Netminder Evan Kurylo is 16-3-1 with two shutouts in his collegiate career. He also has the coolest family name in the history of families. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The Simon Fraser University Clansmen are hosting familiar crosstown rivals and distant strangers alike this weekend, as the Great Northwest Showcase goes down on December 28-29 at the Bill Copeland Arena in Burnaby, BC.
It’s a great opportunity to check out some quality hockey in a very intimate setting — the Bill Copeland Arena in Burnaby screams small-town puck despite being in the middle of the Lower Mainland — and there are some interesting players to watch for as well.
More after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
The Chicago Blackhawks picked Maxim Shalunov in the fourth round of last year’s NHL draft. If the Subway Super Series is any indication — and if the big league decides to play at some future point in time — they may have turned that 109th pick into a bit of larceny. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Chicago Blackhawks prospect Maxim Shalunov delivered a wicked cross check to the face of Slovakian defenseman Tomas Nechala in Russia’s opening game at the WJC, prompting a one-game suspension from the IIHF. On the ice, Shalunov was assessed a double minor penalty (four minutes) for the incident. Nechala received medical treatment for a facial laceration, but continued play in the game.
Russia ended up winning the game 3-2 in overtime after the Slovakians tied the game with less than a minute remaining in the third period. Surprisingly, the host Russians did not manage to sell out their team’s opening matchup — some observers on Twitter suggested there were as many as 2,000 empty seats out of the 8,000+ available for the game.
Check out the video after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
After a rough start to the season, Liam Liston spent much of 2012 on the Vancouver Giants bench. Reports indicate that Liston has retired from competitive hockey on Boxing Day 2012. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Reports out of the Vancouver Giants camp today indicate that Liam Liston, a 19-year-old goaltender from St Albert, Alberta, has elected to retired from competitive hockey after a rough start to the 2012-13 season.
Liston was brought in from the Lethbridge Hurricanes during the off-season to be the number one goalie in Vancouver, but never found his footing. He gave up five goals on 17 shots in the season opener against the Victoria Royals, and put up similarly weak numbers in following games.
Details are few at this juncture, but in true Pucked in the Head fashion, there will be more after the jump anyway.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
It’s Christmas Eve, and you still haven’t gotten that damned hockey fan in your life something for the big day.
So why not go digital? In particular… well, you’ll find out after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
McKayla Maroney is not impressed with the apocalypse.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Internet memes, on the other hand, are only worth forty-seven. (That’s why we have to keep reposting the damned things.)
What do you buy the hockey fan who has nothing to cheer for, NHL-wise, anyway?
The third in our get gifts quick series moves away from the printed word, which we focused upon in parts one and two, and on to live attendance at actual, real-life hockey games. No, we don’t recommend putting deposits down for NHL ticket packages. Rather, we want to push you to attend games at other levels of hockey.
After the jump, check out how.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
As we talked about yesterday, the hockey fan on your Christmas list probably doesn’t want anything to do with NHL-related merchandise this year. The video you see here is proof of that, although a lot of people aren’t waiting until December 21 to start their boycott. By the way, the Just Drop It campaign has over 20,000 likes on the mighty Facebook, and is approaching 75,000 views on YouTube.
Pucked in the Head is proud to help you out with a few last-minute gift ideas, including number 2 after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
Each and every year, people clamour about various malls and websites, frantically trying to find those perfect gifts for loved ones. If those family members, friends and lovers are hockey fans, things are pretty easy, really: depending on your budget, you could get them game tickets to see their favourite NHL team in person. Or you could lay out some green for a variety of logoed merch, from key chains to car seats, from team socks to customized skates. You’ve got the choice between jerseys, herseys, shirseys and underpants. The sky really is the limit.
This year, of course, the game is different. Or, rather, the game… isn’t. Such is the general disdain for the NHL/NHLPA shitshow that many tried and true hockey fans are boycotting any and all NHL products, even at deeply discounted prices. One of my friends recently found out his fiancée bought him a pro quality vintage Vancouver Canucks jersey — something he’d been salivating over for a couple of years now — and insisted she return it from whence it came. He said he’d rather get nothing under the tree than know a couple hundred bucks had flowed into NHL franchise coffers.
So what do you do? After the jump, check out the first Last-Minute Gift Idea for the Family Hockey Fan, courtesy of Pucked in the Head.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
Barry Brust makes one of 39 saves on the night to lead the Abbotsford Heat past the Texas Stars 2-1 in a shootout. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
On Saturday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, the hometown Heat used the ol’ shootout to decide the second half of a back-to-back against the Texas Stars. All-Star goaltender Barry Brust made 39 saves on 40 shots for the 2-1 win — like this one during a first period that saw the visitors gain a 17-9 advantage on the shot clock. Below you’ll find a plethora of pictures from the game, including a still from the winning shootout goal by Krys Kolanos.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
Carter Bancks of the Abbotsford Heat faces off against Alex Chiasson of the Texas Stars in AHL action on December 15, 2012. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
One night after dropping a 3-1 decision against the visiting Texas Stars, the Abbotsford Heat looked to put a few more pucks in a few more nets. They failed to do so, winning a 2-1 shootout decision over those same Stars to maintain their advantage atop the Western Conference.
Abbotsford came out of the gates quickly, perhaps fueled by head coach Troy Ward’s decision to give his players the morning skate off. Three quality scoring chances were theirs in the first two and a half minutes. The Heat held most of the momentum, in fact, until Joe Piskula took a hooking penalty at 6:22. From then on, Texas controlled most of the play, though Abby did a good job of keeping the puck to the outside and limiting the Stars’ chances. The best opportunities for both teams came within seconds of each other following that Piskula penalty. The Stars’ Alex Chiasson tried unsuccessfully to stuff a puck past Barry Brust from about three feet. The rebound was cleared, and Lance Bouma ended up with a short-handed breakaway the other way. Only a last-second stick check prevented the Heat from taking the lead while a man down.
As entertaining as the first period was, with scoring chances aplenty and a scrap between Chris Breen and Francis Wathier, the second period proved quite dull. The teams did manage to get on the scoresheet, with Texas’ Matt Fraser opening the scoring on a 2-man advantage 5 minutes in. The Heat responded 3 minutes later on a powerplay of their own, Krys Kolanos tapping in a gorgeous cross-ice feed from Ben Street. Other than that brief flurry of activity, however, you could’ve taken the period off, and indeed it seemed many of the players did.
Loads more after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
