thecrazycanucks.com

Dave is a healthy scratch for this episode, so we reached into our farm system and plucked Sean Zanberg from Waiting For Stanley to join us on this episode. He’s made an appearance before, but his blog is a great Canucks (…and Maple Leafs) fan blog with plenty of opinions and great photoshop jobs that only he can whip up.

Record as of this episode: 35-24-10
Northwest Division: 3rd
Western Conference: 7th

We go a bit free range on this one, taking on the bandwagon hoopla, Chris Pronger, Jim Hughson leaving Sportsnet for CBC, and a look at what’s to come for the remainder of this season. We’re all pulling for a big finish to this season, staying on the bus, waiting for the rest of you to hop on board.

• Canucks and Beyond: Playoff Hockey in March - The video of the Chris Pronger incident

Things are looking up for the Canucks (congrats to those who have managed to stay on the bandwagon). JJ, Alanah and John convened to discuss the latest games, injury updates, and other news from the league and around the organization.

Record as of this episode: 30-22-8
Northwest Division: 3rd
Western Conference: 8th

Special announcements this episode:

• The Crazy Canucks will be hosting a “sports blogging and podcasting” panel at this weekend’s Northern Voice. Our session will be during the 2:15 - 2:55 time slot and there will be plenty of time for questions involving anything in the sports blogging realm.
• We will also be making an appearance at the Canucks Open Practice on Sunday. Watch for us recording live with the Ultimate Canucks Search team in the concourse. The Open Practice doesn’t cost a thing (except maybe a service charge) and it’s always a great event for the entire family. Stop by and see JJ, Alanah, Dave, John and Rebecca this Sunday!

Even though our boys are struggling, the new kids are getting their sea legs and Colorado handed us our butts on a platter last Saturday, we’re still pretty optimistic. Speaking to the last 10 games where we’re 4-6, we look forward to the next road trip, securing a nice and comfy playoff spot and talk about some of the players we could have picked up, if we had the chance.

As we all chime in from our “studios”, JJ’s with a view of the Air Canada Centre, this episode is complete with warm fuzzies of the Hockey Day in Canada variety, and tales of communities rallying behind their favourite teams.

Record as of this episode: 28-22-7
Northwest Division: 4th
Western Conference: 9th

• Alanah shares her experience on the Island with the Cowichan Caps.
• BC Deaf Hockey vs Canucks Alumni fundraiser

Surprising enough, we are all together for this episode, but just for a brief time. Dave chimes in by phone from downtown Vancouver as we gather all of our thoughts on the games against the Rangers and Islanders. We also cover a variety of topics regarding the team in terms of new players, Superskills, ownership of the team, the coming All-Star Game, and other news topics about the NHL.

Record as of this episode: 24-14-4
Northwest Division: 1st
Western Conference: 3rd

• John’s blog post about Superskills and photos
• North Island Silvertips
• J.J.’s blog post about Pamela Anderson
• Russian Super League super brawl on YouTube

We haven’t been ignoring you. Life has been moving too fast for all of us to link up and get an episode recorded. We’re still without Rebecca on this one, and Alanah had to leave the rest of us half way through. Dave, J.J., and John stick it through to the end to round out the episode.

Record as of this episode: 13-9-2
Northwest Division: 1st
Western Conference: 3rd

A few episodes ago, we were down in the dumps. Even with all the players cycling through with injuries, we are not complaining about how well the Canucks have pulled together and surprised all of us. From the bench to the guys in goal, it’s been a nice few weeks, no matter how much Pronger sucks. Oh yeah, and Bertuzzi made his Vancouver homecoming.

• SportsBusiness Journal: Comcast close on Canucks deal for Portland net
• CBC: NHL may skip Olympics after 2010

Even though it’s only been one game since our last episode, we’re back to give you another dose of our punditry because it’s tough to keep hockey fans, much like ourselves, down. Dave is a healthy scratch on this one, but the rest of the crew gathers together for this session that aimed to be short but wound up running about forty minutes.

Record as of this episode: 6-8-0
Northwest Division: 4th
Western Conference: 14th

The win against Colorado looked good, but we need to keep pushing to make sure that things keep looking up. We also try to figure out why there are these long breaks in the season without games, J.J. takes a first look at the All-Star ballots and presents some ideas for a new system, Rebecca finds an interesting new nickname for Vingualt, Alanah presents some interesting insights to the state of the league, and John has been watching some Finnish hockey.

• Rebecca’s post about Hockey Night in Melbourne (Australia)

Good day, and welcome to episode fifty. This is a long overdue one, and there were some technical difficulties that occurred before this episode saw the light of day. Regardless, we push forward, sadly without our good pal Dave, but he shall return. Alanah actually joins us about twenty minutes in, and hilarity ensues.

Record as of this episode: 5-8-0
Northwest Division: 4th
Western Conference: 14th

The basic lowdown to this recording is that we are just as baffled as you are about our beloved team. There is no easy answers other than trying to pick ourselves up and work hard at being a better team on the ice. The recent 3-0 loss to Nashville is fresh on our mind, and it hasn’t been that much better before that.

• GZ Expat’s blog post and photos of the Canucks vs. Detroit game - Oct. 28, 2007

Basically, this is a mix of topics combined with alcohol. Over Skype. Tread lightly.

We recorded this a few days prior to its actual release, but scheduling prevented the editing to get done before it could get out to you. Regardless, we hope you enjoy this episode as we go over the gross, 8-2 loss to the Flyers and dissect the hi-jinks that happened in the game. We also go over players that are sticking out to us (good and bad) and look at some other topics that we find notable.

Record as of this episode: 1-2-0

This was the first episode of the season that we’ve been able to gather together in the round table format, so we hope you enjoy this one as much as we did getting it recorded.

One of these days, all of us will be back together for a full episode, but Alanah is pushing forward with some great segments that she has recorded to cover the first two games of the regular season for the Canucks. She even reaches out to Mike “The Yankee Canuck” to get some of his thoughts during an intermission of the first game, and JJ chimes in with his thoughts on the first loss to San Jose and then an outstanding OT win over Calgary.

• The Yankee Canuck

Our tour of the Northwest Division comes to an end with this episode. Alanah tracked down John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press for this one. He is the guy in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” who reports on the Minnesota Wild for the newspaper, and we get his insights on the upcoming season for the team as well as the view of the league as a sports reported in the U.S. It’s a short interview, but Alanah gets into the details and raises some hell with our fellow divisional friends.

(Originally recorded on September 25, 2007)

• St. Paul Pioneer Press