So, what about that picture of Anze Kopitar’s hockey stick jammed between the shield and helmet of Henrik Sedin?
If that’s not a high stick, what exactly might be?
“Well, it was one of those plays where I skated into him and he skated into me,” Kopitar said on the off-day between Games 1 and 2. “I really don’t know how the stick got stuck in there.
“At first it was kind of funny. I didn’t know what to do. I thought I should just let my stick go.”
In fact, no penalty was called by either referee Kelly Sutherland or Kevin Pollock. It was deemed an accident, and Kopitar was given time off for good behaviour, because he made sure to let the stick go and avoid an injury to Sedin.
Personally, we don’t think players should be penalized for behaving in such a civil manner.
“The ref told me he was very gentle with his stick,” Henrik said. “But I thought there was enough evidence there to make a call.”
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From the department of, “Well, it seemed so obvious at the time:”
When your correspondent made his way through Vancouver back in September, he assured Sportsnet.ca readers that winger Mikael Samuelsson would undoubtedly spend the season on the Sedin twins’ wing, a position that might extend right into the Olympic tournament.
“And if the line works well through February,” we penned back on Sept. 24, “you can bet they’ll be together at GM Place as the Swedes try to ruin Canada’s Olympic party.”
Well, Samuelsson has played probably 30 per cent of the Canucks’ even strength time on the Sedins line, and with Alex Burrows scoring 35 there, why would he? They get out on the power play together, and the off shift, but that’s all.
Why would you fix something that isn’t broken?
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Let’s just say that former Canucks GM Brian Burke never pulled off his draft day heroics back in 1999, and one of the Sedin twins ended up in New York or Atlanta. Would they be nearly a good as they are right now?
“No chance. Not a chance,” Henrik declared on Friday. “This year, with (Daniel) in the lineup, my points per game were way ahead of what it was when he was out.”
The numbers speak for themselves: Henrik scored at a point a game pace when Daniel was out — 17 points in 17 games missed. When Daniel was back on his wing he averaged 1.46 points per game.
“I think we could be decent players, maybe first-line players,” Henrik ventured. “But it is special to play with him. We worked hard to get where we are, and it’s not like we’re just using each other to get points. Now we can do it ourselves if we have to, and that’s a big difference from before.”
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Pavol Demitra is back to his old tricks.
He led the Olympic tournament in scoring, but has been a shadow of that player ever since. You hear it from a Canucks fan every 10 minutes: “Why can’t we get him playing for us, like he was playing for Slovakia?”
The answer: Demitra never plays real well in the playoffs.
“It’s a challenge,” head coach Alain Vigneault said of the Demitra project. “We’re not there yet.”
