Congratulations to Whitecaps FC midfielder Daigo Kobayashi, whose 35-yard strike has won MLS Goal of the Week honours with 40% of the online vote.
It was Kobayashi’s first MLS goal, after signing with the Whitecaps during the off-season.
Check out the video below, or see our article earlier in the week with all five nominees. And while you’re at it, why don’t you buy a Kobayashi jersey from the Whitecaps store?
The Vancouver Whitecaps FC have scored three goals so far this season, and all of them have been beauties — two, in fact, have been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week. Gershon Koffie got a nod for finishing off a lovely five-way passing play in the opening week, and now Daigo Kobayashi is up for Week 2’s award with a spectacular long-range strike that opened the scoring against the Columbus Crew.
Koffie stole the ball at midfield, and deftly tapped it to Darren Mattocks, who turned to his right and gave it to Kobayashi in the sixth minute of play. The Japanese midfielder dribbled twice, then delivered a high, hard shot up and over the Columbus goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum, who was cheating forward with the play upfield. It was a remarkable strike that set the tone for the remainder of the half; the Whitecaps were unlucky not to be up by three or four at the break.
After the jump, check out video highlights of the nominated goals, and information about the (free!) Whitecaps scrimmages happening this week.
EA Predicts a 3-0 week for the Vancouver Canucks
By Jake Hall
It’s been a tough few weeks for Canucks fans. Injuries to stud Ryan Kesler and stalwart Kevin Bieksa, coupled with lacklustre play from the rest of the boys, have helped the Canucks plummet from the league stratosphere they’ve enjoyed for a couple of seasons now. They’ve won just three games in their last 12, and more often than not are fighting to tie games up in the last few minutes just to gain a measly Bettman point.
It’s OKy, though, because the next game is an easy matchup against Columbus…. Wait they’ve won five straight, including one against Vancouver? A world where the Canucks arenʼt leading the Northwest Division and the Blue Jackets beat Detroit twice in three tries is a world I donʼt want to live in.
Well, it is safe to say that it won’t be an easy week for the struggling Canucks. After Nationwide Arena tonight, the boys head home to Rogers Arena to host Shea Weber and the Nashville Predators, followed by the always-dangerous and eternally deep Red Wings.
Which Canucks team will show up? Luckily, you don’t have to guess which half of the Vancouver Jeckyll-and-Hyde Show will strap on skates for these three games. We at Pucked in the Head have enlisted EA Sports to prognosticate for us. I’ll attempt to make the roster as authentic as possible (i.e Kesler hurt, Ebbett back, Schroeder sent to minors, Luongo starting against Columbus). Also included are my predictions for this week’s lines (Burrows centering the 2nd, Kassian with the Twins, etc.)
Continue reading EA Predicts a 3-0 week for Vancouver Canucks
Over the past two weeks, the Vancouver Canucks have offered up fair-to-middlin’ performances against opposition they should beat. They lost 3-2 to the Calgary Flames and 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets, both teams that haven’t made the post-season since John Garrett played goal for the Quebec Nordiques. Despite largely outplaying San Jose — and before you think the Sharks are a good team, they’ve lost to Calgary and Colorado in the past week — Vancouver got frustrated by goaltender Antti Niemi and lost 3-2 in a shootout.
Going into Minnesota Sunday afternoon, the Canucks found themselves just two points up on the Wild for the lead in a Northwest Division they’re supposed to win by default. But for Gary Bettman’s loser point, Vancouver is a .500 hockey team with three wins in 11 games, and they’re leading the division? Come on. They have got to win these games, and win them convincingly. Get off to a good start, take advantage of the power play and run up the score once in a while.
We at Pucked in the Head are proud supporters, not just of sports, but of sports coverage. As such, we’ve arranged to work with some up-and-coming talent out of programs at SFU and BCIT over the next few months. This Whitecaps FC game report comes to you from Jake Hall, a new addition to Pucked in the Head, who took our media seat at BC Place this afternoon. Welcome aboard, Jake!
I may or may not have added a few observations from the comfort of my own couch (hey, I would have been there but my daughter wasn’t feeling well!), but the heavy lifting was definitely done by young Mr Hall. Check out his game writeup after the jump.
The SFU Clan opened the 2013 playoffs on Friday night with a convincing 6-1 win over the TRU Wolfpack. Graduating player Ben Van Lare put aside his penchant for assists in winning first star honours, scoring twice including the game-winner.
The Clan dominated this game from the opening face-off, and scored a pair of goals in each period for a complete game performance. The only blemish on the scoresheet for SFU was giving up a power play goal midway through the second period, a surprise given that TRU’s success with the man advantage ran at just 3% against the Clan during the regular season. They scored once in six tries, a goalmouth scramble after a power move into the crease by Duncan Shulz. Going the other way, however, the Wolfpack were forced to take an abundance of penalties as a result of SFU’s dominant puck possession. The Clan power play made them pay, scoring three times on nine chances.
Unlike the regular season finale, game one of the playoffs featured few defensive breakdowns for the Clan, and the paltry number of opportunities generated by the Wolfpack were fumbled by players that seemed surprised to find themselves in scoring position. Graeme Gordon was credited with 26 saves on the night, but let’s be honest: he faced perhaps three genuine scoring chances during the game, and the shot total really flatters the visiting team. Despite long stretches of inactivity, Gordon was sharp when he had to be, making a huge glove save on Anthony Delong that would have brought the Wolfpack within two goals late in the second period.
Wolfpack goaltender Shane Mainprize made more than a few good stops himself, including one on a subtle little deke by Kody Dhaliwal on a clearcut breakaway early in the third. He was beaten high to the glove several times, however, including twice in the third on a wrister by Dhaliwal and a rocket one-timer by defenseman Mike Ball on a Clan power play.
Check out the box score here, and don’t mind the fact that the scorekeeper mysteriously left out any and all power play stats. (As mentioned, SFU went 3 for 9, while TRU scored once in six tries.) And here’s Caleb Henry’s summary on the SFU website for good measure.
Game two goes Saturday, March 9 in Kamloops at 8pm PST. Check out www.fasthockey.com for the webcast.
The BC Lions have defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup 20-14.
No, wait, I read that press release wrong. Let me try again.
The BC Lions will host the Grey Cup in 2014, a game the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were supposed to host. Construction delays in Winnipeg have delayed the Blue Bombers move to the new Investors Group Stadium, and the club doesn’t want to chance hosting the big dance without significant time to work out the bugs in the new building. It’s the second time in four years that BC Place will be home to the CFL’s biggest game.
What the Slurpee Capital of the World loses, the City of Vancouver reaps. (That’s how the saying goes, isn’t it?) YVR will receive all the financial perqs that go along with the Grey Cup party, including street parties, hotel bookings and restaurant lineups. Of course, VanCity hosted in 2011 after Hamilton’s Ivor Wynne Stadium was deemed no longer fit for human consumption, and saw their hometown Leos win their sixth championship with a 34-23 win over — you guessed it — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Yeah, I know, I told you all I was going to write a Whitecaps post on every #WhitecapsWednesday. Well, I didn’t. I moved last week, so I unpacked my kitchen and living room instead. But here we go, only a day late (and hopefully not a dollar short), with this week’s Whitecaps Wednesday post. Continue reading Whitecaps Wednesday – Stop Blaming The Turf
Gershon Koffie has had quite a week. He signed a contract extension with Vancouver Whitecaps FC, received his Canadian Permanent Residency papers, and finished off a lovely six-man passing play to score the opening goal of the 2013 season at BC Place. Now he’s been nominated for the MLS Goal of the Week award, to be voted upon by fans across the league.
Koffie pounded home a right footer after Daigo Kobayashi Maru’d him a one-touch pass amid all kinds of red Toronto FC shirts. (That’s not just some lame Star Trek reference. Count them in the video below, you’ll see eight TFC players watching four Whitecaps make pretty passes to each other in the danger area. The Maru thing? Yeah, that’s me geeking out.)
More, including video of the league’s top five goals, after the jump. Hey, while you’re here, why not give a lousy five bucks to my Ride to Conquer Cancer campaign?
The SFU Clan finished the 2012-13 season on a winning note Saturday, quieting the TRU Wolfpack 6-4 in a preview of next week’s first-round playoff matchup.
Graduating players had a big impact for the Clan: goaltender Evan Kurylo stopped 32 of 36 shots, and forward Ben Van Lare had a pair of assists in the win. Kurylo stopped every shot he should have in this one; the four goals all came on ridiculous defensive breakdowns, including a 2-on-0 break for the Wolfpack when SFU was up 3-0 early in the second period. For his part, Van Lare was probably robbed of a goal in his last game for the Clan, as we in the broadcast booth saw him tip the Mike Ball point shot past Wolfpack goalie Adrien Hervillard with 29 seconds remaining in the second period. The official scoring on the play was changed after the fact, however, to give Ball the goal, and Van Lare the assist instead.
More after the break.
