What the hell is going on with the Canucks? I mean, for crying out loud. Our man Roberto Luongo stops 36 pucks; 36! and the Canucks still lose to the Red Wings, 3-2. As I said yesterday, the Canucks defense based strategy seems like a Roberto Luongo based strategy. The guy is doing his part and some one elses too, it seems to me. My question is, where the hell is everyone else? Again, I submit that Roberto is just too good for the rest of the team.
Check this out: Roberto stopped 36 shots. You know how many times the Canucks shot last night? 15! Holy heck, we should just surrender right now.
Even with a team that has abandoned him, the guy is a class act. You know he has to be furious with the rest of the team, yet he is very gracious in interviews. After the game, when asked about it he said:
“Losing is frustrating. Everything else is beside the point. It’s disappointing because you work hard in practice, but in the game we’re not getting the results right now.”
“Like I said after the Carolina game, it’s happened before where we’ve been out shot, but we have to find ways to win when the other team takes the play to you a little bit. Right now we’re not finding ways to win.”
The Canucks are apparently suffering from an identity crisis. I say this, because it is obvious they have no frikkin clue what they are doing or who they are when they get out on the ice.
If one more person emails me or tells me that this is all OK and that the Canucks had a rocky start last year too, I swear to God I am going to lose it. I know they had a rocky start last year, but that was last year. Last year they had a new defense based strategy, they had a new coach… being confused and hesitant made sense. But for crying out loud, it is one year later, the strategy is no longer new, the coach is no longer new, the only thing that is the same is that the Canucks are hesitant and confused.
The only person on that ice that looks like he is sure of what he is doing is Roberto Luongo. He is stopping better than 25 pucks most nights while his teammates are standing around with their thumbs up their butts. What are 25 pucks doing getting anywhere near him? What happened to the defense based strategy? Unless the defense based strategy has now been changed to a Roberto Luongo based strategy.
Yes, there are 73 games left. I know, I can count too. The question is, if the Canucks don’t get their game straight is there going to be anyone still watching?
Yes, sports fans, it is true: the Mighty Canucks fell to defeat once again. In what should have been a win so simple that showing up was mere formality, instead we were just beaten.
For crying out loud… it was the Hurricanes! They had three key forwards out of the game due to injuries; we have beaten them the last five times we played them; and most of all, Roberto Luongo was back in front of the net after a night off. And yet, for all that… we lost.
Now, in Roberto’s defense, he was magnificent yet again, making 28 saves and stopping 16 in just the first period alone. As I have said before, it is like he is all alone out there. All I see anyone else doing is getting penalties. The rest of the team just does not play up to the standard of play Luongo is setting. If he had not been tending the goal last night, who knows how bad the final score would have been.
There is no secret to last nights loss; we just met someone who played better hockey than we did. It was just amazing that it was Carolina…
Well, some of you might have noticed I did not post after Friday’s humiliating defeat by the LA Kings. I could not, I was just too disgusted… It was the fourth home defeat for the Canucks this year. I don’t know about you, but I am beginning to think Roberto’s lucky pasta is overrated.
I mean, the bad thing is that we played great, right up until we didn’t. We were rocking along, then in about 7 minutes where we fell asleep on the ice, the Kings just rolled right over us. It was crazy. I just don’t understand it. Apparently, neither did Roberto Luongo.
“I don’t know, I can’t explain it, I don’t have a reason for it,” said Luongo. “We’ve just got to get on the same page as fast as possible because there’s no excuse for losing at home.”
Then, on Sunday, they sit Luongo out and put Sanford in to start and we win! Now, there is no bigger lesson to be learned here, at least not as it applies to Luongo. I mean, he is a bit rocky getting started this year, but he is playing great.
The big problem is that he can’t do everything. He is an awesome goalie in an average team. He is making great saves, but with no strong defense, he is a sitting duck out there. I don’t care how great a goalie you are, if your teammates let shooters get right in front of you, you will lose some of the saves.
I was surfing Youtube while I wait (not so patiently) for the next game and came across this interview with Roberto and his wife Gina. I think it is from last year after he ended up with the Canucks. The interview is not dated, but some of the game footage shows last year’s jersey.
In any event, I thought it was neat to see him and Gina (who is expecting a baby in April) and her family. She tells how he proposed, her father talks about how much he loves Roberto; it is actually a great interview, considering how little we know about his personal life.
Meanwhile, we are on pins and needles over here, wondering if all the rest this week will help Roberto and the Canucks out, or if the next game will be business as usual. Man, I sure hope not.
This has been a disappointing season so far for fans of the Canucks. We have been faithful, we have held on. We have watched soul crushing defeats and had our hopes spiked when we trunced the Oilers.
Yet still we are here, trying to remember that there is about 75 games left in the season, that we are not even 3 weeks into the season yet.
Probably the reason for the disappointment was the astonishing success of last year, but even then there was no real sign of a stride until around Christmas, and we have a good 2 months left before that happens.
I still think Roberto Luongo is an awesome Goalie. I still think the Canucks can pull it off and get in the playoffs, and I still think his team is hanging him out to dry and not helping him enough. The team is counting on Roberto as their whole defense. At least, it seems that way.
Perhaps the secret to Roberto’s amazing success is not just due to his amazing skill, his hours of practice or his tenacity on the ice. While I am sure all that helps, perhaps there is another answer. One Vancouver restaurant owner sure thinks so, anyway.
It seems that before every home game, Roberto Luongo has a certain ritual. He goes to Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill and orders Lobster Linguine. If for some reason he can’t stay and eat, he gets it to go.
Restaurant owner Pino Postererois not quite willing to take credit for Roberto’s successes, but he also is not on the hook for Luongo’s recent troubles, either. He won’t say the Lobster Linguini is a good luck meal, but does call it a “certain ritual”.
Perhaps if the Lobster Linguini helps Roberto so much, we should send some for the whole team?
In case you have been under a rock, the final score against the Sharks was Sharks 4, Canucks 2.
I hate losing. I really do. But, if there is a bright light in all of this, it is that Roberto Luongo (who, after all, is the reason we are here) did his part. I mean, seriously. The guy managed 30 saves.
I think it is obvious that Roberto Luongo is the glue holding this team together. I mean, what the f#@$! The guy manages 30 saves and everyone else is standing around with their thumb up their butt. If I were them, they oughta pray to god that he never gets tired of being hung out there to dry.
I know it is early in the season yet, but for crying out loud. The guy is practically playing the game by himself out there. You cannot win a game with just defense; the offense better get off there butts or else any chance we have at anything this year will be history.
I guess I am as guilty as anyone else. I get excited when we win, and upset when we lose. It’s human nature, I guess. While I was tickled when our Canucks kicked some Oiler butt twice in two days, I am realistic enough to know that it does not PROVE anything.
I mean, the Oilers can hardly be called serious competiton. Heck, Vancouver has beaten them the last 7 times we faced off. At this point, The Oilers have to feel like that team that always plays the Harlem Globetrotters; you might win, but I would not bet on it…
Tonight, our Roberto Luongo gets to prove that the nearly 50 saves he got over the weekend were no fluke. Yes, the Oilers have a 38 year old goalie; yes, they are hardly top tier competition. And yes, the Sharks have kicked our tail before.
The team says they are ready, that the weekend wins show a new commitment, a new dedication; in short, the season has now started.
For the seventh time in a row and the second time in two days our mighty Vancouver Canucks have slammed the Oilers. The Vancouver victory last night was the fourth loss for the Oilers, and our man Roberto Luongo is back in fine form.
Roberto managed 27 saves, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that his subpar performance causing the loss to the Flyers was a fluke. I mean, the guy is just awesome. 27 saves, 3 wins all largely due to his defense… This looks like it is gonna be one hell of a year.
“It was a great game,” said Luongo. “It’s the type of hockey we’re looking to play the last two nights… so we got to make sure we give the same effort and keep going.”
“[The Oilers] were throwing the puck at the net and were trying a lot of shots from sharp angles, so it was important that I maintained good position on my post. Luckily, there were no rebounds or anything like that, and I was able to make the saves.”
Well, all eyes are going to be on Roberto Luongo for sure now in tomorrow’s match against the Sharks.
