IIHF plans a Champions League for hockey

TSN.ca - The International Ice Hockey Federation is proposing a Champions League format which would pit the top club teams in Europe against each other in a tournament similar to soccer’s Champions League.The goal is to get the Champions Hockey League off the ground in 2008-09, which coincides with the IIHF’s 100th anniversary.

“This is a vision that we have had for quite some time and started to work actively on for several months,” said IIHF President Rene Fasel.

“There are still details to be ironed out, but we are sure that we have a financial and sportive foundation that will imply a new era for European club hockey and club hockey world wide.”

Under the proposed format, a qualification round will determine six teams which will advance to the 12-team group stage which includes the national champions from the top six European leagues. The teams would then play a double round-robin schedule with the four group winners advancing to the semi-final.

The semi-finalists will play a two games, home and away, with the winners advancing on aggregate to the final where another two game, home and away, series will determine the champion.

Fasel added that the IIHF has had preliminary discussions with the NHL which would see the Champions Hockey League winner take on an NHL team – not necessarily the Stanley Cup champion – for a world trophy in September.

“This is something that we have been trying to make feasible for years and finally we believe that together with our partner NHL we have a concept for an annual September showdown,” said Fasel, who added that further details of the event would be revealed at the World Championship later this month in Moscow.

It was a good idea until it got to the part about playing against a NHL team for a world trophy in September. We’re probably going to see lopsided scores each year in favour of the NHL team playing. Which ever NHL team is playing probably wouldn’t take it seriously anyways and we’ll treat it as apart of their preseason schedule.

Official Injury Updates

This is the official injury update from Canucks.com:

Ryan Kesler made his return to the lineup Wednesday night after missing 35 games because hip surgery but will not return for game two against the Stars Friday. Kesler is expected to be out four to five weeks after blocking a shot and displaced his finger.

Matt Cooke, who left in the second period of Wednesday’s game is listed as day-to-day wild a mild groin strain and Alex Burrows is also day-to-day with an upper body injury that saw him limp his way to bench in the first overtime period.

The Canucks recalled Jannik Hansen and Nathan Smith of the Manitoba Moose Thursday afternoon as a precautionary measure in case Cooke and Burrows can’t dress Friday night. Smith will likely see time on the PK and Vigneault hopes Hansen will help balance out the roster with some offensive punch if he dresses for game two against Dallas.

Brent Sopel is hopeful for his return Friday night. Dany Sabourin and Tommi Santala were the only two players that took to the ice Thursday while the rest of the team did off-ice workouts.

Canucks recall Smith and Hansen

The Vancouver Canucks announced today that centre Nathan Smith and winger Jannik Hansen has been recalled from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

Matt Cooke, Alexandre Burrows, and Ryan Kesler were injured last night and will not play tomorrow in Game 2.
Cooke is out with a groin stain and is day-to-day.
Burrows is out with a upper-body injury. Looks like to me that Burrows might have a concussion as he couldn’t get up after the hit delivered to him. If it is a concussion, he will be out for at least one week.

Kesler broke his finger in the game and will be out 4-5 weeks.

Both Tommi Santala and Jannik Hansen are expected to be dressed tomorrow in Game 2. If Kesler can’t go tomorrow, Nathan Smith will get into the lineup.

If anybody cares: Hansen wore #59 with the Canucks during the preseason and currently wears #17 with the Moose. He won’t be wearing #17 since it is Kesler’s number. He will most likely switch to a lower number.

Hansen was also one of the last cuts for the Canucks in the preseason.

NHL Notebook #1

TSN.ca – The Los Angeles Kings signed prospect Marc-Andre Cliche to a three-year entry level contract.

Kings acquired him from the Rangers in the deal that sent Sean Avery to Broadway.

TSN.ca – The Vancouver Canucks re-assigned defenceman Alex Edler to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

The Canucks recalled Edler immediately after the Saturday night game against the Sharks after Kevin Bieksa injured himself after blocking a shot. Played yesterday in Phoenix….logged 20:14 of ice-time….even rating….three blocked shots.

TSN.ca – Gary Bettman said today that he has no plans to expand playoffs from 16 teams.

Good.

TSN.ca - Joe Sakic signed a one-year contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche.

I think I heard on News 1130 that it will pay him $6,650,000, but I can confirm that it is at least $6 million.

MooseHockey.com – Former Canuck Mike Keane was named the AHL’s winner of the Fred T. Hunt Award as the AHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination, and dedication to hockey.

Congrats?

Sportsnet.ca – The Ottawa Senators announced that they’ve re-signed defenceman Anton Volchenkov to a US$7.5-million, three-year deal.

Cap hit of $2.5 million……not a bad deal for him.

NHL announces 2007 Stanley Cup Conference Quarterfinal schedule

You can find the full schedule at NHL.com, but as of right now the HTML code to the page is all screwed up so you can’t really read it right now. But you can copy everything, paste it into a Word document and you can read.

The Canucks schedule:

1. Wednesday, April 11 | 10:00 p.m. | Dallas at Vancouver | CBC, RDS, VERSUS
2. Friday, April, 13 | 9:00 p.m. | Dallas at Vancouver | CBC, RDS, VERSUS
3. Sunday, April 15 | 8:30 p.m. | Vancouver at Dallas | VERSUS, CBC, RDS
4. Tuesday, April 17 | 8:00 p.m. | Vancouver at Dallas | CBC, RDS (JIP)
5. * Thursday, April 19 | TBD | Dallas at Vancouver | CBC, RDS, VERSUS
6. * Saturday, April 21 | 8:00 p.m. | Vancouver at Dallas | VERSUS, CBC, RDS
7. * Monday, April 23 | TBD | Dallas at Vancouver | CBC, RDS, VERSUS

Canucks TV coming soon?

In an interview with the Vancouver Province, Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini discussed a wide-range of topics including the possibility of a Canucks TV channel.

Aquilini says Orca Bay CEO Chris Zimmerman and his group of staff “are working hard to try to get more high-def games available” to the fans. He also says that they’re leaning towards to less games on pay-per-view instead of more.

Gallagher states that the lack of HD broadcasts is the result of Roger Sportsnet’s lack of HD trucks which are worth about $4 million each and Shaw Cable “not wanting to go to high def with so few homes having high-def sets.” He continues by saying the Canucks could switch carriers, but they won’t be able to reach the majority of the homes since most people have Shaw.

Aquilini then suggests that there maybe a Canucks TV channel next year if Zimmerman and his team decides to go that route. He says that the coverage will be improved.

Finally, Aquilin says that they will keep the orca logo next year and in the future and says he’s “not interested in a jersey money grab.”

Source: Vancouver Province

If you want to read the full article, you can click on the link above. Don Taylor while on his show (Pratt and Taylor) on the TEAM 1040, he stated that Rogers Sportsnet has the money to get a HD truck for Canucks games and they want to, but the government prohibits them from broadcasting the Canucks games in HD for whatever reason. Taylor is the one that’s probably right since he’s the one working for Rogers Sportsnet.

Cory Schneider Wants Trade?

Andy Strickland of Hockey Buzz is reporting Canucks prospect Cory Schneider may want a trade out of Vancouver:

Speaking of Schneider, I hear some rumblings coming from BC’s camp that Schneider is hoping to be traded out of Vancouver with Roberto Luongo holding that position on lockdown. The Canucks drafted Schneider in the first round back in 2004.

Source: Andy Strickland/Hockey Buzz

Last I heard, Cory Schneider is excited to be joining the Canucks organization and working with Roberto Luongo in the near future and learning a few things from him.

Canucks re-assign Grabner and Rahimi to Moose

The Vancouver Canucks will re-assign forward Michael Grabner from the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL and Daniel Rahimi from Bjorkleven IF in Sweden to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL once they’ve secured amateur tryout contracts with the Moose.

Grabner, 19, and his WHL team the Spokane Chiefs were recently eliminated from the WHL playoffs by the Everett Silvertips in 6 games. In 55 games with the club during the regular season, he scored 39 goals and added 16 assists. He was held to one assist in playoffs. Grabner was originally Vancouver’s first pick, 14th overall in 2006.

Rahimi, 19, was Vancouver’s second choice, 82nd overall in 2006. Less than a month after being drafted by the Canucks, he was signed to a three-year contract that will pay him at least $750,000 US per year.

Source: Ken Wiebe/Sun Media

Tremblay and Coulombe Demoted

The Vancouver Canucks yesterday announced that defenceman Yannick Tremblay has been assigned to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

The Manitoba Moose announced today that defenceman Patrick Coulombe has been assigned to the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL.

Source: TheAHL.com

Last time Coulombe got demoted to the ECHL, he stayed for a week and then was recalled back to the AHL. Too small for the big leagues? I haven’t heard of many defenceman that made it to the NHL being 5′9″ and 163 pounds. How about try converting him to a forward and maybe he’ll become the next Martin St. Louis?!?!?!??!

Andy Murray to coach Team Canada

Team Canada GM Steve Yzerman and Hockey Canada will announce the coaches for the upcoming World Hockey Championships in Russia at 4pm PST.

St. Louis Blues head coach Andy Murray is expected to be named head coach. Kings and former Canucks assistant coach Mike Johnston and former Jackets head coach Gerard Gallant will be the assistant coaches.

Players expected to be on the initial list of players to attend include Columbus’s Rick Nash, Phoenix’s Shane Doan, St. Louis’s Eric Brewer, Los Angeles’s Mike Cammalleri, and Edmonton’s Dwayne Roloson.

Also, Florida’s Ed Belfour and Philadelphia’s Martin Biron are being considered to join Team Canada. But they’d like to save one spot for Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, or Marc-Andre Fleury, just in case they’d be interested in playing if their respective teams are eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.

Source: TSN.ca

Nah, no need to save a spot for Luongo, cause we’re going all the way.