It was one of those weekends that kept Vancouver sports fans bouncing from one screen to the next. Hockey, football and soccer all had their turn, and the results came in all shapes and sizes.
Saturday night delivered the roughest stretch. The Canucks fell 4-2 to the Edmonton Oilers, a result plenty of people saw coming.
A few hours earlier, the BC Lions had taken a tougher hit, dropping the CFL Western Final 28-16 to the Edmonton Elks at Commonwealth Stadium. For some fans, even getting to the finish line was a challenge, with wind storms across the Lower Mainland leaving a lot of homes without power.
That loss was another painful chapter for the Lions, who have been a regular presence in the Western Division playoffs but still haven’t reached the Grey Cup since 2011. The search for the right pieces around quarterback Nathan Rourke has gone on for a while now, and the drought has stretched to 15 years, the second-longest active run in the CFL. In a nine-team league, nothing comes easy.
The Abbotsford Canucks also had their run snapped, with their eight-game winning streak ending in a 3-0 loss to the Ontario Reign at Rogers Forum. Even so, the bigger picture still points to a strong start for the club. Ty Mueller and Trey Fix-Wolansky have been driving the offense, and Braeden Cootes’ return from injury has only added to the mix.
But the weekend wasn’t all frustration.
The Vancouver Whitecaps wrapped up the MLS regular season with a 2-0 win over the Montreal Impact, putting the finishing touch on a season that saw them finish first in the Western Conference. That gives Vancouver home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and the Whitecaps will open against the winner of the West Wild Card game - either the Seattle Sounders or Real Salt Lake. With the club’s future in Vancouver still uncertain, the timing couldn’t be better for fans to get out and back the team.
The Vancouver Giants also had a night to remember, hammering the Moose Jaw Warriors 10-3 on Saturday to split their weekend series and stay in second place in the WHL’s Western Conference. It was the first time the Giants had scored 10 goals in a game in two years, and the offense came in a rush: Blake Chorney scored three times, while Joe Iginla added two.
Then came Sunday morning in Denmark, where KK Harvey added another line to her growing résumé. The US defender, selected first overall by the Vancouver Goldeneyes in June’s PWHL Draft, broke the American all-time record for points by a defender at the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships. Her two assists in a 5-0 win over Germany pushed her to 44 points in 36 tournament games, moving her past Angela Reggiero’s previous total of 43 points in 50 games.
At 24, Harvey is already making history, and she’ll be one of the most closely watched players in Vancouver when Goldeneyes training camp opens November 18. DFO Vancouver/CanucksArmy.com readers will also be getting a season of PWHL coverage through an upcoming weekly Goldeneyes column, with more details to come.
In Other News...
Canucks Drop Sixth Straight As Late Push Still Falls Short
A late surge gave Vancouver a chance to claw back into it, but the Canucks still came away with a 3-1 loss to the Flyers and their sixth straight defeat. Michael Bunting and Travis Konecny scored for Philadelphia before Jonathan Lekkerimaki got Vancouver on the board, while Joseph Woll stopped 18 shots and Leevi Merilainen made 14 saves in a game where the Canucks again had to chase from behind.
Lekkerimakis goal at least gave Vancouver something to build on after a frustrating night, but the margin never fully closed and the Flyers were able to protect the lead down the stretch. Travis Sanheim added the final insurance marker in the closing minute, leaving the Canucks with another missed chance to interrupt the skid as the losses keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Fans Need To See What Zayne Parekh Is Becoming
Zayne Parekhs second season has started to look a lot more like the version Calgary hoped it was drafting. The young defenseman leads the Flames blue line in scoring with two goals and eight points in 18 games, and the bigger story is that his all-around game has taken a real step forward from his rookie year. His defensive numbers have also improved over the last 13 games, with a 55.5% chance ratio and a 2.01 expected goals against rate, signs that he is doing more than just jumping into the rush.
The next test is coming quickly. Parekh has benefited from a softer deployment so far, but the Flames are about to need more from him after Kevin Bahl was lost for the season, which should push Parekh higher in the rotation and into tougher matchups. For Calgary, the question is no longer whether he can help offensively. It is how fast he can handle the heavier defensive load that usually comes with being trusted on a contending blue line. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Make A Desperate Lineup Bet As Skid Drags On
The Canucks are trying a new look as their skid continues, with Jonathan Lekkerimki set to skate on the top line alongside Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser against the Philadelphia Flyers. It is the kind of lineup shuffle that signals a team searching for a spark, and it comes with Leevi Merilinen starting in goal for a third straight game as Vancouver keeps leaning on the young netminder.
The changes also come with the roster still thinned out, as Tom Willander and Filip Chytil are expected to miss the game. For a club already pressing to steady itself, the absences leave even less margin for error and put more weight on the new combinations to deliver something different. [Read more 🡒]