Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators

Dan Hamhuis will have to enjoy the view from the press box for tonights game. The Star Defenceman is sitting out with his second concussion in 48 games. Samuellson and Glass will also be sitting out with Edler and Alberts.

I am most looking forward to getting Andrew Alberts back from injury. He was playing some really intimidating hockey before he went down with his first injury. He didn't get much time to show off after he got back before getting injured again. Alberts plays a unique style of defence that sees him get in the right lanes to prevent shots from going towards the net. He also plays very physical and is able of laying out some of the best hits on the Canucks on opposing players. He has been playing really smart hockey for the Canucks this season and you couldn't ask for a better defenseman to have in your third pairing. Obviously Edler will bring a lot more to the team offensively and defensively, but Alberts contribution could go a long way especially if he can stay healthy while other Canucks D-men continue to drop like flies (knock on wood).

It will be a good game against the Predators tonight. David Legwand is playing really hot right now so the top pairing will have a tough time shutting him down. Mike Fisher is coming off of a 2 goal night and he also scored his first goal as a Predator against the Canucks. Hopefully his wife is in the stands so we can get some good Carrie Underwood shots

The battle between Luongo and Rinne tonight will involve two goalies who in my opinion will definitely be nominated for the Vezina. The third goalie would be Tim thomas who at this point in the season is probably most likely to win because of his GAA and Save percentage.

Also Shea Weber is bound to have a good game against his home province team. We have to be careful not to take too many stupid penalties because the last thing i want to happen is for Burrows or Kesler to have to block a Shea Weber shot from the point. It's too bad we can't put Torres on the 1st line PK to stand in front of those shots.

All in all it will be a very good game. The Canucks definitely need to win this game so they can have confidence facing Nashville in the playoffs. Currently the Preds lead the season series 2-1. The last thing the Canucks want is for O'brien to have more fuel to jokingly criticize the Canucks about

-Hark

Hodgson called back up to play with Canucks... This time maybe for the rest of the Season.

After going back to Manitoba for a short window, Hodgson is ready to come back up and center the fourth line. The canucks have tried many players in that role since the start of training camp but nobody has stuck (rick rypien, brendan morrison, peter schaefer, tanner glass.) Hodgson adds a different dimension than most fourth lines. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks team that won the 2007 stanley cup had Slob Neidermyer centering their fourth line. he was a faceoff expert, grinder par excellence and good penalty killer. Cody Hodgson is a skilled player that likes to play in the offensive zone. he can play pk, but he wont with the canucks, but it is likely to see him on the second powerplay unit. we can't expect hodgson to add any physicality, however his linemate of Tanner Glass can do that job for him. It's just a matter of how vigneault wants to fill out this line with possibilities of oreskovich, tambellini and maybe Rypien if he ever returns (very unlikely).

In other news, one of our most avid readers really took what Hal had to say to heart. rene Bourque, who is a good friend of 'the battle of western canada' had the game of his career yesterday after Hal called him out for poor play.

Good job Rene Bourque and next time the beers are on us !

-hark