Are you there God? It's me, Canuck Fan.

What the heck is going on? As a loyal Canuck fan, I have two concerns on my mind today, and I'll start by addressing the picture above.

It's almost as if it is becoming a joke around Orca Nation. Whenever we play a game, one of our defensive players is going to get hurt. Remember, Edler, Rome, and Alberts have all recently gone down. Then, in the game with Ottawa on Monday, Keith Ballard fell on his leg, and crushed his knee. He's out for at least four weeks. Then, in last night's game against the Ducks, Dan Hamhuis got crushed from behind by Ryan Getzlaf, and fell to the ice unconscious as you see above. It was tough to watch (though, Cory Schneider doesn't appear to be too worried), and the Ducks network replayed it over and over again.

Let's be clear about one thing: it was a dirty hit. After the game, Getzlaf tried to play it off, saying that he never left his feet. However, instead of hitting Hamhuis dead on, he elbowed him in a spot that forced him directly into the boards. Hamhuis didn't stand a chance. Just because it wasn't a boarding call doesn't mean it wasn't dirty. How is Matt Cooke getting suspended in Pittsburgh, and Getzlaf is getting nothing for this? 

Off my soap box, I turn to the horrible situation that this puts the Canucks in. Another defensive players goes down to injury. Despite Alain Vigneault's statements after the game that Hammer "looked fine," I'm pretty sure he's going to at least miss one game after the way he collapsed to the ice like a Raggedy Andy doll. Remember in a previous post, where I presented our current blue line pairings? Those were:

Bieksa - Hamhuis
Ehrhoff - Alberts
Rome - Tanev

Well, now you can scratch Hammer. However, all reports are that Sami Salo may be ready to give it a go on Saturday against Calgary. Despite most likely limited minutes, it'll still be nice to have Mr. Glass (and I'm speaking of Salo, not Tanner Glass) filling the void a little bit. It's just kind of amazing how everyone is cracking at the same time.

My second concern is the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Since I don't have Center Ice, I am mostly subjected to watching the slowly-getting-crappier NHL Network highlights for my 'Nucks action. The only exception, outside of the occasional NHL Network live game, is when the Canucks come to town to play the LA Kings or the Ana-Slime Ducks. So, when I see games against either of those teams coming up on the schedule, I get excited and plan accordingly. The sad thing, is that the Canucks usually underperform against the Ducks, and I'm stuck pumping 2.5 hours of my life into what local BC area Canucks bloggers (via 'Nucks Misconduct) call, "The worst effort in recent memory."

It was pretty bad, I'll admit. 56 seconds in, the Ducks scored. In the second period, they scored twice, once in a turnover, and once on a poor defensive play by Chris Tanev (the first mistake I've seen him make all year). Down 0-3, we fought back. Daniel Sedin blasted a PP slapper, and Alex Burrows opened the third period with a goal scored after receiving a behind-the-net pass from Henrik Sedin (Burr's 100th career goal). But, 30 seconds later, the Ducks' Bobby Ryan (no relation to my wife) scored on another horrible turnover by the Vannies. The game was over at that point, despite Kesler scoring one more as time expired (his 32nd) to make it look competitive. I'll give full credit to McElhinney, the Ducks backup keeper, as he did a pretty great job stopping some pretty great chances. This game also only had 3 penalties, with the Canucks going 1 for 1 on the advantage, so that's cool too.

However, the post-game feeling is one of extreme disappointment. I set my DVR, all pumped to watch a whole game, flip it on after the 13 month old Canucklehead in the family went to bed, and watched with boy-like joy...for 56 seconds. Then I watched for 59 minutes and 4 seconds of utter misery (even when I got hope, as we closed it to 2-3, that only lasted for 28 seconds). Add to that, watching Hamhuis get dropped by that punk Getzlaf, and needless to say, it wasn't a fun evening in my household.

My bigger, and more long term concern, is that the Canucks may have to face the Ducks at some point down the line in the playoffs. Right now, we're #1 and they're #7, but that's pretty close to a first round matchup that I don't want to face. I'll find out if I'd rather face the currently #8 Calgary Flames on Saturday, when we try to get back on the win horse.

Welcome back, Sami. Let's get this win.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē