With Christmas Day just around the corner, I'm not in the mood to dish out any lumps of coal.
Instead, let's start today with a song to sum up the first three months of the season, and a chance to check out the dance stylings of Ben Hutton and Jake Virtanen.
From the "heartwarming" side of the Christmas equation, here's Bo Horvat and his girlfriend Holly delivering gifts to a less-fortunate family.
Bo says that, in the past, players received presents from the organization but Trevor Linden thought it would be more meaningful for the players to give back to the community.
Also, here's a nice segment featuring Jacob Markstrom setting up a local boy with a complete set of new goalie equipment, courtesy of SportChek and the Jumpstart program.
At 14, Matthew is already 6'1"—and sounded a little bit envious of Markstrom's 6'6" frame.
It was pretty amazing seeing Markstrom and 6'7" Ben Bishop at opposite ends of the ice for Tuesday's game. The new era of goaltending is certainly on its way in.
Finally—it's nice to see Brandon Sutter front and centre in the Canucks' annual holiday visit to BC Childrens' Hospital.
Of course, if you're looking for a last-minute gift for the hockey fan on your Christmas list, the Canucks will be opening a seven-game homestand against the Edmonton Oilers on Boxing Day.
The team is offering special Holiday Pack pricing until December 31 for games in the New Year, with tickets as low as $64 each if you purchase two games, and a $50 gift card for the Team Store.
Other special deals include the Family Pack, which includes tickets as low as $44 for a family of four—plus Cineplex movie passes and food at the game.
The Canucks have played just 14 of their 41 home games at Rogers Arena so far this season, so expect to see plenty of incentive packages to get bodies into the building throughout the second half of the year.
As far as this season's top hockey books, I just finished reading Tie Domi's "Shift Work." The tone is mostly pretty breezy, focusing on Domi's cheerful attitude and fierce loyalty to protecting his star teammates like Teemu Selanne during his time with the Winnipeg Jets and, of course, Mats Sundin in Toronto.
Domi tells the enforcer's story in the old-school style, without dwelling on the risks that accompany the role. He does pay tribute to his old foe Bob Probert and his former teammate Wade Belak.
My warning for Canucks fans: Mark Messier gets painted with a very favourable brush from Tie's time with the New York Rangers at the beginning of his career. If you can get past that part at the beginning, the book does include some valuable life lessons about treating people with respect.
Next up on the docket for me will be the Pat Quinn memoir, "Quinn: The Life of a Hockey Legend." I'm looking forward to it as it's written by Dan Robson, the same author who worked with Clint Malarchuk on his harrowing autobiography, "The Crazy Game."
It'll be a couple of weeks before I get to that. I'll report back once I've read it. Further down the line, I'm also looking forward to James Duthie's "The Guy on the Left."
While I'm treading through not-quite-Canucks content, let me include this video from the brother of Canucks defensive prospect Jordan Subban that's making the rounds today:
P.K.'s $10 million commitment to his charity endeavour with the Montreal Children's Hospital is tremendous. Love the pyjamas in this video.
On that note—Merry Christmas to all of you in the HockeyBuzz world. I hope Santa is good to you and yours, and look forward to digging into World Juniors and, of course, our Canucks!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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