30 April 2009

Blackhawks 3, Canucks 5

Whew. When Chicago tied it up at 3 in the third I had visions of past Canucks collapses, but the Canucks survived the first game of the Western Conference semi-finals.

The Canucks will need to improve their powerplay and stop taking stupid penalties.

I wonder if GM paid up front to name GM Place, or if there's some sort of annual payment; I ask because if the latter I wonder if they would consider dropping sponsorship because of GM's current financial woes.

21 April 2009

Canucks Sweep Blues

Hurrah! The Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in the dieing seconds of the first OT to sweep the Blues in their best of seven series.

I can hardly believe it -- I can't remember, literally, the last time the Canucks ever won a series 4-0. It's a huge relief from all the 6 game, 7 game series I remember.

The Blues went for 0-7 on the powerplay in the sudden death OT, alone. Whew.

CBC cut off the Canucks game after regulation to broadcast the start of the Sharks - Ducks game. Idiots. It was sudden death elimination OT versus the first period of a non-elimination game. I would have thought the decision obvious, but CBC must have different ideas on what constitutes excitement and drama. Weak sauce, CBC. Weak sauce.

Edit. I just heard Shorty on the radio say the Canucks have never previously swept a 7 game series. Woohoo! To boldly go where no Canucks team has ever gone before...

17 April 2009

Blues 0, Canucks 3

Hurrah! The Canucks take a 2-0 lead in the best of seven against St. Louis, by beating the Blues 3-0.

I'm becoming increasingly optimistic about the Canucks' chances to go deep, or at least make it past the first round. The Canucks need to finish this series early to gain an opportunity to rest; don't drag it out to seven.

Sundin scored! The game winner, no less! I guess he's still useful even though he's as slow as a turtle.

Luongo made some incredible saves, although a few pucks went off the post.

15 April 2009

Blues 1, Canucks 2

Whew. Way too many penalties -- but at least the Vancouver Canucks survived and took game one of their series against the St. Louis Blues, in the Western Conference quarter-finals.

I hope now that the first game is under their belt the Canucks will be more disciplined for the rest of the games.

I watched the game on CBC and I was struck by the many commercials that made use of hockey and the NHL. It's good to be back in Canada. :o)

I think the funniest commercial tonight was one for a beer (?) company -- in it announcers worked a table hockey game and when the puck was stuck in the neutral zone, unreachable for any two-dimensional player, they described it as the "neutral zone trap". :o)

Anywhoo, on to game two!

Oh yeah, what's up with Sundin? Is he still out of shape or has Sundin always been that slow?

12 April 2009

NHL09: another bug

I've discovered two new related bugs in NHL09 for the Playstation 3. It's happened to me three times, now, and it's very irritating. If goalie McLean wins in a shoot-out it's not added to his win total statistically. eg. 37 games played, 36 wins, 0 losses. To rub even more salt in the wound, if McLean earns a shut-out -- in regulation, in OT, and in the shoot-out -- it isn't added to his career SO total.

Wangos.

10 April 2009

Quantum of Solace


Well... it looks like I've finally gotten over the loss of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. After watching both the updated Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace on blue-ray, I have to admit that Daniel Craig portrays quite a respectable and interesting 007. Perhaps not as good as a young Sean Connery, but still much better than Moore, Latzenby, or Dalton. Though Clive Owen was my preferred choice and I still think Owen would have made a great Bond.

Aside: I first saw Clive Owen in the PC game, Wing Commander: Privateer. I knew him when....

I might be one of the last to see this movie, but what the heck... SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW.

  • Anywhoo, back to Quantum of Solace... am I wrong but did they not play the James Bond Theme until the ending credits?! I really hope I'm wrong, because if so then that is just plain... wrong.
  • It was kind of refreshing that there wasn't a powerful henchmen for Bond to fight before taking on the villain-in-charge. They're mixing up the James Bond movie formula a bit but I like it (except for not including the James Bond Theme -- they need to put that back in to the movie).
  • I like how the producers have restarted the inclusion of an over-arcing plot -- SPECTRE in the first movies, and now Quantum.
  • The hotel in the climax -- what the heck?! Did the colonel's jeep crash into a fuel cell, is that what caused the initial explosion? Because what kind of idiot would leave something that potentially explosive sitting exposed in a garage.
  • This initial explosion then causes a chain reaction in the entire building complex. What, the architects placed fuel cells in every room? They lined the walls and rooms with them?! Are water sprinklers not mandatory in Bolivia? This wasn't some ancient tenement, this was an ultra-modern state of the art hotel. You'd think they'd at least have the most basic safety precautions.
  • I wonder how many hotel employees died off-screen in the climax. The hotel looked huge -- it must have required a significant number of staff.
  • Woohoo, a shout-out to CSIS!