So I’m sure there are like a billion blogs and articles out there about tonight’s game so I appreciate the love and thanks for going through this. I’m so appreciative in fact, that I’ll be as brief as possible. As the title eludes, tonight is the first game of hopefully many for a long run through the playoffs for the Vancouver Canucks. My jersey still smells like stale beer and mustard (moutarde for all you French folk) and living out in the east buys me the entire day to prep. Basically I don’t have to time anything perfectly to make it to the couch tonight.

So, thoughts on the regular season as we move into the real season:

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1 - Kes Is The Key

I tend to shy away from the flash and dash in the playoffs and really enjoy watching players create the games within the games. With a player like Kesler, you know someone will be out for blood by the end of the first period. Forget all these human interest pieces you’ve been reading about with Kes, dude is bad ass and lets people know about it.

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2 - Leave Lou Alone

At least he’s not Dan Cloutier.

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3 - Anger Management

Someone really needs to make sure that Mikael Sameulsson is still pissed about not making the Swedish Olympic team. When he’s pissed, he plays well. Here’s an idea – Hank and Danny should wear their Sweden jerseys every single day before the games just to get Sameulsson’s blood boiling. That way he can take out his frustrations on the likes of Johnny Quick.

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4 - Burying The Hatchet

Dear Kyle Wellwood, I will subside my disgust for your playing style for the rest of my life if you can prove to be more than “nifty,” (Ray Ferarro’s words). Although I am not at the point of putting your name on my jersey, I am willing to keep an open mind this playoff season in hopes of you finding your game.

Game time is at 7PM PST, 10PM EST. I heard Kevin Weekes doing color for the Avs game last night which means we don’t have to listen to him repeat everything he reads out of the game program and say ridiculous things like, “go for the juggler,” not jugular… Bring it on Kings!