Burrows Accuses Referee Stephane Auger of Being ‘Out to Get Him’

**Jan 12th – Updating the latest on the story as I hear it**

Jan12th – 7:20 PM: Burrows has received a $2500 fine, but no suspension.

Jan 12th – 6:42 PM: Burrows hearing with Colin Campbell underway.

With 5 minutes left in the Nashville game, the Canucks were on a powerplay with the game tied 2-2. Seconds into the powerplay, Alex Burrows is called on a very odd interference penalty that takes the Canucks off the powerplay. Seconds after that, the Canucks get called again. Nashville  scores on the ensuing 4-on-3 powerplay and goes on to win the game.

I was mad after the game, because when the outcome changes because of weak calls, it’s always a poor way to end the game. However, having refereed sports before, I know how difficult it can be to make the right call most of the time,  so I tend to often give the refs the benefit of the doubt. So, while I was mad, I wasn’t completely outraged.

That changed after hearing what Burrows had to say after the game.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Alex Burrows!!!

Ever since the Alain Vigneault put Alex Burrows with the Sedins last season, the sparks have been flying.

They’ve been absolutely incredible ever since Daniel returned from his injury, and are finally beginning to get the respect they deserve.

In tonight’s game, Burrows did something that hasn’t been done on the Canucks for over 20 years! BACK TO BACK HAT TRICKS!

Do we have a new West Coast Express on our hands? More fun stats and trivia after the jump!

Canucks’ Prospects at the World Junior Hockey Championships

This just…. doesn’t look right. 😦

After 5 straight epic gold medal victories at the world juniors, Canada finally fell off of its golden pedestal, losing an incredible game to team USA. Jordan Eberle was absolutely clutch for team Canada the last two years at the juniors, scoring huge goal after huge goal. I’m usually the first one to get annoyed when Pierre McGuire starts throwing around his MONSTERS, but Eberle truly is a monster performer. First the epic game tying goal last year against the Russians in the semis. This year, an epic late game goal on new years eve to tie the Americans. Both of those games ended up shootout wins for the Canadians. Would it happen three times?

Eberle scored not one but TWO goals, to tie it for the Canadians with only 4 minutes left on the clock. Unfortunately, overtime would prove to be too much for team Canada. Team USA brought it this year. They were wicked fast, and seemed to win every footrace against the Canadians, and the win was very much deserved.

Let’s focus on the Canucks’ World Junior story, however. The Canucks had a solid 3 prospects attending the juniors this year, Jordan Schroeder on Team USA, and Anton Rödin and Peter Andersson on Team Sweden. Let’s take a look at how they did.

Where are they Now? // Part 1 // Jason King

So, I’m starting a segment I’ve wanted to start for a while now: highlighting former Canucks that somehow made their mark on this team and what they’ve been doing since leaving us. Naturally, the most obvious player to kick off this segment is the player without whom the name of this blog would not exist, Jason King.

Jason King now plays for the Hamburg Freezers (pictured). Let’s see how he got there.

Daniel Sedin out 4-6 weeks

According to the Canucks’ Official Twitter page, Daniel Sedin is in a cast and out 4-6 weeks.

What does this mean for the Canucks? Well, nothing good. As posted by Craig earlier this week, the Canucks have called up Guillaume Desbiens from Manitoba. Considering how well Sergei Shirokov has been playing, he’ll probably be back up soon as well.

The big question now is how well Henrik will play without his brother. They’ve never played without the other for this long, so it looks like it’s time for Henrik to prove himself.

Kyle Wellwood Will Be a Canuck Next Year

Well, as everyone in the Canucks world now knows, Kyle Wellwood had his arbitration hearing yesterday, with the arbitrator’s decision coming sometime in the morning.

Wellwood was offered a 1 year. $1,000,000 deal by the Canucks. He felt he deserved more and decided to head for arbitration. Any arbitration decision under $1,570,000 is binding, and the club has to honour it. Above that, the Canucks could walk away. However, Wellwood’s agent Mike Liut confirmed Wellwood will be a Canuck next year.

“When they offered the qualifier and Kyle opted for salary arbitration, at that point you’re accepting a contract and you just have to fill in a term,” Liut said.  “So we’ll get the term and the next stop is training camp.  There’s no chance of (free-agency) happening, because the parties weren’t in that range.”

There you have it. Welcome back Kyle, can’t wait for another year of fatty jokes.

IN MORE IMPORTANT WELLWOOD ARBITRATION NEWS!:

Apparently, Wellwood left all of his suits in Vancouver on his way to the hearing in Toronto. Kyle’s buddy Matt Stajan stepped up to the plate and lent him one of his.

I’m going to take the high road and not make a joke about it being a few sizes too small.

Wait, I  just did, didn’t I.

Canucks sign Kellan Tochkin

According to a source, the Canucks have signed Everett Silvertips player Kellan Tochkin.

He was one of the Canucks’ prospect camp invitees, and apparently impressed the coaching/scouting staff enough to get a contract. League minimum two-way deal most likely.

Here’s what I wrote about him in the prospect camp preview.

Kellan Tochkin from Abbotsford, BC was one of the Everett Silvertips’ better players for the 2008/09 season, scoring 74 points in 72 games.  He’s also a bit of a smaller player, at only 5′10″. Also interesting to note is that between the draft and this prospect camp, he’s the only WHL player that was on the Canucks’ radar.

Edit July 27: Looks like it’s now official. http://canucks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=457732

The 2009/10 Canucks Schedule!

The NHL released their regular season schedule the other day, and with not much else newsworthy coming from the Canucks camp, let’s talk about that. There are definitely a few interesting points to note though.

Of course, the big one everyone’s been talking about is the 14 game road trip.