The Two-Line Pass

The Lead

Earlier tonight, I was trying to compose my thoughts about Trevor Linden for this thing here and, I dunno, it made me feel kind of conflicted. I mean, the guy played for the Canucks for like 17 years, and as a Flames fan, especially one that still remembers the first round in ‘94, it’s not easy to line up with him on that.

As such, and because I’m not a fan of the Canucks, it feels more than a little strange (and frankly a bit inappropriate) that I’m going to say what I’m about to say.

As a hockey fan, how can you not love and respect Trevor Linden? A good kid outta Medicine Hat that only ever wanted to play the game and help the community. You’ll never hear anyone say a bad word about Linden, who gave so freely of his time and energy. Not from the fiercest of opponents, not from a fan on the street, not from anybody. Trevor Linden always exuded genuine, honest class. He is the perfect ambassador for not only the sport of hockey, but sport in general. All professional athletes should aspire to be what Trevor Linden always was, is and will be.

He never scored 50 goals and he never sniffed 100 points. He didn’t play his entire career in Vancouver. That doesn’t matter, though. Trevor Linden will always be the greatest Canuck to pull on the sweater.

This video, which ran tonight ahead of the Canucks’ fitting 4-1 win over Edmonton, says more about what he means to Vancouver — both the franchise and the city, as a player and a person — than I ever could:

Thanks for everything, No. 16. You earned it all and more.

Elsewhere…

New Jersey 5, Buffalo 3

You probably won’t believe this, but the Devils are currently eighth in the NHL in goals a game. Really. A full 3.03 a night. Never thought you’d see that, huh? But another five goals tonight is tough to argue with. Oddly, it’s not one player doing it all for the Devs, apart from Zach Parise who scored his 18th tonight. Travis Zajac got his eighth, Bryce Salvador and Brian Rolston both got their second and David Clarkson got his sixth. The team was able to convincingly change its identity in a pretty short time after Marty Brodeur went down for just about the whole season. That’s awful impressive.

Columbus 2, San Jose 1 (OT)

The Sharks give up wins to the oddest teams. Their regulation losses have been to the Ducks (okay), Panthers (what), and Coyotes (huh). Their OT or shootout losses have been to the Predators (eh), Oilers (umm…) and now Blue Jackets. How does that make any sense at all? Against the entire NHL, they roll over just about everyone, but they run into cupcakes and get beaten with regularity. Maybe that’s the key to beating the Sharks: be not so good. Big ups to RJ Umberger for scoring the game-winner.

Calgary 3, Minnesota 2 (OT)

Big Bert scored his first goal in 20 games on an amazing play set up entirely by hard work in the Flames’ own zone and a diving swipe at a loose puck in the neutral zone by Daymond Langkow to cap what was, in many ways, a massively entertaining game. Marian Gaborik came back for the Wild and had an assist and the goal that sent the game to OT. Calgary got goals from Langkow and Craig Conroy. But the real story was the physicality of the game, which featured a few fights, several big hits and very chippy play. Games like this — as well as last night’s convincing win over St. Louis — almost remind you of what made the Flames so good and difficult to play against in years past. Almost. They’re still giving points away to division opponents because they can’t hold a third-period lead. That’s troubling.

New York Rangers 3, Los Angeles 2

The Rangers got more than a little bit of help from the refs tonight, as Michal Rozsival drew an extremely objectionable call that resulted in a penalty shot and, ultimately, the overtime game-winner. It was Rozsival’s second of the night, in fact, and caused Ranger fans to stop bitching about him for like six total seconds. The Kings, who got an inspired effort from Dustin Brown, deserved a better result.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 3:07 am and is filed under Good night. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.