Bergbau » ancouver Canucks history, Alex Burrows is clo

VANCOUVER, BC a€“ When he steps on the ice on Wednesday for the Vancouver Canucks season opener, Alex Burrows will be participating in the 619th game of his National Hockey League career. That total is impressive given his well-documented rise from undrafted junior to NHL regular with stops in both the East Coast Hockey League and American Hockey League sandwiched in between. But the number alone pales in comparison to the achievement Burrows will reach at some point in the 2014-15 season. Alex Burrows is poised to crack the franchisea€?s top-10 all-time games played list later this year. Yes, in 45-years of Vancouver Canucks history, Alex Burrows is closing in on some exclusive territory. The 33-year-old winger starts the season 11th on the list a€“ and seventh among forwards a€“ with long-time teammate Ryan Kesler (655 games) immediately ahead of him on the ladder. New assistant coach Doug Lidster (666) along with Dennis Kearns (677) could also get passed as the season unfolds. In fact, if Burrows stays healthy a€“ and thata€?s a big if given his misfortune a season ago a€“ and suits up for all 82 games, he will finish the year with exactly 700 games on his NHL resume. a€?It says that Ia€?m old now,a€? Burrows said with a laugh when told hea€?s on the verge of joining the teama€?s top ten. a€?When I came in, my goal was just to play a little bit and try to stick around as long as I could. Wea€?ve had good teams and Ia€?ve been fortunate that the twins made me a pretty good player. Ita€?s been fun, but the most important thing is we want to win a Stanley Cup at some point and thata€?s why wea€?re all still here and thata€?s our goal.a€? Things will surely be different for Burrows this season. No longer a staple on the wing with Daniel and Henrik Sedin, the 33-year-old native of Pincourt, Quebec may have to re-invent himself to contribute in ways other than he has in recent seasons. But the one thing the Canucks can count on from Burrows is the same strong work ethic hea€?s demonstrated since he burst onto the scene as a midseason call-up from the minors for the first time on January 2, 2006 in St. Louis. a€?I remember flying all day and missing the morning skate and walking into the locker room and seeing Trevor and Nazzy and Todd and Mo and Jovo -- those were some of my idols growing up -- and here I was playing with them,a€? he recalls of his Canucks debut. a€?It was special. It wasna€?t a very good game, we lost 4-1 and I just wanted to make sure that if I played in one game in the NHL I would get my name on the scoresheet. So I got in a fight (with Dennis Wideman) at the end of the game.a€? As fate would have it, Burrows first NHL game just happened to be the 1,200th game of Trevor Lindena€?s National Hockey League career. And the Canucks new President of Hockey Operations vividly remembers the fresh-faced rookie arriving at the rink just prior to puck drop. a€?He walked in and I was like a€?excuse me, are you a player?a€? Hea€?s bigger and stronger now than he was, but back then he was just a kid,a€? Linden says. a€?But he made a play by our bench in the second period and I was like this guy knows the game. And from that point forward, everything he did showed hea€?s really smart.a€? Ita€?s that hockey savvy that has kept Burrows in the best league in the world since 2006. In fact, this will be his 10th NHL season and in addition to the games played list, Burrows is creeping up the franchise scoring lists, too. He begins play this year 14th in goals with 157 and 21st in points with 309. And despite the frustrations of a season disrupted by three separate injuries a year ago in which he was limited to just five goals and 15 points in 49 contests, Burrows says he loves the game as much today as he ever has. a€?Maybe even more because I know that ita€?s getting to the end a little bit,a€? he says. a€?You look around, there are a lot of young guys coming in and playing big minutes for their organizations. When I first came in there were a lot more older guys in the league who were prolonging their careers into their late thirties, but I think ita€?s a little bit different dynamic now. But for me, I obviously enjoy it a lot and seeing the young guys come in and have fun. Ia€?m not looking forward to the end.a€? Alex Burrows is nowhere near the end of his career. He may no longer be the player that once scored 35 goals in a season, but he certainly sees himself as a leader and a veteran on a Canucks team that feels it has something to prove after a second-half tailspin a year ago. And his new boss has full confidence that his former teammate will continue to do the things that earned him his chance in the NHL in the first place. a€?Ita€?s a real credit to the individual to do it the way Burr has done it,a€? says Linden. a€?Ita€?s a long road. He played hard, he worked his ass off, he was smart and he made really good decisions. And coaches love those guys.a€? Marc Crawford was the first to give Burrows a chance. Alain Vigneault made him a front-line player. Like many on the team, Burrows struggled to find his way under John Tortorella. But hea€?s confident that he can regain some of his old form playing this season for Willie Desjardins. And with the curtain about to rise on a new NHL season, Alex Burrows continues to cement his place in Vancouver Canucks history. Within two years, ita€?s possible that only Linden, the Sedins, Markus Naslund and Stan Smyl will have played more games in a Canucks uniform than the guy who once split a season between the Greenville Grrrowl and the Baton Rouge Kingfish. That was a long time ago, but it also reinforces just how far Alex Burrows has come to get to where he is today. a€?Ia€?ve always just tried to play hard and have always respected everyone in the organization,a€? Burrows says of his longevity with the only NHL organization hea€?s known. a€?At the end of the day, if you come in and work hard and people notice that youa€?re working hard and youa€?re a good human being and positive and fun to be around, I think thata€?s what attracts people to keep you around.a€? Adidas Superstar España .com) - The Vancouver Canucks will try to win two straight games for the first time since mid-January on Monday night as they play host to the struggling New York Islanders. Adidas Superstar Baratas . It was well worth the wait. Manning and the Denver Broncos waited eight long months, then another 33 minutes to get the season started because of a lightning storm. http://www.baratasadidassuperstar.es/. Last July, F1 teams held in-season testing sessions at Silverstone to assess new tires provided by Pirelli after several blowouts on the same circuit at the British Grand Prix in June prompted a furious response from drivers and even a boycott threat the following week. Comprar Adidas Superstar Baratas . And I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of my experiences gained through International competition and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Seven NHL referees and six linesmen will be assigned upcoming games in Sochi by the IIHF as part of their 28-man officiating roster comprised of 14 refs and 14 linesmen. Adidas Superstar Baratas Online . TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie tweeted on Monday that Hemsky will be going to market as an unrestricted free agent on July 1.PHOENIX -- Nothing like a trip to Chase Field to turn things around for the New York Mets. Dillon Gee allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings, and the Mets beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep. Arizona finished an 0-6 homestand in which it led at the end of just one inning and dropped to 1-11 in home games, including a pair of losses in Australia that started the season. At 4-14, the Diamondbacks are off to their worst 18-game start. "I dont know what were in need of besides playing better baseball -- an exorcism of something," Arizona starter Brandon McCarthy said. "Weve crossed over into that bad side. Obviously morales low. Youve got a team thats fighting and doing everything to get out of it, but we just cant seem to climb out of it really in any sense." Gee (1-0) retired his first 14 batters before Martin Prados double down the left-field line. He struck out three, walked none and threw 72 pitches. Gee also had an RBI groundout and made a nice play in the sixth after centerfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis failed in a diving attempt to catch Gerardo Parras blooper. Parra took off for second and Gee, seeing no one covering the base, rushed to the bag and tagged the runner out on the throw from shortstop Ruben Tejada. Gee pitched at least six innings for the 24th time in his last 26 starts. "It all kind of clicked today, and I felt pretty good," he said. Catcher Anthony Recker said "you could tell when he was warming up in the pen he had really good stuff, and he was able to carry it into the game." Mets manager Terry Collins said he pulled Gee after a couple of pitches were hit hard off him. "Terry did what he had to do, and I respect it," Gee said, "but I definitely want to keep going." Recker hit a solo homer off McCarthy. Two errors leed to the final two Mets runs in the ninth.dddddddddddd. New York has won four of five and went 6-3 on its trip, extending its Chase Field winning streak to five. "A tremendous road trip," Collins said. "They picked it up, they got big hits when we needed hits." Starting pitching has been the biggest problem in the Diamondbacks skid, but not this time. McCarthy (0-3) gave up three runs, nine hits and three walks -- two intentional -- in 5 2-3 innings. "Mack threw good enough to win that game," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "We played poorly. We continue to play poorly. ... We made mistakes, we ran into an out, we made a couple of errors, were not able to contain guys running the bases and were not able to throw the ball to first base." Aaron Hill and Paul Goldschmidt homered off Jose Valverde in the ninth, and Prado had three hits for the Diamondbacks. Recker homered in the second, Nieuwenhuis had a sacrifice fly in the fourth and Gees RBI made it 3-0 in the sixth. When Goldschmidt doubled off the centre-field wall with one out in the seventh, Miguel Montero hit a drive to right that Andrew Brown caught with a leap at the fence. Goldschmidt was stranded when Mark Trumbo grounded out weakly to shortstop. "I really want to continue this momentum going back home," Young said. "It was definitely a good road trip as a team. We put that first home stand behind us and now we can continue where we want to go." NOTES: Young twice stole second and has nine steals this season. ... The Mets selected RHP Daisuke Matsuzakas contract from Triple-A Las Vegas and sent LHP John Lannan outright to Las Vegas. Lannan can refuse the assignment and elect to become a free agent. ... Both teams have Thursday off. ... The Diamondbacks were 5-13 to start their inaugural 1998 season. ' ' '