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4 to 5 weeks for Roberto

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, who exited Saturday’s 3-1 win over Pittsburgh early in the first period with a suspected groin injury, will miss four to five weeks of action, his agent Gilles Lupien told cyberpresse.ca.

So time for another talkinghockey poll me thinks:

Toota-a-Luuuuuu

After being injured in the first period of the Canucks game against the Pens on Saturday, details on the severity of goaltender Roberto Luongo’s injury are slow to come.

“There was pretty much a lot of pain there,” Luongo said. “Right away I knew it wasn’t good. It’s very disappointing, frustrating. We’ve been playing great as a team and I’ve been really happy with the way my game has been in the last few weeks. It’s really disappointing to have something like this happen.” 

The Vancouver organization promised a better prognosis by today and ultimately the answer to Canucks fans number one query. How long is he going to be out and more importantly can the nucks keep up their winning ways without him?

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Back In Black…

Scary Stuff

Ok! I’m starting to get nervous. I will admit it now. For the first few weeks of this season I kept my cool. Playing down the first signs of last years woes spilling over into ’09, I calmly said “Don’t count us out yet!” 

It’s now November 17th and Ottawa currently sits in 28th spot in the league with the second least amount of goals for and seem to be gunning for that #1 draft pick in Tavares. 

The real question everyone wants to know is not what happened but rather what is going to be done about it.  

Last year the Senators troubles were pinned on the tail of ex-sen goalie Ray Emery and his supposed cancer on the Ottawa locker room. Coach John Paddock was also dismissed from his duties as there was word circling that he was not favoured by the teams star players.

Now those distractions have been banished and we are left with just as much uncertainty if not more.  

I hereby put it on General Manager Bryan Murray to step up and declare whether or not this is a team that is missing a few key pieces or is simply REBUILDING.

There is no time to coast through the season and take a gamble on a couple of guys at the trade deadline in hopes of getting the cup in O-town. BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO PLAYOFFS FOR OTTAWA THIS YEAR!!

There I said it if Bryan Murray does not act now and acquire and trade for players that can make this team the effective force it has been for the past ten years; Ottawa will find itself in the basement until it can successfully draft its way out of hell like in the early nineties.

There are several options out there in my opinion that can really help Ottawa in its time of darkness so lets just see how far they can take this thing before it all comes crashing down.

Here is a list of players I have compiled to help point Mr. Murray in the right direction:

Brendan Shanahan        Nik Antropov          Manny Fernandez

Nikolai Khabibulin         Jay Boumeester      Dwayne Roloson

Peter Forsberg              Bill Guerin               Marion Gaborik

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3 Games, That’s it?

The sentence has come from above that will see Montreal Canadiens player Tom Kostopoulos miss the next three games and forfeit approximately 33,000 dollars in salary for his questionable hit on Saturday night.

Fans will remember some of Kostopoulos’ other antics such as his suspension for attacking Brad Stuart late in a brawl filled contest in ’07 and who can forget of course on February 11, 2008, Kostopoulos and teammate Ryan O’Byrne were arrested outside a Florida nightclub following a purse-snatching incident. While O’Byrne was charged with theft, Kostopoulos was charged with resisting the officers. 

Meanwhile Toronto’s Mike Van Ryn has suffered a concussion, a broken nose, a broken bone in his hand and a cut to his forehead that will see him sidelined for a month!

There seems to be a lack of justice in what has become a recurring dilemma in the NHL. The League says they have passed on the appropriate information to the referees to instill a no head hit policy. However, we continue to see “dirty hits” that are frowned upon by the fans, players, coaches, and general managers alike.

So Mr. Colin Campbell I put this question to you; How are you going to lessen the likelihood of this happening again if you don’t start making goons accountable for their actions?

Say it ain’t so “Bro”

Just as the whole hockey world was bracing itself for the NHL records book to be re-written… 

Cursed disaster unfolds for whom one day will be known as the greatest goaltender.

I felt bad that I did not give any condolences these past few days to Devils fans, Brodeur, or anyone that plain jane just wanted to see the man surpass two legends this season.

So here it is a quick little note in honour of a man who is only 7 victories from tying Patrick Roy’s all time win record and a mere 5 shutouts from evening up with the legendary Terry Sawchuk’s 103. 

Although you may not get it done this year Mr. Brodeur, fear not you will get your day in the sun.

I almost want to blame the media hype for this. It’s the classic Murphy’s law at work.  Everyone in the hockey world has been talking about it, from satellite hot stoves, to NHL.com countdown clocks. Its like the ol’ curse of mentioning a shutout in the last 10 minutes of a game when a goalie is looking good to go when “oops” a softie thanks to our beloved colour commentators.

Brodeur had surgery yesterday to repair his torn left biceps near the elbow.

“According to the doctors, his surgery was 100 per cent successful,” Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said in a statement. “The timetable for his return remains three to four months.”

Get well soon Marty!

Pic Of The Week (Brothers From Another Mother)