out looking so strong. Anaheim takes the series to a 3-1 lead. Hold hope. We can win three more.

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The Crazy Canucks #32 – Taking Dallas down in the first round

Continuing our stream of playoff episodes, The Crazy Canucks #32 is out. Check out the audio of the downtown celebration madness.

It was a nervous first round, but the Canucks pulled it off in game seven to win the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Dallas Stars. Rebecca and John lead off this episode, stepping on their balcony to capture the atmosphere of the downtown celebration going on in Vancouver. After that, Alanah phones J.J. just a few minutes after he left GM Place where he had tickets for this amazing game seven. He has some great reports of the atmosphere from inside and outside of the garage, and hopefully you can make out what he’s saying from all the noise of celebrating fans in the background.

Playoff record as of this recording:
Vancouver 4 (Winner of First Round)
Dallas 3

Second Round Opponent: Anaheim Ducks

Dave is unable to make an contribution to this episode, but the Canucks Outsider was streaming live for the entire game with a variety of guests. With the second round coming up, watch for Dave doing more of these live vidcasts as well as getting back into the round table with TCC. We’ll try to link up together soon to give our second round analysis.

24:50 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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Fun with video, podcasting, and Canucks hockey

In the midst of the craziness that has been this past week, I’m doing my best to surface here and there to make some updates. This piece of news involves one of my fellow Crazy Canucks hosts, Dave Olsen. He is taking his podcasting endeavors to new heights with a live video cast.

For the first ever live, streaming video episode of the Canucks Outsider on Saturday. April 21st at 5PM PST. The show will be delivered via UStream.tv and feature live chat, guests, hi-jinks and libations. Stay tuned for details and save the date/time. [canucksoutsider]

The brains behind this experiment is Roland Tanglao, and he has already tried a variety of vidcasts on his own via this same method. I do believe that if you miss the live part, the video will be archived so you can view it or download it later. Fun stuff, indeed.

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The inside scoop on Cowan and the bra

I made a post over the long weekend about how we released another episode of The Crazy Canucks. What I didn’t take the effort of mentioning was an added bonus we had in that episode.

Canucks fans will be used to the whole hoopla of the bra incident and everything that has resulted from the night that Jeff Cowan scored his fifth goal of the season in three straight games. For those of you unaware, a bra was thrown on the ice in midst of the jubilation at GM Place.

In the latest release of The Crazy Canucks, we got the story from an event host who witnessed the throwing of the bra. She gave us her story and adds a lot of insight to the phenomenon that resulted in “Cowan the Brabarian”. Go check it out. We got permission from the Canucks organization to record from inside GM Place during the open practice on March 24, 2007.

In case you need some more back story or a refresher, check out the YouTube video below. And when you watch that, check out this one to see what I mean about hoopla, at least one week after the fact.

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Zamboni-ing under the influence

I’ve seen this on numerous news sites, not to mention the various hockey blogs that I follow. There is just no way that I can pass this one up. And mind you, this did not happen in Canada.

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — It’s not drunken driving in New Jersey if it involves a Zamboni.

A judge ruled the four-ton ice rink-grooming machines aren’t motor vehicles because they aren’t useable on highways and can’t carry passengers.

Zamboni operator John Peragallo had been charged with drunken driving in 2005 after a fellow employee at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, New Jersey, told police the machine was speeding and nearly crashed into the boards.

Police said Peragallo’s blood alcohol level was 0.12 percent. A level of 0.08 is considered legally drunk in New Jersey. [cnn]

Fortunately, no mascots were hurt in this incident. I have to add that the blame mostly resides on the “Sambuca with his breakfast coffee and two Valium-pills before work”, thanks to Bradley for picking that one out. But seriously, need I say more?

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Bringing on the Bra Power

20070313(001) I appreciate the trend, but men wearing bras (without a shirt) in the seats of GM Place during the Canucks game last night, in which they lost because of Christina Aguilera, is slightly disturbing. I’m all for it replacing tower power[wiki], but for crying out loud, they should be spun in the air, not worn.

By the way, this dude was selling them for ten bucks as people ventured to the game last night. I don’t think he was the only one, but they made me hesitate a little. Not that I would buy one, but you might find something similar in a dumpster somewhere. At least their dinginess made me think that.