Canucks ticket availabilty doesn’t reflect team’s support

Coming off a well-earned 2-1 win against St.Louis in the opening game of the series on Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks aim to claim yet another win tonight as the Blues return for game two. But should the team and their supportive fans be worried about the over-abundance of available Canucks tickets?

Being one of the hottest teams coming out of the second half of the regular season, and the Northwest Division Champions, the Canucks should be expected to sell out GM Place, resulting in a hot market for season ticket-holders who decide to resell and last minute ticket buyers. However, because of the inflation of post-season ticket prices — a 40% increase over regular season tickets for the first round, and a possible 200% increase for the Cup finals — there just isn’t that much of a demand for tickets, especially in this economy.

As a result, the market is flooded with sellers over buyers, ten to one, meaning resellers are able to sell their tickets before the venue can even sell out — a result many fans noticed during the first game against the Blues where a number of lower bowl seats were left empty throughout the game, white towels draped over them. This is the time for fans to take advantage of the situation and watch the market closely in order to score great tickets for a cheaper price than they normally would. Hopefully tonight there will be enough fans in attendance to give the Canucks the support they need as they take on the Blues in game two, aiming to extend their series lead to two.

Canucks ticket availabilty doesn't reflect team's support

Coming off a well-earned 2-1 win against St.Louis in the opening game of the series on Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks aim to claim yet another win tonight as the Blues return for game two. But should the team and their supportive fans be worried about the over-abundance of available Canucks tickets?
Being one of the hottest teams coming out of the second half of the regular season, and the Northwest Division Champions, the Canucks should be expected to sell out GM Place, resulting in a hot market for season ticket-holders who decide to resell and last minute ticket buyers. However, because of the inflation of post-season ticket prices — a 40% increase over regular season tickets for the first round, and a possible 200% increase for the Cup finals — there just isn’t that much of a demand for tickets, especially in this economy.
As a result, the market is flooded with sellers over buyers, ten to one, meaning resellers are able to sell their tickets before the venue can even sell out — a result many fans noticed during the first game against the Blues where a number of lower bowl seats were left empty throughout the game, white towels draped over them. This is the time for fans to take advantage of the situation and watch the market closely in order to score great tickets for a cheaper price than they normally would. Hopefully tonight there will be enough fans in attendance to give the Canucks the support they need as they take on the Blues in game two, aiming to extend their series lead to two.

Flames can't defy regular season record with Blackhawks

Although they were matched in overall wins in the regular season, the Blackhwaks are the one team that the Calgary Flames would have wanted to avoid in the post-season. Chicago dominated Calgary in the regular season series, posting a record of 4-0-0 and outscoring the Flames 19 to 7. With statistics like these, fans were expecting a much different performance by the Blackhawks than they displayed last night in game one at the United Center in Chicago.
From the moment the puck dropped, Calgary played a physical game to establish their presence and stir up the inexperienced Blackhawks — only ten of their players have playoff experience, and their lack of confidence showed early on in the game. However, Calgary’s level of play was matched by Chicago later in the second; after tying the game at one in the middle frame, then again falling behind in the third, Chicago’s stand-out player of the night, Martin Havlat, evened the game with 5:33 to go in the game after scoring off his own rebound.
With the game unsettled after 60 minutes, the two teams went into overtime expecting a hard-hitting battle for the win that, if the previous periods had shown, would be a long and even-matched series of periods. However, once again Havlat shined for the Blackhawks and scored only 12 seconds into the extra period on a controversial goal that saw Chicago’s Andrew Ladd accidentally-on-purpose interfere with Mikka Kiprusoff. Havlat’s performance landed him the first star of the night. When these two teams meet again on Saturday, Calgary will no doubt up their already high level of play to return the favor to the Blackhawks, aiming to tie the series at one a piece.

Flames can’t defy regular season record with Blackhawks

Although they were matched in overall wins in the regular season, the Blackhwaks are the one team that the Calgary Flames would have wanted to avoid in the post-season. Chicago dominated Calgary in the regular season series, posting a record of 4-0-0 and outscoring the Flames 19 to 7. With statistics like these, fans were expecting a much different performance by the Blackhawks than they displayed last night in game one at the United Center in Chicago.

From the moment the puck dropped, Calgary played a physical game to establish their presence and stir up the inexperienced Blackhawks — only ten of their players have playoff experience, and their lack of confidence showed early on in the game. However, Calgary’s level of play was matched by Chicago later in the second; after tying the game at one in the middle frame, then again falling behind in the third, Chicago’s stand-out player of the night, Martin Havlat, evened the game with 5:33 to go in the game after scoring off his own rebound.

With the game unsettled after 60 minutes, the two teams went into overtime expecting a hard-hitting battle for the win that, if the previous periods had shown, would be a long and even-matched series of periods. However, once again Havlat shined for the Blackhawks and scored only 12 seconds into the extra period on a controversial goal that saw Chicago’s Andrew Ladd accidentally-on-purpose interfere with Mikka Kiprusoff. Havlat’s performance landed him the first star of the night. When these two teams meet again on Saturday, Calgary will no doubt up their already high level of play to return the favor to the Blackhawks, aiming to tie the series at one a piece.

Montreal fail to capitalize in opener with Boston

Original six and long-time rivals, the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins, opened their first-round series last night with a game that seemed to defy everyone’s expectations. Talk of a role reversal from last years post-season faceoff between these same two teams followed the players around every day leading up to the game; in the 2008 playoffs, Montreal was the favored team against a struggling Boston. This year, top-seeded Boston displayed their dominance of the opposition throughout the regular season and look to continue the trend going into — and coming out of — the series with Montreal.
Although Boston won 4 to 2 over Montreal — in a game that saw a total of 67 combined shots in regulation time — the game itself surprised many Bruins fans as Montreal displayed their determination in the second period, tying the game at 2 before the end of the second, and applying pressure Boston’s end throughout. Despite Carey Price’s efforts in net, Boston managed to go ahead by a goal on a power play in the third, and added one more in the empty net for good measure, destroying the Canadiens’ hopes of winning after coming back from a 2 – 0 deficit.
The Canadiens, having outplayed Boston, couldn’t capitalize on their chances and fell to the mighty Bruins, trailing in the series by one. If Montreal can continue their level of play and finish in front of the net, they have a chance of upsetting the second-best team in the league on Saturday when they face Boston in Game 2.

Canucks stop Blues from marching in game 1

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Last night the 2009 NHL playoffs got underway, opening with four games: three from the Eastern Conference, and the lone Western Conference opener between St.Louis and Vancouver.  The host Canucks finished the season with the fourth best record in the latter half of the season, going 23-13-5 in their last 41 games and 6-3-1 in their last ten leading into the playoffs, though they were overshadowed by the success of the Blues going into last night’s game who had a 25-9-7 record in their last 41 games and a 8-1-1 in their last ten. With these numbers in place, St.Louis was the hottest team in the NHL since the All-Star break in January and looked to continue their success in the opening game of the first round against Vancouver.
Although analysts held both teams’ statistics in high regard, it was Vancouver who benefited from their 13-1-1 home record since February as they opened the first round at GM Place with a win over the Blues. The Canucks came hard in the first period, coach Alain Vigneault worked feverishly to match lines with opposing coach Andy Murray’s Blues; the line match-ups worked out well for the fans, resulting in a hard-hitting opening frame that seemed to last the rest of the game. Both teams aimed to establish a physical presence early in the series, leading to an astounding 15 penalties through regulation time.
Daniel Sedin was the first on the scoresheet having threaded the needle off a pass from Pavol Demitra during a delayed penalty. St.Louis responded to the goal with pressure deep in Vancouver’s end, but failed to capitalize on any chances, including a 5-on-3 opportunity half-way through the first period. Much of the Canucks’ ability to shutdown the Blues came from Luongo’s outstanding play and Vancouver’s regular season MVP Ryan Kessler, who was able to block three shots during the two-man disadvantage. Vancouver’s dominance over the Blues carried over into the second period when Salo, having been fed the puck from the cycling Sedins, fired a shot from just inside the blueline, taking advantage of an early-period powerplay. Penalty trouble continued to plague both teams, with the Blues finally answering the Canucks with a goal on a late powerplay in the second, hoping to kill the home team’s momentum going into the third.
Despite their best efforts, the Blues failed to really pressure the Canucks in the final frame, having been outshot 15 to 6 in the third. The lone opportunities came in the final minute of play when the Blues pulled goaltender Chris Mason for the man advantage, but the veteran defense of the Canucks were able to once again keep the Blues at bay until the final whistle.
It was great to see the physical style of play so early in the series from both sides, a sign that a greater rivalry will develop before the winner of the first round is determined. If the Canucks can continue their momentum going into the second game, and harness the support from their hometown fans before going to St.Louis for the third and fourth games, they are in good shape to move on to the second round.
For a full game summary visit the Canucks game summary here.