State of shock

I’ve got a new nickname for Los Angeles: The City of Shock.

Since we arrived in LA roughly 48 hours ago, it’s been once shocking thing after another.

When we got here Saturday, I was shocked at how beautiful Santa Monica is. I haven’t seen too many places as close to heaven on earth as this.

Yesterday shock came my way via a brutal sunburn on my neck after eating a quick breakfast on the Santa Monica pier, followed by the shock of a Kings fan punching the Canucks team bus as we neared the Staples Center. Fairly sure I looked like Kevin McAllister trying aftershave for the first time after that happened.

I was then shocked to run into Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol, all 7-foot, 215-pounds of him, shocked by the amazing buffet ice cream dessert bar post-media meal and shocked at how nervous I was for Game 3.

Game 3 produced another fair share of shocking moments that includes, but isn’t limited to, how well the Canucks played, the Hockey Gods inability to give them a single bounce, and an eventual loss to go down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference Quarter-Final.

Already in shock from the loss, my shock doubled when I met David Beckham and Kobe Bryant after taking a left instead of a right out of the media elevator – best moron moment of my life. Cory Monteith was also there, as were about 10 other massive celebrities, whom I had to push through to get to Vancouver’s dressing room.

My final shock of the night was that the Canucks weren’t shocked, they weren’t stunned, they weren’t surprised following the 1-0 loss. They stuck to the script, stood behind their solid 60-minute effort and vowed to win Game 4 and take the series back to Vancouver.

Only four teams in professional sports (three NHL teams) have ever come back from down 3-0 and shock is exactly how teams who lost those series felt, and probably still feel, as a result.

Can the Canucks comeback to shock the Kings? Sure. Will the Canucks comeback? Well, I feel that depends on if I can do something while in Los Angeles to get to turn this series around. It has now become personal.

How can I jinx the Kings, and especially masked man Jonathan Quick that is currently haunting the Canucks? Submit your suggestions here – best ideas win, well hopefully win, Game 4 for Vancouver, and maybe even an eventual #reversesweep, as proposed by Juicetra, friend of Fort Nucks.

Chins up Canucks fans, the team needs you now more than ever.

RIGHT NOW

Game 3, pre-game warm-up at the Staples Center in LA.

Johnny Canuck is back.

His newest feature will be released soon, but until then, he’s passed along the following teaser images to get you ready.

Johnny wouldn’t tell me much about his latest work, only that he “braves the winter season, fights his greatest foes and introduces a President to a King.”

The finished feature will debut on Canucks.com soon…

— Dan Hamhuis, looking ahead to Game 3 Sunday night in Los Angeles

I am not on vacation, I am not on vacation, I am not on vacation…

Hello again from California. My game face is now sunburnt, how’s yours looking? Hopefully mean as ever; t-minus six hours to puck drop for Game 3…

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

By definition, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, the longest English word, is used as something to say when you have nothing to say.

I would love to tell you the Vancouver Canucks are a confident bunch right now and that yesterday’s flight to Los Angeles calmed my nerves about this series, but I can’t – I wasn’t aboard Air Canucks.

More people travel with the team during the post-season, people with roles more important to the Canucks than eating yogurt, watching Game of Thrones and taking pictures of Sami Salo. So I was aboard an Alaska Air flight that, oddly enough, has me feeling better about this series than ever before.

I knew it was going to be a fun ride to LaLaland when a larger than life picture of Tinker Bell greeted me as I boarded early yesterday afternoon; yes I was on a Walt Disney aircraft complete with Walt Disney songs, like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, played on and off throughout the flight.

Some may have taken this as annoying; I took it as a sign.

Tinker Bell was also inside the plane, spreading pixie dust from the front of the cabin to the back, with a message that read Follow me to the happiest place on earth.

There’s only one thing that would make LA the happiest place on earth right now: wins for the Canucks, two to be exact, three in due time.

After doing some pixie dust research when I got to the team hotel, I was informed this dust can help humans fly if they believe in happy thoughts. To this eternal optimist, that’s exactly what I needed to hear.

The Canucks are down 0-2 in the best-of-seven Western Conference Quarter-Final and many have written them off as dead already. It is a best-of-seven after all, and not only did the Boston Bruins overcome the same deficit in the first round last season to, well, you remember, the 2002 Detroit Red Wings also did en route to a Cup win – I won’t mention who their first round opponent was that squandered a 2-0 series lead :$

Vancouver can do this, it starts with Game 3 and now that pixie dust is involved, happy thoughts (read: positive thinking) from Canucks fans will go a long way in helping the team win.

No need for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, because now I’ve got something to say: GO CANUCKS GO!

-Only a few Canucks are skating Sunday morning, others will be available to the media at 1 p.m. We’ll have the latest on Canucks.com after that, including who starts in net for Vancouver.

What a welcome to LA

We’ve arrived in Los Angeles and while Palm Trees are great, there’s nothing quite like fan support to officially welcome you to the City of Angels.

“I think most teams look to go into the other team’s building hoping for a split and they got the first win, now it’s our turn to take care of business and make sure it’s a split going back to LA. I don’t think we need to approach it any differently tonight, it’s still early in the series, it’s not 3-2, it’s 1-0, so there’s a lot of hockey left to be played.”

-Kevin Bieksa, post-practice Friday.

— Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, following practice Thursday.

Time lapse of Towel Time at Rogers Arena in preparation for Game 1 of the Canucks vs. Kings.