As the dog days of summer wind down, Trevor Linden has managed to find the time in his busy schedule to head over to Europe for a seven-day cycling event called the Haute Route Alps. If the word "Alps" wasn't your first clue that there are some mountain ascents involved, consider the fact that "Haute" is the French word for "High."
Jim Jamieson
has the story in
The Province. The event began on Sunday in Geneva, Switzerland and continues through this weekend, where it'll wrap up in Nice, France.
Linden's tackling it with three of his cycling buddies. He'd signed up before he started his new job with the Canucks, so he's fortunate that the timing fell during a quiet part of the NHL offseason. He sounds very excited for the experience, and says "It’ll get me fresh and ready to roll for the season."
Here's how Linden explains his passion for mountain treks:
I think it’s something about powering yourself, it’s human power, very rhythmic, on a bike. I like climbing mountains, I like feeling a little bit of the pain it takes and the satisfaction of getting to the top. Sure, there’s always going to be times when I’m thinking, ‘What am I doing up here?’ but you always forget about the pain at the end. It’s a challenge and it’s rewarding. I think for me, being in a sport where I always had goals and challenges, this takes the place of that a little bit.
AHL West Division Moves Closer to Reality
Here's a story from an AHL Hartford Wolf Pack blog, Howlings.net, updating the latest moves in the minor-league hockey world. The end-game here is to get a pocket of AHL franchises closer to teams out west, closer to their parent teams and near enough to each other that their travel won't be overwhelming.
The article suggests that the Pacific Division will come into being in 2015-16 with six U.S. teams, then three more to follow:
The last three AHL teams to go out West in two years will be Vancouver (Utica to potentially Abbotsford, BC), Edmonton (Oklahoma City to Bakersfield, CA) and Calgary from Glens Falls where they start the season as the Adirondack Flames.
It's a positive plan for all the Western Conference teams. It will be great for the organizations to work more closely with their prospects and will also give fans an opportunity to become more engaged with action on the farm.
Last week, the Canucks
also announced that they have renewed their affiliation with their second-tier minor-league team, the Kalamazoo K-Wings of the East Coast Hockey League.
Who Wore It Best?
Our poll and
Canucks.com sync up again, with a solid win for the franchise's first captain, Orland Kurtenbach, at No. 25. The video below reminds us that Kurtenbach's legacy with Vancouver actually begins all the way back in 1957-58, in the Western League:
Today's nominees, at No. 26:
Trent Klatt: The Sedins' first significant linemate, Trent Klatt was acquired from Philadelphia for a sixth-round pick near the beginning of the 1998 season. He'd scored 24 goals with the Flyers earlier in his career, but was best-known as a grinding, bottom-six winger.
Klatt clicked with the twins, eventually scoring 16 goals with them during his last season in Vancouver, in 2002-03. When he left the team that summer to sign as a free agent with Los Angeles, he'd posted 51 goals and 111 points during 313 games over five years.
Mikael Samuelsson: Canucks.com
says "only players not on an active NHL roster" will be considered, so Mikael Samuelsson qualifies for the poll. He has signed on with Djurgardens IF of the Swedish Hockey League for the upcoming season.
Samuelsson's a member of the Triple Gold Club, but he enjoyed his most productive NHL seasons in Vancouver. He signed with the Canucks as a free agent in the summer of 2009, a year after winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit. He fit right in, scoring a career-high 30 goals in his first season and following up with 50 points in 2010-11. Injuries limited him to just 11 games during the 2011 Stanley Cup Run.
All told, Samuelsson had 49 goals and 106 points in 155 games with Vancouver. Here's a fun fact: when he was traded to Florida early in the 2011-12 season in the deal that brought David Booth to Vancouver, the Canucks also acquired the third-round pick that they used to select Cole Cassels. Samuelsson may turn out to be delivering value to the Canucks for years to come!
Petri Skriko: An offensively-gifted Finn, Petri Skriko was an eighth-round pick by the Canucks in 1981. He joined the team as a 22-year-old in 1984-85 and became one of the Canucks' most reliable scorers in the late '80s. For four straight years, he scored 30 goals or more, and he was the first Canuck ever to be named Player of the Month in November of 1986, when he scored three hat tricks in eight days.
Skriko was traded to Boston for a second-rounder in 1991, who turned out to be Michael Peca. He's now a scout for the Washington Capitals. In his 472 games with Vancouver over seven years, Skriko scored 171 goals and 373 points.
No. 26 was also worn by short-term rental players Martin Rucinsky and Sammy Pahlsson, as well as Mike Sillinger, Lars Molin, Gerry Meehan and Ryan Shannon.
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