All was right in the Vancouver sporting world over the weekend.
The British Columbia Lions, who won their first 11 and then lost four straight, got back on track Saturday night with a 41-1 Canadian Football League victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, allowing the single point on a “rouge.” Inspired by a widely publicized “Be a Fan, Not a Fool” campaign to eradicate drunkenness and hooliganism in the BC Place Stadium seats, the crowd of 29,780 in the dome apparently passed the behavior test.
Next door to the football stadium, the Vancouver Canucks perhaps hit a wall in the third period because of mental fatigue triggered when reporters dared to repeatedly mention the name “Steve Moore” in their questions in the days leading up to the game. Yet they hung on to beat the Avalanche 6-4 at General Motors Place.
Last week, the consensus position – even among the Avalanche – was that Todd Bertuzzi’s March 8, 2004, punch from behind and pile-drive tackle of Moore no longer should be made a major issue, even as the teams prepared to meet for the first time since that night. Also, judging from some of the reactions in Vancouver, it also might have been excusable to wonder if Bertuzzi now was such a changed man and a diplomat, he should have been summoned last week to serve as a peacemaker in the bitter British Columbia Teachers Federation strike that had shut down the province’s public schools since Oct. 7.
Yet while Bertuzzi had only an assist in the victory that made the Canucks 7-1-1 for the season, and playing against Colorado wasn’t supposed to be considered a big deal, Vancouver reporters saw fit to surround him at his locker after the game.
“Yup, just another hockey game,” he told the reporters.
Was he glad the first game against Colorado finally was over?
“No,” he said, “I would have played a couple of more periods.”
Bertuzzi said the Canucks, who led 5-1 with three minutes to play before allowing three goals in 99 seconds, “got lazy in the end, and it almost bit us. We’ve got to smarten up in situations like that because in this day and age in this league, teams can come back now. It’s something we’re going to have to learn.”
He also said the increased chances of comebacks make it “almost like CFL football.”
For the Avalanche (3-4-1), the loss gave it a split of its weekend road trip to western Canada, coming on the heels of a 7-1 victory at Edmonton on Friday.
Rematches in Denver are on the horizon this week, with Colorado facing the Oilers on Tuesday, and then the Canucks in a back-to-back set on Thursday and Saturday.
Colorado couldn’t stay out of the penalty box in the Saturday loss, and the official line that Vancouver went 2-for-9 on the power play was misleading. In addition to the power-play goals from Daniel Sedin and Ed Jovanovski, the Canucks got a score from Bryan Allen three seconds after the end of Brad May’s minor for hooking. Another goal, Sedin’s second, came only a second after the expiration of Brett Clark’s tripping penalty.
But May’s first goal as an Avalanche was highlight-reel impressive, as his move through traffic and his backhander started the three-goal siege that made it interesting.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
