Ethan Bear is scratched as the Canucks win a high scoring 6-5 affair against Seattle

Canucks News

• In an interesting development ahead of the game against the Seattle Kraken, Ethan Bear was made a healthy scratch. The reason this is so notable is because management had just leaked that they want him to be extended. So it’s a bizarre move — Bear has been good as a Canuck, and considering some of the characters on the Canucks’ blue line, it’s hard to see the logic. I like Bruce, but he’s been making some perplexing decisions lately, and this is certainly among them.

• And honestly, the scratch failed. The team looked bad defensively. A ridiculous decision was born (bear-d?) out by the result. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again — it would be a real shame to see this kind of found money end up in the coach’s dog house for vague, unknown reasons.

• On the top line level, it apparently didn’t matter: the Canucks pulled off a 6-5 shootout win against the Seattle Kraken, who are having a bit of a mediocre streak right now. It carries on the basic trends we’ve seen with this team: life is never easy, sometimes they pull it off, and when they do, it’s on the back of a rousing offence. Elias Pettersson carried the team with a pair of goals and three assists, while his cousin, Lane Pederson (not true, but I like to think it is) scored his first as a Canuck and just his second ever (his last was in 2020-21 with the Arizona Coyotes). Pederson was of course acquired in the Bear trade, so it was a big night on that front. Boeser and Kuzmenko also scored. Former Canuck Jared McCann also scored for the Kraken. Gudbranson, for his part, was nowhere to be found.

• In addition to his five points, Petey scored the shootout winner in impressive fashion. Folks, I gotta tell you, this is a man who looks like an MVP candidate. That he’s found his stride right from the get go is the single most important thing to happen to this franchise this year by a country mile.

• In some more festive content, here is the team doing a Christmas skate. How jolly. I do not think they lost in this event, but I can’t confirm.

• An interesting note out of Abbotsford. I don’t know much about Kalynuk, but I’m always of the opinion that more competition in the minors is a good thing. Perhaps a story to keep an eye on.

Hockey News

• Some news from Rick Westhead on Hockey Canada, including some notes on the National Equity Fund:

• Some games have been rescheduled due to weather conditions. I live on Vancouver Island, and the snow is currently wreaking havoc on our society. So I understand.

• A new deal was signed between Hockey Canada the Women’s National Team:

• And a nice story out of Edmonton:

BC Place Bulletins

BC Place Bulletins is a Friday WWE feature summarizing scores and news from the local Vancouver sports scene.

• A cool initiative from the BC Lions:

• The Vancouver Giants are officially on Christmas break:

• And Adam Charalambides is the Vancouver Warrior of the week: