Top 10 Canuck Moments from this Past Season

Some very memorable Canuck moments have come and gone over the past seven months. We faced adversity and came back, won our division for only the 6th time in our 39 years of existence, proved ourselves as a team, and just in case you missed these moments here is a list of the top 10 Canuck 08/09 highlights:

1. Trevor Linden Jersey Raising
Maybe he wasn’t the most skilled player to ever play in Vancouver, but there is no arguing that Trevor Linden is the greatest Canuck of all time. Drafted by the Canucks second overall in 1988 he went on to an illustrious career with Vancouver and captained the Canucks to the closest they ever came to a Stanley cup in 1994. Number one in Canuck games played and assists, as well as being second in goals and points, Trevor Linden will be remembered forever.

2. Alexander Burrows’ Winning Goal Against Carolina February 3rd
Tied 3-3 in the last two minutes and Mattias Ohlund in the box for hooking, Alex Burrows took a pass from Ryan Kesler and went in on a breakaway. In the month of January the Canucks had won just two games in 12 tries, and hadn’t won a game in their last eight. Burrows came in on Cam Ward and with a beautiful forehand-backhand move sent GM place into frenzy, this game was the beginning of…

3. February 3rd to End of Regular Season Record
In what turned out to be the best record in that span of time this season, the Canucks went on to an improbable run of 23-7-2. You can’t point at one player and say they were the reason, you can’t even point at a certain aspect of the game; sometimes we won 6-4 and sometimes we won 1-0. The players came together and won the Northwest division championship after being down 13 points to Calgary which gave the Canucks third place in the Western Conference.

4. Blackhawks Brawl
Fights are no longer as common as they used to be, and line brawls are pretty much nonexistent in today’s NHL. That’s why this was so special, with Bieksa doing his best against Ben Eager who had a 15 pound advantage, Burrows paired off with Duncan Keith (and his long hair which was just too easy to grab) and O’Brien desperately trying to get at Dustin Byfuglien who started the whole thing by taking a cheap shot on Luongo. The Canucks showed amazing character in this late March brouhaha.

5. First Round Sweep of the St. Louis Blues
The Blues were the best team in the NHL’s second half of the regular season, going from 15th to 6th in the western conference; that was before they ran into a brick wall in Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks swept a team in a seven game series for the first time in their 38 seasons with the NHL, and established themselves as a team to be reckoned with.

6. Canucks Win vs. Flames April 7th, 2009
Don’t be fooled by the 4-1 score, this game was close. In fact, the shots were 47-25 for the Flames. This was a great game to watch, and for all intents and purposes it was the decider of the division champs, living up to its hype. Luongo was unbelievable, Ohlund had two goals, Edler had two assists and the team came together for a great win.

7. Luongo Shutout Streak
Lost among the tragedy of his injury, his shaky play after his groin finally recovered and his great play recently, is one of the best stories of the Canucks this season. Luongo went 242 minutes 36 seconds without giving up a goal, setting a new club and personal record improving on last season’s mark of 201 minutes 8 seconds. That’s over 3 games of shutouts in the month of November, reminding the league yet again that he is one of the top goalkeepers in the NHL.

8. We’re the Last Canadian Team
It’s been a while since Don Cherry has been forced to say something good about the Canucks, but it’s happened. The Canucks are Canada’s last remaining team in the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs; that means that TSN actually has to talk about us, we get Jim Hughson on HNIC, and all of Canada is jumping on our bandwagon. It’s been a while.

9. Sundin Signing
There’s no denying that Sundin hasn’t lived up to the expectations that were thrust upon him when he was signed in Vancouver. Nonetheless, he has still helped the team a tonne by drawing attention from the other teams’ defense, creating a significant presence below the goal line and displaying great leadership. Plus the fact that it’s never bad to have the 25th overall scorer in NHL history on your team.

10. Ohlund Becomes All Time Leading Defenseman Scorer in Canucks History
Sure, the Canucks have never had a prolific scorer on Defense, but that shouldn’t take away from his accomplishment. For the whole WCE era he was the Canucks go-to shutdown guy, he faced the top man on the other team night-in and night-out and he still has the career lead in points, that’s impressive.