Spitballin’ (or Super Pass It To Bulis: All In, if you love adventurous acronymizing) is a feature that allows us to touch on a multitude of things really fast, because in the world of hockey, there are always lots of things to find and colour. Here are a few quick topics.
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Canucks no longer morally reprehensible?
The Canucks’ reputation took a hit last night, and I’m not simply referring to their renown as a team that flawlessly converts third-period leads into points. I’m taking about their reputation as the most arrogant and classless pack of cheating dirtbags in the league.
First, they entered Thursday’s action the only team with no supplemental discipline this season, belying their alleged dirtiness. By the end of the evening, they had lost even their paramount arrogance. According to John Tortorella, a respected authority on the subject after years of sociological field work, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the league’s most arrogant organization.
And, after watching Ryane Clowe’s poke of ill repute (which is, as an aside, is also what my biological grandparents called the act by which I was conceived), the Sharks are the latest, greatest cheaters.
A word on the Clowe job: I especially liked Darren Dreger’s praise of the Sharks’ winger’s admittedly impressive game, which included a pass on the illegal stickcheck:
Still on Clowe’s night.Love his compete. Fought Greene in 1st. Scored 3-3 goal.Asst on 5th and got away with bench trickery. Anything to win
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 6, 2012
I have very little moral outrage for what Clowe did. Sure, it was completely unsportsmanlike on the surface, but what’s more sportsmanlike than cheating? Everybody cheats in sports. The Canucks’ entire gameplan is based on capitalizing on teams being punished for cheating. (Hilariously and ironically, this gameplan was deemed unsportsmanlike last season.)
But, more than anything, I think this is evidence of how subjective morality is when it comes to sports. Clowe is the paragon of the tough, Canadian kid, so of course anything he does is evidence of the superior compete level in his DNA, but can you imagine if he was European or played for a team people would rather vilify? We’d have him cornered in a castle by now.
Playoff Pump-up Video
Any time Bhavin Solanki puts up a new clip, we’re going to give it some love on the blog. The kid’s got a great feel for editing and music and his latest, a short playoff pump-up video, attests to that.
Canucks Rule guys back with more Canucky parodies
Speaking of playoff videos, here’s the latest from RKB Productions, the guys that brought you that Rebecca Black parody “Game Day” last postseason. They’ve clearly improved musically, with Canuck-themed takes on Rihanna, LMFAO, and Maroon 5 songs all mashed into a surprisingly cogent and relatively on-key whole.
Extra points for filming at Dublin Crossing in Cloverdale. My band performed there a couple times. One night a woman flashed us, and I remember thinking, Man, if you flash us, you must flash everybody.
Jensen, Corrado to Chicago Wolves
Good news on the prospects front, as prospects Nicklas Jensen and Frank Corrado have joined the Chicago Wolves for the AHL playoffs. Both Jensen and Corrado are standouts on their OHL teams — the Oshawa Generals and the Sudbury Wolves, respectively — and both will gain some valuable pro experience from the playoff push.
Jensen you probably remember from training camp, but Corrado was there too, and he impressed everyone. Drafted four rounds after Jensen, Corrado stuck around nearly as long, getting some extra time with the Canucks’ coaching staff who saw a little more Kevin Bieksa in Corrado than they had expected.
Both have the opportunity to get a ton of icetime on the Wolves. With Chris Tanev and Byron Bitz up with the Canucks, the Wolves are down a puck-mover and a forward with some size. They’ve been using Brad Hunt, a first-year pro out of Bemidji State, to spearhead their attack when the pairing of Nolan Baumgartner and Kevin Connauton aren’t on the ice, but he’s a little shaky yet. If Corrado can prove to be a steadier breakout starter — a distinct possibility considering his plus-26 rating on a Sudbury team with a +2 goal differential — he could see top-four minutes down the stretch.
As for Jensen, Byron Bitz was playing center on a second line between Anton Rodin and Mark Mancari before his callup. Jordan Schroeder will likely move up to that spot, but if Craig MacTavish feels the second line is lacking in size and Jensen shows something, the big, swift, Danish winger could see a big, swift, Danish promotion.
Pass it to a Baby Sloth
And finally, I can’t get enough of this baby sloth photobomb, which bears a curious resemblance to our header, especially the original one, and Twitter avatar.
OH MY GOSH SO CUTE.
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on I Watched This Playoff Game: Canucks at San Jose Sharks, May 7, 2013 - Dougster
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Canucklehead_in_T.O.
April 6, 2012The RK17 hair-flip at 0:47 really makes that pump-up video sparkle for me. I’d totes make a gif of it, if only I knew how….or what a gif was….
Chris the Curmudgeon
April 6, 2012“If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”
That being said, it’ll be a long time before anyone unseats the Boston Bruins as the unholy three-headed monster of biggest cheaters, biggest cheapshot artists, and biggest deniers of said cheating and cheapness.
aidanbc
April 6, 2012Yeah, gifs are tough to figure out… I think it’s pronounced “jiff”?
/gigawatts
/Jigga what?
hockeyispretty
April 6, 2012“Sure, it was completely unsportsmanlike on the surface, but what’s more sportsmanlike than cheating? Everybody cheats in sports. The Canucks’ entire gameplan is based on capitalizing on teams being punished for cheating. (Hilariously and ironically, this gameplan was deemed unsportsmanlike last season.)”
I want this engraved on a brass plaque and mounted alongside that bronze statue of the guy waving the towel outside Rogers Arena.
Lucky
April 6, 2012Love the pump up video!!
Square Ball
April 6, 2012Hey Harrison, apparently you are trending… Alongside a jet crash.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/04/trending-virginia-jet-crash-helene-campbell.html
Harrison Mooney
April 6, 2012Weird.
Julia
April 6, 2012Awesome videos! I saw the second one earlier this week and it’s still hilarious the second time! Love that they drew us all in with a catchy song, then BAM it’s a PSA. Don’t riot kids.
jenny wren
April 6, 2012Another bit of worthwhile news
Phoenix rose up to beat the Blues
Mack
April 6, 2012Am I the only who doesn’t like his videos? It jerks around way too much and each clip is cut way too soon. Nothing wrong with letting them play out a little more and having a longer video, is there?
Harrison Mooney
April 6, 2012I think Bhavin would welcome the criticism if you wanted to flesh it out. He’s a cool kid. Flame away.
Mack
April 7, 2012I don’t mean to take anything away from him; for the most part I think he does them very well. I just am not a fan of his editing when it comes to the on-ice highlights.
Hoofaloo
April 6, 2012HARRISON, YOU HAD A BAND?
Harrison Mooney
April 7, 2012Yes. Cinnamon Toast Funk. Here, laugh at one of our songs. We were ridiculous.
http://youtu.be/LF_n1CMpLRI
obituary mambo
April 8, 2012Actually, I kind of dig it. It’s silly, but in a likable way.
Daniel Wagner
April 8, 2012Harrison’s underselling CTF. They were awesome.
shoes
April 7, 2012When public hockey figures start vilifying star players in the public forum…..I have no problem with it…..until the officials buy into it. After all, the refs read the papers and they watch the games closer when they are NOT working that night. It seemed to happen last year and I believe that Tortaralla and Laviollette took note and are attempting to “Canuck” the Penquins. In other words they are scared spitless of the Pens as Milbury and Cherry were of the Canucks last playoffs and they took note of a very effective tool to give their teams an edge. A bit embarrassing for the sport overall and considering it would be very unacceptable behaviour in both Baseball and Football, but not in Basketball……….leads me to try and figure out the common link between an American game and a Canadian game. Hint here….the link stands 4’7″ in his platform shoes (no relation)
Cathylu
April 7, 2012Thanks for the 2 videos. I was hoping the RKB Productions guys would do another video. The one they did last season was stuck in my head for weeks. They crack me up.