Canucks 1 – 2 Red Wings (Shootout) You hate to see a game like this go to a shootout. I did. After 60 minutes of the top two teams in the NHL strutting their excellent puck movement, remarkable defense, and fabulous systems play, suddenly everything that made the game so stellar is taken away and [...]

“I’m touching monumental amounts of wood.” – Tony Gallagher, January 7, 2011, Team 1040 pre-game show

Canucks 6 – 1 Oilers I don’t think there was ever really any concern that the Oilers might win tonight. There was, I guess, a nagging concern that the Canucks might lose, but seriously, this Oilers team isn’t built to win hockey games. It’s built to accrue picks, like Questlove’s hair or Tenacious D. My [...]

Ask it to Bulis is a regular feature wherein casual readers and hardcore Bulies alike can put their questions to two guys no more qualified to answer than they are. Harrison and Daniel preside: Greatest Canucks’ mustache: Babych or Snepsts? – @staticotakuH: Tough first question. I’m gonna go with Snepsts, and for totally subjective reasons. [...]

  In case you missed it, Daniel Sedin’s third period goal Wednesday against the Calgary Flames was the 10,000th regular-season goal in Canucks’ history. These 10,000 goals were scored by 354 different players over the Canucks’ forty-year history, and I’m sure we can name more than a few of the guys. Markus Naslund. Trevor Linden. [...]

On Wednesday night, the Canucks continued their stellar streak, winning their 7th game in a row. They are 16-1-2 in their last 19 games. Daniel Sedin scored the 10,000th goal in franchise history. Luongo put up 43 saves and was named the 1st star of the game. And, oh yeah, he didn’t come out onto [...]

The members of the baseball writers of America usually screw up this particular portion of their work.  Each member is allowed to vote for ten names in the annual hall of fame voting, but inevitably the members barely put half that number on their vote.  They also use this opportunity at retribution for players who [...]

Spinning shootout goals have become incredibly overrated. They’re no longer uncommon, but each time a player pulls one off, jaws across the country drop. It’s nearing cliche territory, as spinning in the shootout seems like a surefire way to make someone gush, even if it has nothing to do with your eventual shot. Suffice it [...]

Having gone 16-1-2 in their last nineteen games (or, 13-1-2 since Head Poke Kid), the Canucks are riding a wave of positivity so grand it makes unbiased reporting impossible. How can the Vancouver media, typically blessed to cover a team so consistently mediocre, remain neutral when the play of the Canucks is awe-inspiring? Nitpick, that’s [...]

It was only just yesterday that we reported the sad news that Kyle Wellwood’s contract with the KHL’s Atlant Moscow Oblant had been terminated. Word was that the club was unhappy with his performance and they had therefore decided to end the relationship. But it turns out that’s not all to the story, as Wellwood [...]

Canucks 3 – 1 Flames The Canucks showed why they’re first in the NHL with a calm, easy-going win against the regrettably terrible Flames. As I’ve mentioned before, I miss the days when these games were bitter battles against a legitimate rival. Instead, the Flames are a sad-sack team that bears no threat. The Canucks [...]

One of this year’s biggest stories has been the emergence of Cory Schneider. We’ve already talked about it. A couple of times. Schneider’s strong play, along with Roberto Luongo’s resurgence, has given Vancouver a goaltending tandem unrivaled by any other in their 40 years. It’s an embarrassment of riches. But if there’s one thing PITB [...]

According to documents from the U.S. Department of Justice, UFC middleweight title contender, one-time Republican political candidate and part-time realtor Chael Sonnen has pled guilty to money laundering and could face twenty years in jail and a $500,000 fine. Sonnen dropped out of the race for the Oregon House District 37 mid-race in early 2010, [...]

The latest chapter in Kyle Wellwood’s wild and weird world is a sad one. Dmitry Chesnokov of Puck Daddy is reporting that Atlant Moscow Oblast has released the pudgy playmaker from his contract. The news comes from Russian sports website sports.ru, which apparently broke the story, but the website resists my translation attempts (ie. it [...]

Other General Managers had no idea what to get this guy for Christmas. He’s just hard to shop for right now. You remember a month ago when someone asked you what you wanted for Christmas? Some years, you have the answer right away, but some years, you just don’t know. You’re perfectly content. You can’t [...]

“From day one, you have to have your leaders expose themselves to their teammates.” -Todd Mclellan, January 3, 2011 (Canucks @ Sharks pre-game on Team 1040)

In February of 2008, on the eve of the NHL trade deadline, Canucks GM Dave Nonis was in serious talks with the Tampa Bay Lightning for Brad Richards. Though the deal fell through, Darren Dreger later reported that Tampa Bay’s asking price included at least one of Alex Edler, Ryan Kesler, or Luc Bourdon, as [...]

Canucks 4 – 3 Sharks The Canucks came into San Jose to play their third road game in four nights. Unbeaten in five, and expected to be dog-tired, there was a sense among Canuck nation that a loss to San Jose was as inevitable as the extraplanar robots that chase down lawbreakers. The Sharks came [...]

It’s remarkably easy to spend an excessive amount of time clicking around NHL.com’s stat pages. While it doesn’t quite reach the addictive qualities of Wikipedia and is miles away from TV Tropes, a puckhead like me can easily see time disappear faster than every contestant’s hopes of winning on Ninja Warrior. Today, however, I stumbled [...]

Before I go any further, let me be perfectly clear: there is no goaltending controversy, and there hasn’t been one all season. Roberto Luongo is the starting netminder, and Cory Schneider is his backup. That’s the way of life. When Luongo plays well, he’s supposed to, because he’s the number one, and when Schneider plays [...]

We at PITB have made no secret of our love for the Mighty Boosh, the completely ridiculous and ridiculously awesome British comedy series featuring Vince Noir and Howard Moon. And forgive me if the reference is too obscure for you, but for the very small group of our very small readership who have ever watched [...]

Rogers Sportsnet cost the UFC at least one pay-per-view buy this past Saturday. Canadian fight fans were panicked when they heard the announcement last week that the UFC was going to show the UFC 125 preliminary fights not on Spike, but on ION TV in the US. As most Canadians don’t get ION on their [...]

Canucks 2 – 1 Avalanche With a gritty, hard-fought win against the Avalanche, the Canucks have won 5 straight, haven’t lost in regulation in 12 games, and have the best goal differential in the NHL. And, oh yeah, they’re first place in the entire NHL right now. Now, there are plenty of spoilsports out there [...]

Here are a few ridiculous superstitions in which I firmly believe: If you suck out on someone in poker, you will be rightly punished with bad card luck for a while; Hiccups can be cured by asking the person if they own a white horse, and their answering “no,” but only if they know that [...]