Googled

On Friday, May 20, 2011, the Vancouver Canucks rolled out of bed, put their game faces on and began preparing for Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks.

Having won Games 1 & 2 in Vancouver by a combined score of 10-5, the Canucks were feeling good about themselves as they gathered outside the hotel in San Jose waiting for the team bus to take them to morning skate.

That’s when the Sharks made their move. According to a rumour I am making up right now, the Sharks partnered with Google, some kind of world wide web search machine based out of California, to turn the tide. They had the Google Map Vehicle photograph the Canucks in order to steal their souls to give San Jose an advantage for Game 3.

What happened in Game 3? The Sharks won 4-3 and were briefly back in the series.

Coincidence, I think not.

Below is the Google Streetview of the Canucks, just innocently chillin’, before their souls were scooped up.

Thankfully the Canucks were able to get back on track in Game 4 and in Game 5, oh glorious Game 5, confetti rained down from above in Rogers Arena to mark a monumental win. And that’s all I remember from how last season ended.

Funny thing is, the vehicle went past the Canucks twice and the first time, realizing the incredible opportunity at hand, everyone made faces and threw up G-rated hand gestures. Google went with take #2.

Here are some of Jeff Vinnick’s Behind the Lens photos from during the Google soul-stealing photoshoot, paired with what Google captured. Vinnick on the left, Google on the right.

And no, I don’t know where I am in all of this. I require more beauty rest than most, so likely still sleeping. Truth be told, I’m more of an Ask Jeeves man myself.

Big shout out to THE_LAW 10 from the Canucks message boards for discovering this Google Map.

Pro Puzzle 1

It’s Monday afternoon, you just ate lunch and you’re feeling lethargic. You need something to boost your spirits and I’ve got just the thing: Ice Age.

Sorry, I’m not talking about having a Rogers Arena viewing party of those amazingly good animated movies with Manny, Sid and Diego (and Scrat of course), I’m referring to Ice Age: The Official Magazine of the Vancouver Canucks.

You never know what you’ll find on the free table in the Canucks employee lunchroom and I recently stumbled upon a stack of Ice Age magazines from 1995. I flipped a few open and was mesmerized, an issue from November 3, 1995, featuring Corey Hirsch, was especially mesmerizing. I’d scan the entire issue for you if I had time, but I’ve got a lot of Facebooking things to do, so here’s a Pro Puzzle crossword to brighten your day.

First person to post a link to their finished puzzle wins Fort Nucks Bragging Rights (FNBR), which can be redeemed at the end of the summer for pride.

The 20 finalists

A few weeks ago I asked you, our lovely fans, to submit what you thought the top moments of the season were for the Vancouver Canucks. There were some exceptional responses and in the end the Top 20 Moments (Part 1 I Part 2) were chosen from the list and rearranged counting down from 20 to 1.

And now we’ve got 20 finalists for a Canucks team-signed flag and they are…

Karen Friesen, Ann-Kathrin Thiele, Bridget Womelduff, Muhammad Faateh Malik, Zachary Wyder, Matt Hastings, Kaeleigh Evans, Tinder Brar, Jeffrey Blayne Tommy, Lori Mustvedt-Garson, David Lobakgo, Lee Renée Siu, Allison Wright, Tina Berkenpas, Andrew Schroeder, Greg Dion, Karl Hohensee, Krystal Soong, Emma Tyler and Sal Sagev.

I’ll come clean right now and admit that Sal Sagev doesn’t exist. No one suggested Andrew Ebbett scoring the game-winner in his first game back from a broken collarbone as a moment, and I thought it was significant, so Sal Sagev was born. It’s Las Vegas backwards.

So the finalists each had a 1 in 19 chance of winning, you can thank Sal for that.

I wanted to determine a winner in the most creative way possible and my first thought was to buy 20 turtles, one linked to each contestant, and have a turtle race. I was told to tone it down a bit, so I thought having a wind-up toy race would be pretty cool. I went to two toy stores this morning and couldn’t find anything, so the toy race was cancelled.

On to Plan C: oh, right, I didn’t have a Plan C. So my officemate Mike and I set up a bracket with the 20 finalists (we included Sal Sagev to keep it even) and we spun quarters to determine the winner. Here’s the breakdown of how things went, the final round was Lori vs. Tinder vs. Emma in a three quarter battle royale and Emma Tyler (yes, spun by me) outlasted Lori and Tinder. (Thanks, I realize I have the worst writing ever…)

Thanks for everyone who submitted entries and congrats to Emma!

Behind the scenes Sedins

Who do the Sedins think they are?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but is there not a memo accompanying the package professional athletes receive after being drafted that outlines how to be a superstar?

Daniel and Henrik Sedin recently passed up the chance to go viral with the cameras rolling during a commercial shoot for the 25th annual BC Children’s Hospital Miracle Weekend at Global TV in Burnaby.

Wearing matching grey Canucks polos, seated in matching wooden director’s chairs in front of a green screen, Daniel and Henrik simply read the scrolling sentences on the teleprompter urging people to support Miracle Weekend instead of taking matters into their own hands and discussing their talents.

Read the full story

Here’s an exclusive behind the scenes look at the making of the Sedins Miracle Weekend commercial.

Click here to find out more about Miracle Weekend.

Schneiderman

Mrs. Ross’ third grade students at Strawberry Vale Elementary School in Victoria, BC, recently took on an interesting project. In honour of Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider, they wrote ‘Schneiderman’ songs, to the tune of Spiderman, and sang them at school.

They then sent them over to Canucks Headquarters along with a sweet letter congratulating the team on the season and all the accomplishments. They even made three predictions for the 2013 season:

          1. CUP ALL THE WAY!!!!
          2. Norris trophy for Hamhuis!
          3. Vezina trophy for the goalie! (They actually put Venza, which is adorable)

Anyways, here’s a few of the Schneiderman songs that made me giggle a manly giggle.

A little sightseeing

First things first, that’s a tough loss to take. It’s hard watching your team play without you and even harder watching a loss, you always think you could have done something to help them win.

I didn’t play today, the docs and I want to make sure I feel 100% before I get back on the ice. I was a little wobbly after the hit, like you probably saw, so that’s why I didn’t return against Slovakia. I’m feeling good today, no real concussion symptoms, so I’ll keep following the NHL protocol for these kind of injuries and if things stay the same, I hope to get back out there soon.

Thanks for all the kind words and support, I really appreciate it!

I can’t stop thinking about playing my first international game the other night, even though it didn’t end as planned for me. It was fun to see the team come up with a win, that’s all that really matters when you put on that jersey. The crowd was great, as I expected, and it was wild again today against the USA and it should be the same against Finland.

Today was weird for me. Knowing I wasn’t playing, I didn’t have the same game day routine. I wanted to let my roommate Vlasic nap this afternoon, so I walked around Helsinki and went to watch the movie American Reunion. It was very funny and I was able to relax while doing a little sightseeing, which was great.

I saw a question on my first blog about food and how different it is here. We have a great set up at the team hotel as far as food goes, we have a team buffet for every meal, so the food is very similar to North America. It’s pretty much the same as the NHL here, it’s the Never Hungry League…

That’s all I got for you!

Talk soon.

Burr

*Photo credit to Jeff Vinnick, who is at the World Championships shooting for the IIHF.

LUUUUUUU

The base of the Roger Neilson statue outside Rogers Arena is taking on a life of its own. A few weeks ago three framed photos of Rick Rypien, Luc Bourdon and Pavol Demitra were placed below Roger’s epic towel powerness, and this morning the three posters above were found.

It may be the summer and Roberto Luongo’s future may be in question, but it’s clear true Canucks fans support him no matter what.