Marchand is such a dick. Not even a get well soon text.

Who was it that bitched out about canucks that Rome only sent an apology text last year in the finals?

Canucks' Sami Salo fights his way back to game

Bruin Brad Marchand’s five-game suspension little consolation for suffering concussion

By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun columnistJanuary 20, 2012

VANCOUVER — The two least surprising things in the postscript to the Brad Marchand-Sami Salo incident is that Marchand never apologized for causing the injury and that Salo will overcome it as he has so much else.

Salo, the 37-year-old who has beaten an arm’s-length list of injuries to keep his National Hockey League career going, practised Friday with the Vancouver Canucks for the first time since suffering a concussion on Jan. 7 when Marchand “submarined” the defenceman.

Even with the hostility of the Canucks-Bruins rivalry, Vancouver defenceman Aaron Rome texted Nathan Horton after injuring the Boston winger with a late hit last June, while Bruin blueliner Johnny Boychuk sent a note to forward Mason Raymond after the Canuck suffered fractured vertebrae in the same Stanley Cup Final.

But Salo never heard from Marchand, who even after a precedent-setting five-game suspension for ducking into the Canuck’s knees maintained his innocence and argued that black was white.

“I’m lucky I didn’t break my neck,” Salo said Friday, answering questions for the first time since landing heavily on the back of his head and neck when upended by Marchand during the Canucks’ 4-3 win in Boston two weeks ago. “You can’t play the game thinking about what other guys might do. You can’t play the game ... thinking this guy might elbow me or something.

“It happened pretty quickly and I couldn’t react. That’s why I was angry. It wasn’t a hockey play and I was angry. But that’s in the past and my focus is to get better. I’m feeling better every day, so we’ll see how it goes the next few days.”

Salo said it was little consolation that NHL vice-president Brendan Shanahan suspended Marchand for five games and blew apart the Bruin’s claim that he was merely protecting himself.

Vancouver’s game today against the San Jose Sharks will be the sixth missed by Salo, who hopes to play Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers if his recovery continues.

Salo noted that in his second NHL season, with the Ottawa Senators in 1999-2000, he suffered a compound fracture of his wrist when slashed on a breakaway by ex-Canuck Bret Hedican. Hedican was suspended for four games, severe punishment back then. But Salo missed 44 games.

So, one game for Marchand or five, it doesn’t matter to Salo.

Like he said, the Finn could have broken his neck had he landed even slightly more awkwardly. Or he could have had a concussion like Sidney Crosby’s. Salo hasn’t the luxury of time. His career could have been over.

“You’re always concerned with any concussion to any player, but I had so much faith that Sami would overcome this, too,” Canuck associate coach Rick Bowness, who runs the defence, said. “This is a wonderful man, a true professional and a quality human being. He is so committed to his profession and overcoming these obstacles.

“To overcome everything he has been through tells you the strength of character and commitment this man has for the game. He is one of the smartest people I have ever coached and he’s one of the most humble.”

Even “everything” doesn’t seem to adequately describe the injury challenges Salo has faced.

Before last season, about a month before his 36th birthday, Salo ruptured an Achilles tendon playing floor hockey in Finland. He resumed his NHL career seven months later.

His has missed an average of 24 games annually since the 2004-05 lockout, and Salo’s career injuries number in the 30s.

Including the four games Salo missed earlier this season due to groin problems, the Canucks are 3-5-1 without him.

For the first time, the Canucks clearly miss departed free agent Christian Ehrhoff, who gave Vancouver five defenceman who could play 20-25 minutes.

That enabled the Canucks to sustain one key injury without losing anything from the blueline’s top four. Salo missed the entire first half of last season and top defenceman Alex Edler most of the second, yet Vancouver still amassed 117 points and won the Presidents’ Trophy.

But with Ehrhoff in Buffalo and Salo out, Canuck coach Alain Vigneault has been unable to plug the hole in his top four, which is why minor-league call-up Chris Tanev gets the chance to play there this afternoon.

If Salo sits out Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers, he’ll get the benefit of the Canucks’ six-day all-star break and should be able to play Jan. 31 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Vigneault sees the wisdom in sitting Salo as long as possible, but also said there could be a psychological benefit to the veteran if he plays Tuesday.

Salo said he wants to play as soon as possible, and he knew by the end of the last road trip that he’d probably play again because his post-concussion symptoms began to abate. His laundry list of injuries had never included a concussion.

“The only frustrating part is the injuries you can’t control ... like somebody taking your feet out,” Salo said.

“I’d never had any headaches. It was new to me ... bad headaches, pressure [in your head], nausea. It was frightening for sure. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that.”

imacintyre@vancouversun.comTwitter.com/imacvansun
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

CBC takes another pass on Canucks

Afternoon games are not solid revenue generators, says former Hockey Night in Canada executive John Shannon

By Brad Ziemer, Vancouver SunJanuary 21, 2012

The CBC likely decided not to broadcast the Canucks-Bruins game on Jan. 7 because of its 10 a.m. start time in Vancouver, says John Shannon.
Photograph by: Adam Hunger, Reuters Files, Vancouver Sun

The CBC insists it loves the Vancouver Canucks: in prime time.

For the second time in two weeks, the Canucks meet a high-profile opponent today in a game that will not be shown on Hockey Night in Canada.

Back on Jan. 7, eyebrows were raised when the Canucks and Boston Bruins, last year's Stanley Cup finalists, met for the only time this season and CBC decided not to show the game.

This afternoon, when the Canucks play host to the San Jose Sharks - in a rematch of last season's Western Conference finalists - the CBC is again taking a pass.

The CBC insists it's all about timing.

"Given that we have a limited number of Saturday nights when the Canucks play, our objective for Canucks fans, wherever they live, is to put them in prime time with a view to garnering the biggest possible audience," said CBC Sports spokesman Chuck Thompson.

"It's good for them and candidly, it's good for us. When Vancouver plays in the after-noon, as they did on Jan. 7 and they will again [today], some-times we have to make difficult decisions.

"As hard as we try to appease hockey fans across the country each and every week when we set the schedule for the year, we know going into it it's never going to make everyone happy every Saturday. What I should also add is that there are contractual limitations to how many games we have."

The CBC is contractually allowed to show 14 Canucks games this season and has the option to purchase one additional game.

The Jan. 7 game against the Bruins was shown in B.C. and the Yukon by Sportsnet and garnered huge ratings, the biggest number for one of its Canuck games, despite its 10 a.m. start in Vancouver. Sportsnet will also televise today's game against San Jose on its regional network.

Coach Alain Vigneault was among those in the Canuck organization who expressed surprise that the Boston game did not warrant a national CBC audience.

But general manager Mike Gillis, who has had his share of differences with the CBC in recent years, insists he doesn't really care.

"They choose them at the beginning of the season and I don't know what motivates them to choose one game over another," Gillis said of the CBC.

Gillis said he was "not annoyed one bit" by the CBC's decision not to show the Boston game. "We had one of the highest ratings on Sportsnet that we've ever had that morning."

Gillis said he's also not concerned about a lack of national exposure for the Canucks when the CBC elects to pass on games like the Vancouver-Boston one or today's tilt against the Sharks.

"So what, we've got a good partner in Sportsnet and they get the benefit of having a fantastic hockey game," he said. "I don't think in those terms [national exposure]. They [the CBC] make their decisions on the criteria that they have, we don't have a say in it and I don't want to have a say in it. I don't particularly care. If they make that decision and regret it after the fact, it's up to them."

Before the NHL schedule was released last summer, the CBC did in fact try to convince the Bruins to change the 1 p.m. EST start time of the Jan. 7 game. But the Bruins knew there were NFL playoff games scheduled for that day and refused, not wanting to gamble on possibly going up against the New Eng-land Patriots.

"We work closely with the NHL but at the end of the day it's the league's schedule." Thompson said. "Ultimately, we are looking to put every Vancouver Canucks game that falls on a Saturday - and there's a limited number of them - in prime time.

"I'm not saying that the Boston-Vancouver game isn't a sweet matchup. Of course it is, but that's where I go back to sometimes we have to make difficult decisions. That was a tough one."

The CBC would not make Hockey Night in Canada executives Joel Darling or Trevor Pilling available for interviews for this story.

But John Shannon, a former executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada and current Sportsnet analyst, said in an interview Friday that the CBC's explanation for passing on the Boston game makes sense.

"In my time at the corporation, even if it was the best matchup, afternoon games sell at half the price," Shannon said. "So in order to generate revenue, and everyone is responsible for generating revenue, the [ratings] number you would have to do, particularly with a 10 a.m. Pacific start, probably would have had to be close to three million people.

"And you are just not going to generate ratings like in the morning. The fact that the Bruin game could not be moved to 4 o'clock Eastern, 1 o'clock Pacific, probably was the deciding factor."

Today's 1 p.m. start was a Canuck decision and one industry insider who did not want to be identified suggested the Canucks did that knowing the CBC would likely pass on the game and they could then sell it to Sportsnet.

The Hockey Night in Canada revenue pie is divided among all 30 NHL teams and the source noted that the Canucks likely make more money from a regional broadcast.

Gillis suggested the Canucks wanted to experiment with an afternoon start on a Saturday.

"We wanted to have a couple of afternoon games because young families sometimes don't get the opportunity to come to games," he said.

"I kind of like the idea of having stuff like that go on during the season. A 1 o'clock game is a different crowd, a young crowd, so it is a unique opportunity. We'll evaluate it for what it is and see what the out-come is."

Thompson noted that the Hockey Night in Canada schedule is Canuck-heavy for the remainder of the regular season.

"After the all-star break we have 10 Saturdays left in regular-season play and eight of those will feature the Canucks," he said.


___

CBC is turning into a joke.

You don't remember who it was? Not even this play? :suspicious:

hope not repost LOL

fuck early game

Let's hope so. Under appreciated due to his injuries.

Go canucks go!

Woooooooooooot. Great start!!!!!!!!!

quick goal!!

booth!!!

BOOTH woot, finally a good start

.

fixed

To be honest, it doesn't look that bad in the replay...
Just one of those freak accidents.

But, still hope he's okay

2nd and 3rd lines looking good so far

I also just realized that this is the first game I have seen on TV since jan 4th....I miss being at the games :(

Not a bad hit, but speed of the play was more of a factor....... just a slight push is all it takes to make player lose balance and go into the boards in an awkward position.

Canucks equipment sale next Saturday at 11am
Posted via RS Mobile

Man, Mark Donnelly is no longer cutting it. Today's singing was horrible. We need a guy like Jim Cornelison from Chicago. I listen to him and the crowd at United Center and it sends chills up and down my spine. Inspiring. Mark Donnelly + Rogers Arena = anemic. Need to Drink More Milk.

I've never been to the United Center, but can only imagine how intimidating it can be as a player or even a visiting fan.

:fuuuuu: shorthand!

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

fuuuuu, nice move tho

Fuuuuu.

weak...

shiiiiiet nice move.

Sick goal :(

Man we can't even set up
Posted via RS Mobile

Damn.............