I'm wondering how much to read into Ryan Miller's end-of-season tweet, which was posted yesterday:
Baby Bodhi looks super-cute in his Canucks gear, but I'm not really feeling a big "We'll get 'em next year" vibe from Miller's choice of the word "memorable" to describe his first season in Vancouver.
But what else could he have said? He has been treated with raised eyebrows ever since he was signed by Jim Benning last July 1 and had to watch the city's lovefest with Eddie Lack—both before and after his knee injury.
I'm guessing most of you haven't been watching "Hockey Wives," but I have really enjoyed it. The show hasn't relied on conflict—or shopping—to advance its storylines. There's enough drama surrounding these families when dealing with real-life issues like kids with autism and life after hockey—though the issue of whether Brandon Prust will ever propose to his TV-host girlfriend has also been front and centre for much of the season.
Noureen's pregnancy has also gotten lots of play. At her baby shower back home in Atlanta, we got to meet her family, including her doctor father and her two successful sisters—if I remember correctly, one's a doctor and the other's a lawyer. We also saw Ryan drop in on the proceedings via Facetime—looking rather grateful that he had a good reason to miss out on these particular festivities.
In last week's episode, pregnant Noureen finally moves up to Vancouver after her obligations to the TV Show "Anger Management" had concluded. We see her with Ryan, doing a photoshoot for Hello! Canada in their Yaletown condo:
Noureen admits that this is the longest that she and Ryan have lived in the same city since they got married in 2011, but also mentions that if she doesn't get a Canadian acting job after the baby is born, she'll be looking to get back to Los Angeles sooner rather than later so that she can resume her career.
Does that mean Miller will also be looking to relocate stateside? And would there really be much difference between a long-distance relationship from L.A. to Vancouver or from L.A. to, say, San Jose?
I guess the Las Vegas franchise won't come into existence soon enough to make Miller its marquee starting goaltender, will it?
Miller has two years left on his contract with Vancouver, at $6 million per season. It's clear that his family means the world to him, so I think Noureen's wishes will play into his future plans.
For now, I'll assume that means he'll be back here in Vancouver next fall, but it is a story to watch.
No news yet on goaltending prospect Matt O'Connor's final landing place:
Jacob Markstrom is the one Vancouver goaltending prospect who's still playing hockey. After the Toronto Marlies fell to Grand Rapids on Sunday, we now know that the Utica Comets will face the Oklahoma City Barons in the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The best-of-seven series kicks off on Thursday in a 2-3-2 format, with the Comets holding home-ice advantage. Oklahoma City swept its first-round series against San Antonio, with two of the three games ending in overtime.
Patrick Johnston has a good story in
The Province about Brendan Gaunce, who was a healthy scratch in Games 3 and 4 of Utica's first-round series but rebounded in a big way in Game 5, with two power-play goals.
Click here to read.
Gaunce’s whole game was just what his coach hoped he’d see from the 21-year-old.
“They have to keep the right attitude and when they get in the lineup, you hope they respond,” Green said.
“That’s one of the biggest responses we’ve seen out of our group in a really long time. I’m really proud of him.”
The competition for ice time in Utica will be even tighter in Round 2. As previously noted, both Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann have been called up to join the Comets now that they're out of the CHL playoffs.
Canada's Teams in Trouble
Tough night for Canada's remaining NHL teams on Sunday.
The Calgary Flames played a much better game but still lost 3-0 to Anaheim to go down 0-2 in their series. Is the "moral victory" of outshooting the Ducks for two periods and hanging with the opposition enough to jumpstart them back into the series when the scene shifts to Calgary?
Surprisingly, Montreal might now be in even worse shape, after losing the first two games of their series at home and now heading for the tough environment of Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay. Even worse, the Habs came unglued in their 6-2 loss on Sunday and Brandon Prust made a potentially career-changing error when he called out referee Brad Watson for verbal abuse after the game.
I can't imagine that incident is going to make life any easier for the Habs within the referees' fraternity going forward—or does the NHL's most storied franchise get a pass?
If you need a positive dose of patriotism, tune into the Canada/Czech Republic matchup from the World Championships, which starts today at 11 a.m. We should see a raucous home crowd and the ageless Jaromir Jagr face off against a Canadian squad that has been the class of the tournament so far.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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