The BERNIER Game Recap
Mar. 13th, 2009 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spottoIn a hopeless effort to flood my LJ with posts, I'm going to record anything interesting Bernier does in every game till the end of the season/probably post-season. (I will cry if they go on a losing streak and miss the playoffs but that doesn't seem too likely...then again...that happened last year...) Anyway the reason besides my homerism for a hockey player many people don't seem to care about, is that I see lots of good things out of him and most people just focus on goals or points. The number of negative comments spat out by unobservant 'hockey fans' does not please me one bit, but I should expect that from fans of ANY team in ANY sport, really.
Not that people really read this but I just want to fill this blog up with anything of importance :P
Today was the game versus the Los Angeles Kings. A team we should win against since we're inside the playoff race and they're not. We lost to them five days ago in a rather iffy game, where Luongo was shaky (for the most part) and we threw lots of shots, but many where their goaltender could see easily, and so would make the save.
This game, Bernier was very active. He had a cage on (heard he has a minor injury in his cheek). Now some random hockey fan would probably just notice his two penalties he took tonight. Bernier usually is disciplined, but he seemed incredibly jumpy tonight that led to the penalties, but it also led to the ones he drew as well.
The second penalty the Kings took was drawn by Bernier, ala power forward style. He was just trying to get to the puck when Kopitar (I think it was Kopitar, >.>) decided that moving was not necessary then and ended up tripping Bernier up. It was really more Kopitar than Bernier that the penalty happened but still. Cue the Powerplay!
Bernier had a beautiful chance in front of the net to backhand it into a yawning empty net but Quick managed to stretch out his pad to squash that chance. So many players never getting the puck into the air...I suppose it's harder in the backhand, but these are professionals! Get working!
...and following that, Bernier came flying into a crowd of players trying to dig out the puck. I'm not sure what he was trying to do, but he ended up getting an elbowing penalty. I think he was just trying to get in a hit so it'd be easier for the Sedins to dig out the puck, but he ended up missing them all so I don't see how that really WAS a penalty on the first place. This unfortunately took them off the powerplay. (Really the only time you'd see him with the Sedins, with the only exception being that Burrows was just on the PK so he'd be tired for his regular shift with the twins)
Speaking of which, I am not against Bernier on the powerplay but I think Burrows earned his right on the PP. The only reason I could see for not putting Burrows there is because Burrows is already everywhere. He's on the first line, on the PK, always the hero all over the place, and then adding him on the PP would be way too much icetime especially since Bernier doesn't play on the PK at all, but I still would like to see Burrows on the PP somewhere, if not with the Sedins at least with the RPM line, with Demitra at the point. (Though Wellwood's been looking good on that unit so far) The powerplay hasn't been that good lately, but there have been many chances so it's not like the PP looked extremely horrible, there's just no finish.
So after a good kill by the 'Nucks, Bernier was out there again at the end of the first, and he took ANOTHER penalty. This time I would fault him because he stuck his stick where no sticks should be going and tripped up a Kings' player. Luckily, when the penalty carried over to the second the Canucks had the best kill I've seen for a long time. The Kings had no shots and was barely even inside the offensive zone! Luongo could've had a drink or two during that stint, and Bernier served his time and left the box.
Sometime down the second period, he was with the Sedins again because of Burrows on the PK just before, and managed to draw a penalty for the second time this game! This time it was more him than the offending player (Doughty) that caused the penalty because he drove towards the net with his size. Cue another powerplay, but I don't think much happened on that one...
The second period was mostly quiet though, no goals by each side but the Canucks still had the two goal lead from the first after a very lopsided period. In the third period, Bernier quieted down, most probably because he was with his regular linemates (almost everything I noted that happened was when Bernier was with the Sedins, :P) but he still did a few things that caught my eye. During the second half of the final period, he spent quite a lot of time at the offensive zone boards, just keeping it there and running the clock. This is something Burrows or the Sedins would usually do, and his linemates Wellwood and Raymond were doing a great job as well. A good third-line shift. (Oddly enough when Burrows got on the ice the puck left the offensive zone, but I'm not gonna fault him for that :P)
Since Henrik was so good in the third period, let's mention him too. The Kings rallied back with two goals in under half-a-minute, tying up at 2-2. Now I normally expect this team to lose confidence after that back-breaking moment, but since the Canucks have been so good lately it was pretty exciting when Henrik broke up that tie quickly afterwards with two goals in half-a-minute. The first was in the middle of a change since Henrik was with Kesler and Demitra, but Demitra came down the boards and passed it to Kesler who made a beautiful pass to Henrik Sedin, and he drove it home. 3-2! And people say the Sedins aren't first liners, pft. To add to this, Henrik came back on his next shift, spinning from the defencemen and getting a quick shot at the goalie. Normally a shot like that usually doesn't get past a goaltender but because of his moves the shot probably surprised Quick, getting the Canucks a good insurance marker.
With that, the Canucks managed to win the game with a score of 4-2, woohoo! The photographers decided to take photos of Bernier today (maybe because he did quite a lot IMO (both good and bad) in this game) and that's why there are photos with this post. (snatched from Canucks.com lol)
Spotto is hungry so Spotto will go eat now.
Not that people really read this but I just want to fill this blog up with anything of importance :P
Today was the game versus the Los Angeles Kings. A team we should win against since we're inside the playoff race and they're not. We lost to them five days ago in a rather iffy game, where Luongo was shaky (for the most part) and we threw lots of shots, but many where their goaltender could see easily, and so would make the save.
This game, Bernier was very active. He had a cage on (heard he has a minor injury in his cheek). Now some random hockey fan would probably just notice his two penalties he took tonight. Bernier usually is disciplined, but he seemed incredibly jumpy tonight that led to the penalties, but it also led to the ones he drew as well.
The second penalty the Kings took was drawn by Bernier, ala power forward style. He was just trying to get to the puck when Kopitar (I think it was Kopitar, >.>) decided that moving was not necessary then and ended up tripping Bernier up. It was really more Kopitar than Bernier that the penalty happened but still. Cue the Powerplay!
Bernier had a beautiful chance in front of the net to backhand it into a yawning empty net but Quick managed to stretch out his pad to squash that chance. So many players never getting the puck into the air...I suppose it's harder in the backhand, but these are professionals! Get working!
...and following that, Bernier came flying into a crowd of players trying to dig out the puck. I'm not sure what he was trying to do, but he ended up getting an elbowing penalty. I think he was just trying to get in a hit so it'd be easier for the Sedins to dig out the puck, but he ended up missing them all so I don't see how that really WAS a penalty on the first place. This unfortunately took them off the powerplay. (Really the only time you'd see him with the Sedins, with the only exception being that Burrows was just on the PK so he'd be tired for his regular shift with the twins)
Speaking of which, I am not against Bernier on the powerplay but I think Burrows earned his right on the PP. The only reason I could see for not putting Burrows there is because Burrows is already everywhere. He's on the first line, on the PK, always the hero all over the place, and then adding him on the PP would be way too much icetime especially since Bernier doesn't play on the PK at all, but I still would like to see Burrows on the PP somewhere, if not with the Sedins at least with the RPM line, with Demitra at the point. (Though Wellwood's been looking good on that unit so far) The powerplay hasn't been that good lately, but there have been many chances so it's not like the PP looked extremely horrible, there's just no finish.
So after a good kill by the 'Nucks, Bernier was out there again at the end of the first, and he took ANOTHER penalty. This time I would fault him because he stuck his stick where no sticks should be going and tripped up a Kings' player. Luckily, when the penalty carried over to the second the Canucks had the best kill I've seen for a long time. The Kings had no shots and was barely even inside the offensive zone! Luongo could've had a drink or two during that stint, and Bernier served his time and left the box.
Sometime down the second period, he was with the Sedins again because of Burrows on the PK just before, and managed to draw a penalty for the second time this game! This time it was more him than the offending player (Doughty) that caused the penalty because he drove towards the net with his size. Cue another powerplay, but I don't think much happened on that one...
The second period was mostly quiet though, no goals by each side but the Canucks still had the two goal lead from the first after a very lopsided period. In the third period, Bernier quieted down, most probably because he was with his regular linemates (almost everything I noted that happened was when Bernier was with the Sedins, :P) but he still did a few things that caught my eye. During the second half of the final period, he spent quite a lot of time at the offensive zone boards, just keeping it there and running the clock. This is something Burrows or the Sedins would usually do, and his linemates Wellwood and Raymond were doing a great job as well. A good third-line shift. (Oddly enough when Burrows got on the ice the puck left the offensive zone, but I'm not gonna fault him for that :P)
Since Henrik was so good in the third period, let's mention him too. The Kings rallied back with two goals in under half-a-minute, tying up at 2-2. Now I normally expect this team to lose confidence after that back-breaking moment, but since the Canucks have been so good lately it was pretty exciting when Henrik broke up that tie quickly afterwards with two goals in half-a-minute. The first was in the middle of a change since Henrik was with Kesler and Demitra, but Demitra came down the boards and passed it to Kesler who made a beautiful pass to Henrik Sedin, and he drove it home. 3-2! And people say the Sedins aren't first liners, pft. To add to this, Henrik came back on his next shift, spinning from the defencemen and getting a quick shot at the goalie. Normally a shot like that usually doesn't get past a goaltender but because of his moves the shot probably surprised Quick, getting the Canucks a good insurance marker.
With that, the Canucks managed to win the game with a score of 4-2, woohoo! The photographers decided to take photos of Bernier today (maybe because he did quite a lot IMO (both good and bad) in this game) and that's why there are photos with this post. (snatched from Canucks.com lol)
Spotto is hungry so Spotto will go eat now.
