Tuesday, March 18, 2014
On the Road, Again!
Last Sunday, Shawn Matthias played
his first game in Florida as a Vancouver Canuck. It was not his first game in
Sunrise, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, as he played 312 games for the Florida
Panthers. Needless to say, it was different for the former Belleville Bull.
“It was very emotional for me,” he
told me after the game. He entered the arena from a different entrance, dressed
for the game in the visitors’ dressing room. “But it was fun to play here. I
have always enjoyed playing in front of the crowds here.” He took some time
after the game to visit with a couple of his former teammates.
The Canucks led 2-1 after the second
period; however, the Panthers clawed their way back into the game and Jimmy
Hayes got his second goal of the game with 1:35 remaining in the third period.
The big guy from Beantown was simply doing his job on the power play, filling
the space in front of the net, distracting Canucks goalie Eddie Lack. Brian
Campbell’s point shot was stopped by Lack, but Hayes managed to fire the
rebound into the Vancouver net.
As is so often the case this year,
nothing was settled in overtime. The teams selected their players for the
shootout. The Canucks: Zac Dalpe, Nicklas Jensen, and Christopher Higgins. The
Panthers: Nick Bjugstad, Brad Boyes, and Brandon Pirri. My point here is that
you will not find those names in the scoring leaders for the NHL. The Panthers
and the Canucks are looking to the future, to put it politely. At any rate,
Jensen beat Luongo with a fine deke put win the game for the Canucks.
Hayes was selected as the game’s
first star, with two goals. He was traded to the Panthers after his Stanley Cup
season last year with the Hawks. Once he had finished his interviews with the
media types, I quietly approached him, and told him that Doug and Darlene Shaw
asked me to say hello. “Do you know them?” he asked. I explained to him that we
are all “County” folk. I also told him that the three Shaw boys played football
in the minor league in Belleville, with Doug helping to coach. “You mean those
three knucleheads were on the same team?” Hayes is a great friend of Andrew
Shaw, who spends a little time stirring things up for the Blackhawks.
Matthias was traded to the Canucks
with goaltender Jacob Markstrom for Luongo and Steven Anthony, at this year’s
trading deadline. He made no bones about the fact that he enjoyed the win. “I
am really pumped about this win,” he told me as he finished packing for the
road.
Enigmatic coach John Tortorella was
pleased with the win. “That’s the way it’s been,” he said, after the game.
“We’ve been on the other side of these things. Good for Eddie lack, and Jensen.
It’s not Picasso, that’s for sure. But it’s nice to grind away, and scratch and
claw and get the two points.”
The Canucks are dangerously close to
missing the playoffs this year. They are 4-12-1 in their past 17 games, and
dearly miss the other Sedin. Henrik, the captain, spoke to me after the game.
“It was a bit strange to see Roberto at the other end in the warmup. This is a
tough time for us right now, but it is great to see the young guys coming up
and playing well. If we can keep the mistakes at a minimum, we will succeed.”
On Monday night, the Canucks lost 4-3
in Tampa Bay. There is little time left for failure, for the team, for the
coach.
James Hurst
March 19, 2014
# posted by James Hurst @ 8:26 AM 
