Good day, and welcome to season four of The Crazy Canucks. As mentioned in blog posts recently, we’re coming back for another one, and this one is shaping up to be a good one.

This episode finds a group of us outside the Hurricane Grill in downtown Vancouver during a preseason game in Anaheim for our Canucks. This was the first, official Vancouver Canucks “tweetup” to occur where the organization has stepped forward to contribute prizes to people who came on down, which is very, very cool.

Slipping outside as the third period kicks off, Brian (canuckscorner.com & bclionsden.com), Richard (canuckshockeyblog.com), J.J., Rebecca, and myself venture outside to record a quick segment. Since it’s the preseason, we’re thinking about the next few months and what to look ahead to, witty banter included.

Here we are again to round up our thoughts on the Canucks minus one Rebecca, but the rest of the crew is together for this episode. Without a road map, we wander down the games that have been, talk about the goalie situation, look ahead to the rest of this road trip, and scatter on various topics like Cody Hodgson, Mats Sundin (even though we outlawed that topic an episode or two ago), and other punditry that ensues.

Record as of this episode: 14-9-2
Northwest Division: 2nd
Western Conference: 5th

And for kicks, Alanah mentioned this photo of her husband Jeff and Stan Smyl together on Raise A Reader Day in downtown Vancouver. A few of us had a lot of fun tracking down some players and legends of the Canucks, and now this photo hangs in their store on the island. Pretty neat opportunity that will last a lifetime.

Another Literature Contest!

DaveO found a story in The Province newspaper about an interesting interview with some folks within the L.A. Kings organization and has offered the following challenge to see if you know what the answer is. If you guess correctly in the comments on this post, Alanah will send you a copy of the book in question, no matter where you are in the world.

Los Angeles Kings G.M. Dean Lombardi made a bargain with Russian forward Alexander Frolov – If Frolov would increase his scoring, Lombardi would read what classic Russian novel? Written by whom?

Other items of note

• Alanah is looking for your stories about Trevor Linden, what he means to you, and any other thoughts or insight you have on how he affected your life or love for the Canucks. Send your feedback to her here.
• Rebecca and Alanah will share liveblogging duties on Canucks.com this week. Rebecca will be taking the game on Thursday, December 4th against Detroit, and Alanah will go for it on December 5th for the match in Minnesota.
• The photo of the supposed banner that will hang in the rafters of GM Place for Trevor Linden is a find that J.J. made on hfboards.com. We have no confirmation on its authenticity, but we thought we’d post it because it’s just cool anyway.

Everyone gathered this evening for a quick episode where we discuss Luongo’s early November shutout streak, the third jersey, the Canucks making their film debut, and some making their debut in Manhattan. Third jersey talks, and a whole lot of Wellwood appreciation round out this edition of The Crazy Canucks.

• DaveO challenges readers to answer this trivia question: What piece of literature did Kyle Wellwood mention he was reading when he was on the CBC’s After Hours? Bonus points (and we’ll try to find a prize) if you can name the main character in that book.
• Alanah notes the photo documentation of Mason Raymond’s first trip to the Big Apple.
• If you have a Flickr account, join The Crazy Canucks Flickr Group and submit your photos to the pool.

At this point, we’re undefeated. Sure, it’s the pre-season, but we’re not complaining about a 6-0 record thus far. New faces are impressing us, a new coaching style seems to be working well, and the new lines are producing better than anyone has really expected. We also got our answer about who will be captain this season, so there is something to be said about that. Rebecca is a not so healthy scratch for this one, but the rest of the crew gathers with their homework in tow on some new faces on our lineup.

Contest: Take a picture with our picture!

John in Granville SkyTrain station, Photo by miss604 on Flickr

Submitting a picture to the Flickr pool enters you into a draw for two tickets to the Canucks Open Practice on October 26, 2008. Thanks to J.J. and the Canucks Hockey Blog, you can get two tickets in the fourth row of the lower bowl. A very up close experience to see some of your favorite Canucks on the ice, so bring your camera and add those photos to the pool as well! Deadline for submissions is 11:59PM PT on Wednesday, October 22, 2008.

Get ready for the regular season to start. Go Canucks!

John’s “Johnny Canuck” tshirt was designed and produced by Linusco Designs.