Rule #1: Keep your head up

[AnthonyG]

With the injury to Hronek, the revolving door of lengthy injuries and absences that pile up make our playoff hopes feel bleak as a fan base. It seems hopeless and that the door to never end injuries has yet to shut. Its frustrating, especially this early on it feels like a long miserable suffering ahead. However I'd like to inspire hope and keep our chins up despite the overwhelming amount of adversity our club faces and has continued to grow. I want to relate a few rules of hockey to the fanbase/Canuck following.

 

3 Rules to contact hockey that coaches preach the most.

Rule number 1: Keep your head up

Rule number 2: Protect yourself at all times

Rule number 3: Head on swivel 

 

3 Rules to live and die by this season and for this new era of Canucks hockey

1. Keep your chin up: We have an incredible amount of depth, we have elite talent up front, on the blueline and in net. This season is far from over and despite Demko's absence from the start, Lankinen has stepped up big time for us. Pettersson's slow start and Miller's mental focus off ice have made it seem hopeless for offence. Pettersson has begun to get hot and with his true track record throughout his career, his consistency will run red hot through to the end. Boeser's over the span of games Boeser was out of the line up, our record was not that bad and that's without Miller and Demko as well, along with Petey just starting to heat up. Demko has yet to suit up, Miller has yet to rejoin this team, yet we are keeping the scores relatively close and we managed to battle back on the 2nd half of a back to back and get within a shot of tying it. Demko's return is around the corner and in a game like last night, the results would have been different had he been in net. Fortunately for us, the rest of this road trip still offers us a good opportunity to keep in the race for playoffs and come out with a winning record. Buffalo, Detroit and Minnesota are the 3 last road games and are all very much beatable. Minnesota is the toughest challenge of the remaining 3 games of this road trip, however they have been struggling as of late and Kaprizov is not quite 100%. I dont expect us to go 3-0 over the rest of this road trip, but I believe this team is fully capable of doing so. Hronek no doubt is a noticeable loss on the back end. But Brannstrom may really begin to shine with this opportunity. Even if we go 2-1 or 1-1-1 to close it out, our first home game is Columbus and another team that is very manageable with a banged up roster. We are dealing with the bottom half of the league not the top half without several star players, which gives me hope that we can still come out ahead and that once the door of healthiness opens and trickles guys back into the lineup, this team will get rolling at the right time. 

 

2. Protect yourself at all times: With that being said, this team is sacrificing the body up and down the lineup to do whatever it takes to get a win and protect a lead when we get one. The Boston game was a prime example of a team getting outplayed, but capitalizing on their few opportunities and laying the body on the line to ensure those 2 points. With Demko's near return, we will see a solid tandem of Demko and Lankinen, that will give us a better hope of winning close games with the loss of offence and now Hronek's dynamic style of play on the back end, making it a bit easier to protect leads and also not surrender goals so quickly. 

 

3. Head on a swivel: If you look around, up and down this line up, you'll see contributions from each and every single line we have, while having noticeable absences such as Miller, Boeser, Joshua and Demko or struggles like Pettersson and even Hughes/Miller/DeBrusk who have struggled through this season offensively as well. We have had Raty, Sutr, Heinen, Sherwood, Brannstrom, Blueger, Lekkermaki, Bains and Sassons all stepping up and helping contribute offensively. We have 8 players with 5 or more goals right now, only 2 teams have more depth scoring, Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights who have both had zero adversity all season long. New Jersey Devils and the Washington Capitals have the roughly the same depth scoring as us. Both with perfectly healthy happy seasons underway. We havent had a smoothe take off to start this flight and turbulence has been at an all time high, however.... Adversity builds champions. All cup winners face adversity at some point throughout the season, its a matter of how you find ways to win and get through it that makes the difference in the end when it comes to playoffs and the Stanley cup.

 

Depth will get us through this and timing is everything. Keep yer fuckin head up and GO CANUCKS GO!

 

 

just wanted to point out that the Oilers have only 3 players with 5 or more goals at this point in the season. Depth is not their friend. The majority of teams have 5 or less and only a handful have 6-7 guys on pace for 20 goals.

 

 

Wanted to add this as I just saw this pop up on nhl.com

 

https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/super-16/super-16-nhl-power-rankings-november-28

 

12. Vancouver Canucks (11-7-3)

Total points: 57
Last week: No. 13

Quinn Hughes has been giving Canucks fans a reason to be thankful for the past six seasons. He's done it all on offense and defense and was a big reason behind their resurgence last session. The Canucks also should be thankful for Kevin Lankinen, who has filled in admirably for the injured Thatcher Demko, and is coming off a 32-save shutout against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. -- David Satriano, staff writer

 

Edited Friday at 03:56 PM by AnthonyG

[Canucks164cup]

I guess Darnell Nurse missed that in practice in peewee hockey.

[Chickenspear]

My coaches told us repeatedly to keep our head up the year before we started full contact. I wasn't a very good listener that young, so I learned the hard way my first shift while gunning through the NZ. 

 

And that's the story of my 2nd concussion.

[Silent Man]

Anthony, sorry, I think you did a great job by defining those 3 rules, I just can't help myself:

 

 

[Drive-By Body Pierce]

Rules #1 and #3 really seem to be slight variations of the same rule.

 

That said, it's definitely a rule worth repeating!

[Dumb Nuck]

Damn, Ive been telling my wife to keep her head down for the last 2 decades.