The Canucks 6-0 loss to the Gaborik-less Minnesota Mild last night was UGLY. Yes, it was ugly enough to deserve the full capital letters treatment. Apart from the play of Sami Salo and Ed Jovanovski, and the sound bites we got from Matt Cooke, who was miked, the rest of the Canucks played this game like it was a morning skate. The Canucks may have outshot the Wild 33-28, but they were outplayed as much as the score indicated. It's the kind of game that makes fans extremely irritated. What's the excuse for such lazy play?

I really hate being shut out. I really hate not scoring a SINGLE goal. It's a real slap in the face and kick in the proverbial balls and I'd rather lose 10-1 than 6-0.

I tried to come up with some redeeming qualities from last night's game, but I can't really find any from a personal standpoint. Sure, the Wild used their speed and scored some nice goals, but I don't have any members of the Wild in any of my pools! Thanks to Naslund, Morrison, and any other Canuck I might have (I'm not making the mistake of taking Bertuzzi again) for putting up big jelly doughnuts.

The Canucks will be the first team to play back-to-back road games against the same team. Hopefully Game #2 won't suck as much as Game #1.

• Jarkko Ruutu - 3 minutes into the game, Ruutu is on the ice on the PK (why the hell is he ever in the ice during PK?) and deflects a soft Andrei Zyuzin shot into his own goal. On the very next shift, Ruutu does as Ruutu does and takes a stupid holding penalty. How long until Nonis and Crawford realize that this dumbwit hurts the Canucks more than helps them? Ruutu has 3 minor penalties, 0 points, and an own goal so far this season. He sucks defensively and he can't even draw penalties. We really need to get a GET RID OF RUUTU Campaign going. I hope fellow Canucks fans and bloggers jump on the bandwagon.
  
• I'm also sick and tired of Todd Bertuzzi and his fat ass loafing around the ice. The Canucks aren't paying you $5mil+ to take figure skating lessons, Todd, so take the damn puck and drive to the net! You aren't going to get called for a penalty for driving to the net with the puck. You aren't going to get by on finesse alone.
  
  Perhaps Canucks fans should get on the nationwide 'Boo-Bus' and give Bertuzzi a verbal smack in the face. I don't care if he needs to 'play angry', he should be playing hard no matter how he feels. Perhaps it's time for Crawford to publicly lash Bertuzzi a little. It's obvious the coddling treatment isn't working.
  
  Todd's season: 1 assist, 0 goals, 4 minor penalties. What is he? Todd Ruuttuzzi?
  
  
• Of all the goalies that have 'lost weight' this season, Dan Cloutier looks like one of the biggest losers. Some goalies don't appear to be all that much smaller, but Cloutier is noticeable thinner and he's approaching Arturs Irbe territory with his net coverage. (His stickhandling was already just as bad)
  
  
• Dwayne Roloson is 36 years old? Damn, that was shocking to hear. Dwayne played well and got a well-deserved shutout. The TSN crew was mentioning how well Roloson controls rebounds, which is certainly something many fans don't talk about when talking about good goaltending. Roloson was like a vacuum last night as the Canucks got few second chances. Cloutier gives up enough rebounds to satisfy all the single men of Vancouver.
  
  
• Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire really spreads out his ice time like peanut butter. While Marc Crawford wears out his top 4 defensemen with 23+ minutes every night, the Wild had only one player (Filip Kuba with 24:35) play more than 20 minutes last night. The Canucks had 5 players reach the 20 minute plateau and it's no small wonder than speedy Wild could outhustle the Canucks on most shifts.
  
  
• Did the lockout really suck the life out of Trevor Linden? He is very ineffective with the puck and looks quite invisible out on the ice. Linden certainly doesn't seem to have a lot of strength or energy and isn't producing many offensive chances. It's sad, really.

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Congrats to Yann Danis of the Montreal Canadiens for earning his first career shutout in his debit as he blanked the Thrashers 2-0.

While I have talked about the 'Anglicization' of surnames in the past, it appears that Danis is getting the 'French' treatment of his name with "Da-NEE".

My Slovak friend Daniel, who is very knowledgeable on Slovak surnames and geneaology, believes that Yann Danis has Slovak roots. Danis, which is pronounced 'DAH-nish', is a known Slovak surname and Yann (like Yan Stastny) is often the modified version of the common 'Jan'. Yann's parents both have Quebecois first names, so I can't say for sure if Danis is a true Quebecer or a Canadian-born Slovak. It's just something to think about.