Saturday evening the Vancouver Canucks return home. It will be the first time in 42 days the majority of the Canucks have stepped onto the ice at General Motors Place.

What better way for fans to show that support Saturday to wear blue to the game, and give the team a playoff type welcome back. There will likely be a ceremony to honour the teams Olympians, but it would be nice if the fans gave the team a standing ovation when they take to the ice.

“There were days when you woke up in another hotel and wondered ‘Where are we now?’ before you get it together a little bit,” said center Ryan Kesler, “The last six we’ve played here on the other end of the Games, that hasn’t been as bad … but those first eight were real tough. They took forever.”

The longest road trip in NHL history, 13 cities, 14 games and 20,737 kilometers is over. And the Canucks emerge from it 8-5-1, collecting 17 of a possible 28 points and still sitting 3rd in the conference and atop the Northwest Division. There were bumps along the way, but the club has to be pleased at how they coped with the trip, especially with key injuries to the defense adding to an already tough stretch.

Now, with 10 of their last 15 games on home ice, the Canucks look to kick their road weary bodies into overdrive and hit the playoffs running on all cylinders. They will likely get the services of Kevin Bieksa back soon while the future of Willie Mitchell is unclear.

So make some noise for the boys! Spread the word, tell your fellow fans, tweet your faces off! They did us proud now let’s get loud and show the team we’re behind them down the stretch!

Ryan Kesler powered the Americans to an unlikely silver medal at the Olympics and has just been announced as the poster boy for NHL 2K11.

Alexandre Burrows just topped the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career, Mikael Samuelsson’s first-career hat trick has him at a personal best 27 goals on the campaign, and in all, eight Canucks are in double digits for goals this season. Kyle Wellwood needs just one more marker to join the 10-goal club.

But around the locker room, it’s Jannik Hansen that’s the man of the moment.

In the last two games – both of which Vancouver entered the third period down a goal – Hansen has been the Canuck with a GWG beside his name, something that likely means a lengthy stay in the press box for odd-man-out Steve Bernier. Bernier hasn’t scored an important goal in recent memory. Hansen, on the other hand, has two very memorable ones. They were very different goals.

In Nashville on Sunday, he scored perhaps the most intelligent goal Canuck fans have been privy to all season. (That’s saying something; the Sedins are two of the most cerebral forwards in this man’s NHL.) Hansen noticed two Predators collide at the Canuck blue line, jumped across centre and tapped his stick on the ice. He corralled a pass from Kyle Wellwood, settled the rolling puck between the faceoff circles, and took a wrist shot on Pekka Rinne. Nope, he didn’t pick the corner, or hit the sweet spot Trevor Linden was always fond of, between the goalie’s glove and goalie stick. In fact, Rinne made the save. What made the difference? Hansen didn’t peel off at full speed into the corner, like so many more “natural” scorers seem to do. He didn’t go past the net at all. In fact, he just plain stopped, and looked for the puck. Lo and behold, the Finn couldn’t control the shot, and it rolled right to Hansen – who was right there to swat it home. Smart.

Tuesday was less brainy a play, maybe, but it was still pretty damned smart. Aaron Rome’s shot was a hot one, and Colorado goalie Craig Anderson was pretty rattled after allowing Vancouver to tie the game at four. I mean, hell, the Avs had led 3-0 after the first period. 

What goalie wouldn’t be worried?

(Besides, the ’Nucks are in ol’ Craig’s head – just as the Blackhawks seem to have Luongo’s number these days, Vancouver is just about the only team to get to Anderson this season. Even John Garrett called the Avalanche goaltender “the most consistent goalie this year in the NHL.”)

Hansen saw how far out of the net Anderson was, and just skated into the crease to look for garbage. He got it. The puck caromed off his rib, hit the goalie’s arm, and bounced into the net. Ugly, but it counted, and the Canucks had a 5-4 lead with two minutes left. For the second time in two games, Hansen celebrated a game-winning goal.

Guaranteed, more than one of the boys in the locker room has offered to buy the Great Dane a drink after this road trip’s over.

If Canucks Corner members would like to meet Mason, call the store during the day early in the week, give them your name and that you saw this ad on Canucks Corner and they will save you a VIP pass.

Signed 8 x 10 photographs will also be available for $10.00 and a purchase of one enters you to win an autographed Mason Raymond stick.

Located in Chilliwack, Rick and Wendy have one of the best sports stores around. Stop in and see their vast collection of Vancouver Canucks and BC Lions merchandise. Tell them CanucksCorner.com sent you!

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http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/players/Andrew_Alberts

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Stastny

http://blues.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8470223

Join us in welcoming our newest contributor to CanucksCorner.com, Jason Kurylo. Jason is a sports fan who has a writing background and a passion for the Canucks. We put out a call for writers on Twitter, and Jason answered. In his first blog for the site, Jason looks at the successful Olympics for Pavol Demitra and wonders what the Canucks options should be in dealing with the veteran Slovak and NHLer going forward.

We were treated to some pretty outstanding hockey in the Olympic tournament, of course, topped nicely by Captain Roberto Luongo preserving Canadian pride against Ryan Kesler’s second period goal and second intermission trash talk. Gold north of 49, thank you very much, and silver for our American brethren to the south.

In fact, Canucks figured in each of the top five teams in the tournament. (Sorry, Christian Ehrhoff fans, but your boy’s German team finished a distant 11th. The man can’t do it alone.)

Sami Salo helped Finland pick up its fifth men’s ice hockey medal since 1988 — his second, as he took home a silver in Torino in 2006. Side note: the Finns have more medals in men’s ice hockey in that time than any other nation. That’s right, the Finns.

They won’t be happy about it, but Henrik and Daniel Sedin didn’t get a sniff at medals this time round, despite taking gold outright last time round. They were knocked out by… the Slovaks?

The biggest surprise of the tournament wasn’t Canada taking gold, Crosby scoring in OT or even Marty stumbling to allow Luongo into the big show. It was the play of the Slovakian team, led by — get those questions marks ready again — Pavol Demitra?

Demitra’s performance since returning from off-season shoulder surgery has been mediocre at best. His slow feet and stone hands have brought to mind Mats Sundin’s slow mid-season re-entry to the NHL just a year ago. Sure, Demo tipped a shot home and scored in the shootout against the Bruins a week before the tournament. But other than that game, his spot on the roster has been largely wasted. After missing a couple of games to attend to a family illness, the 35-year-old Demitra, he of the $4 million annual salary, came back on Valentine’s Day to find himself on the fourth line.

So who predicted Pavol Demitra would not only lead his country to its best-ever Olympic showing, but that he would lead the Olympic tournament in scoring?

Cynics in Vancouver, myself included, pointed at his last-second miss against the Canadians in the semis: “There’s the Demitra we’re used to.” Luongo’s amazing glove save aside, Pavol’s inspired play for the Slovaks included a shootout winner over the Russians and a goal and two assists in what Demitra called “the biggest win in my country’s history” over the defending champs from Sweden. The ten points are six more than he’s put up with the Canucks this year, against much tougher competition. Then again, he was also playing with guys like Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik and Zdeno Chara.

The argument, then, is either for moving Demo back on to one of the top two lines — would the Sedins have him after that quarter final game? — or move him off the squad altogether. Don’t be surprised if this is one salary dump that gets done before the March 3 deadline. Either that, or Mike Gillis needs to get a Slovak flag hung in the rafters, STAT.

Pavol Demitra – Slovakia

Many Canuck fans may had forgotten who Pavol Demitra was, and you could hardly blame them for doing so. Demitra, 35, who missed 47 games for the Canucks with annoying shoulder problem that required two operations and many opinions on treatment. He returned to the Canucks on January 16th, but had struggled to find his game notching just a goal and three assists in 11 appearances since his return. Of course people were willing to cut him slack after missing so many games, but just before the Olympics Demitra was starting to get some heat from fans and media to start producing and he was seeing time on the teams fourth line.

Playing for his country seemed to be the tonic that Demitra needed and the veteran Slovak led his team to a best-ever fourth-place finish, while earning a spot on the tournaments all-star team. He also nearly ruined the hopes of the Canadian public with a last second goal in the semi-final but was thwarted by teammate Roberto Luongo. Demitra’s continued success would be a huge bonus for the Canucks heading down the stretch, but he won’t be playing with Marion Gaborik and Michael Handzus when play resumes. Early reports say he’ll start the post Olympic session on a line with Ryan Kesler.

Roberto Luongo

There is no doubt that most had resigned themselves to the fact that Roberto Luongo would be the backup to Martin Brodeur heading into the games, and that was the plan when they began. But when the future hall of famer had a sub par game versus the USA, Luongo got his chance and the pressure to win was no doubt immense. Playing in front of his fans in Vancouver, in his rink and with the hopes of a nation riding on his shoulders, Luongo got the job done and won gold.

Luongo has had his critics, and their biggest beef has been the fact that he hadn’t won the big one. A couple of playoff series wins are the only thing on his resume and he needed to take that step. Well on the biggest stage in the world, he got the monkey off his back. No more can critics say Luongo can’t win the big game and with that label out of the way, who knows how it will translate to his role with the Canucks. He’ll get a brief rest and give way to Andrew Raycroft versus Columbus but he should return to the net with confidence of knowing he can win the big games. That in itself could be the key to a long playoff run for the Canucks.

Ryan Kesler

Kesler had an outstanding tournament for the USA. He was a leader all over the ice. He killed penalties, won huge face offs and did what Kesler does best…pissed a lot of people off. The same reasons you love him as a Canuck were the ones you hated him as a Canadian. He took shots at his teammate Roberto Luongo in the media, and on the ice. Some felt there was friction between the two but I tend to believe all will be fine in Canuckville, and it was part of the quest for the gold.

The experience for Kesler had to be a valuable one. He led a great hockey team to within a sudden death goal of a gold medal, and the Canucks should reap the benefit of that experience. He’s truly becoming one of the best two way players in the game, and he can contribute in many ways. It sounds like Alain Vigneault will pair Kesler with Demitra to start when play resumes. If both can keep up their inspired play, the Canucks will be a tough team to handle going forward.

The disappointment of losing the gold should feed Kesler’s thirst for a cup and we should see the best Ryan Kesler we’ve seen yet down the stretch. I can’t wait.

The Rest

The other Canucks, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Christian Erhoff and Sami Salo should all be better for the experience. The early exit for the Sedin’s at the hands of the Slovaks was unfortunate for them, but they should pick up where they left off. Salo will bring home a bronze medal for his efforts, but Canucks fans are just happy he came out of the games healthy. Erhoff, playing for the Germans had little expectation of hardware, but got to compete at a high level in a great tournament.

So in the end the results of the tournament set up pretty good for these players to turn their experience into good things for themselves and their teammates. I’m sure a cup  and a ring to along with the gold, silver and bronze in the room would suit the Canucks and their fans just fine.

You can RSVP at http://vancouvertweetup.com/events/event/show?id=3664485%3AEvent%3A4391

You don’t have to use Twitter to attend, and you’ll meet some great Canucks fans. I’ll see you there! Make sure you follw Canucks Corner on Twitter as well @CanucksCorner.