This isn't so bad. The Christmas break without hockey is passing quite quickly for me. You too?

The Vancouver Canucks get back on the ice at Rogers Arena this morning, then will fly down to California for their game against the Anaheim Ducks tomorrow. The league-leading Ducks will be on the second half of a back-to-back when they host Vancouver—they visit Glendale to take on the Coyotes tonight.

Maybe we'll get to see the Ducks' new backup Ilya Bryzgalov tomorrow night? Bryz got lit up for six goals against Ottawa on the back half of a road back-to-back before the Christmas break, after Frederik Andersen had squeaked out a 2-1 win over Montreal the night before.

Don't look now, but Ryan Kesler's having a very good season in Anaheim. He's second on the team in scoring behind Ryan Getzlaf with 12 goals and 27 points, including the game-winner in their last outing before Christmas, against the San Jose Sharks.

He is a minus-one, however—an interesting number for a former Selke Trophy winner. I suppose it comes, in part, from the fact that the Ducks have played (and won) so many close games. They've only scored six more goals than they've given up all season—which is 16th in the league and exactly tied with Calgary: 104 goals for and 98 goals against. But they're 17-0-5 in one-goal games, so they're picking up points every time the score is close.

For their part, the Canucks are also undefeated in regulation in one goal games—it just hasn't happened as often. Vancouver is 9-0-2 but as we know, when the Canucks lose this year, they tend to lose big.

While we wait for the NHL to get rolling again, we have plenty of World Junior action to keep us entertained, and 13 games on today's NHL schedule.

It was fun having three Canucks prospects to watch on three different teams as the WJC action kicked off on Saturday—especially when all did well. Considering all three were just drafted this past summer, that's a great sign.

Thatcher Demko, Gustav Forsling and Jake Virtanen all came out on the winning side of the ledger on Day 1, and all were noticeable contributors to their teams' successes.

Demko got victimized by an early goal that went in off his defenseman, but got stronger as the game went on, stopping 28 shots to allow Team USA to force their game against the defending champion Finns into a shootout, where they prevailed.

For his part, Forsling picked up two assists in Sweden's 5-2 win over the Czech Republic, while Jake Virtanen notched a goal and an assist of his own in Canada's 8-0 rout over the Slovaks.

Playing in a fourth-line role, Virtanen was a force throughout the game for Canada. I liked his hustle on Nick Paul's goal early in the second period, and was also impressed by a shift midway through the game where he got hammered in the corner and looked like he might be injured.

After laying on the ice for a moment, Virtanen got up, skated straight to the slot, and fired a solid shot on net. Then, he went back to the corner and returned the favour on the player that had hit him. All told, a feisty shift that I thought showed some nice heart.

Since Virtanen's goal came with three minutes left in the third period, I'm assuming that he didn't suffer any lasting damage on the play.

Canada's back in action today at 5:00 against Germany, while the Swedes have the early game in Toronto against Denmark—they're up 3-0 after one period but as far as I can see, Forsling has been held off the score sheet so far. The U.S. team is idle today; they'll get back on the ice on Sunday against Germany.

Before we close the door on this year's holiday vibes, a few lines of verse to close the blog today from our resident Canucks HockeyBuzz poet, Roland Hazard.

For reasons unknown, he wasn't able to post his Christmas poem in the comments as he usually does. I'm pleased to able to bring it to you here.

Enjoy—and tell us what hockey-related goodies you got from Santa this year!

Since about June, I've been making this list.
I dropped fifty hints, so they'd get the gist:
Like
"Boy, is it cold. I could use a new sweater"
'And, if that sweater said, HORVAT, well,
I'd like that much better'
And my old dinner jacket, that's missing cufflinks,"
I'd like some fancy ones, with some sticks and ice rinks"
And you know what goes great, with a holiday roast?"
"A Vancouver toaster, that makes Vancouver toast!"
And, so not to faux paw, I thought I should add,
A long list of items, I already had!
"And I don't need a bathrobe, nor need some new slippers,"
I DON"T Like the Patriots, the Lakers, or Clippers."
"But I really wouldn't mind a lifesize decal of Sedin!"
"So, when we're having sex, I can think of my team!"
Maybe not subtle, too much off the cuff?
Is it so selfish to want,
more Vancouver stuff?
Yes, it's about giving, and massive credit card debt!
But I can't help but wonder, just what I might get!

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