Cheers and Jeers: December 19th

It seems the Canucks have stumbled upon quite the pattern here. Since we last checked in, the Canucks sandwiched arguably the best game of the season, an overtime win over the San Jose Sharks, with a pair of blowout losses. In one of those losses, their best defender goes down with an injury, and in the next, they lose their best offensive player.

What a hellish week on the injury front. Then again, didn’t I say that last week? The thing is, the injuries keep piling up, and they keep happening to increasingly essential players on this Canucks team. It’s not like I can ignore them, can I?

Enough of my inane rambling, though. Let’s get to the Cheers and Jeers for the last week, and try to find a silver lining wherever possible.

Cheers to the results of a further examination of Brock Boeser’s foot injury from last night’s game against the Calgary Flames. I wouldn’t usually hand out cheers to anything injury related unless it’s a player’s recovery from one, but in this case, it seems apt. Everyone feared the worst. Boeser left the game, didn’t return and was spotted on crutches in Rogers Arena afterwards. That it’s just a bone bruise and not a break or even a fracture is excellent news, with the right perspective.

Jeers to Boeser’s bone bruise on his foot. Yeah, this may seem like an odd choice given how I led the article with cheers on the same subject, but it’s only relatively positive that it’s not a major injury. Boeser is still going to miss time, and the Canucks need all hands on deck with the injury cards they’ve already been dealt. This isn’t good news if you look at it that way.

Cheers to Jonah Gadjovich for making Team Canada’s team at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Of all the Canucks that were invited to Canada’s camp, I thought Gadjovich had the worst odds to make the team. Here we are at the end of the process, and Gadjovich is the only Canucks prospect on the roster.

Jeers to Team Canada’s roster at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Canada has won one gold medal in the last eight years, and that’s not a coincidence. The way they overvalue role players ahead of skill for a short, close-to best-on-best tournament is beyond me. It’s not like Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki or Owen Tippett don’t kill penalties on their teams, just that they might not be as good at it as players like Maxime Comtois or Brett Howden, etc. If this team struggles to score, which is a distinct possibility all things considered, then you know who to blame.

Cheers to a CanucksArmy Christmas Party and Fundraiser for Jackson McDonald and his partner, who’ve fallen under difficult circumstances with a fire burning down their house in November. Last week, this was more of jeers than cheer, but we have a little positive in the way of helping him and his partner out with a party at The Pint. Join us for drinks and merriment as we help out one of our own.