A Bag of Pucks: Whitecaps, Giants and more 'Nucks

The Vancouver Whitecaps have announced that they have signed former SFU defender and captain Luca Bellisomo to a contract for the upcoming season. Bellisomo, who was named the NAIA Region I Player of the Year this past season, was a member of a Clan defense that only let in six goals in twenty games last season. I covered the SFU Men's soccer team for The Peak last season and I can say with confidence that he is going to take the USL by storm. In other Whitecaps news, the team will face David Beckham and the LA Galaxy again... in Edmonton. Also, we could have English Premier Divison teams face off against each other in regular season action by 2011.

Spencer Machacek, the Vancouver Giants' captain and leading scorer, is currently on a tear in the WHL. A third round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers, it looks like Machacek will be playing with the big club next season or with their AHL affiliate. The Giants, who are 10-1-1 in the month of February, have recently added a couple more forwards for their drive to the Memorial Cup.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), we just can't escape Canucks news. The 'Nucks thought they had the win in the bag on Thursday night but then Burnaby Joe (Sakic) showed up and spoiled the party. He scored with only seconds left to tie it up (after Ryan Kesler did a pirouette while trying to clear the puck) and then he outwaited Luongo for the winning shootout goal. By all accounts, Luongo was not very pleased with having to deal with yet another shootout, and blasted the team's defensive errors that led to the tying goal.

The video above epitomizes why I stopped liking Matt Cooke. In a game that was pretty much decided, he ran Calgary forward David Hale (after Hale had released the puck). If he had connected, Hale would have been thrown a meter into the boards which would have almost certainly given him a concussion. Luckily, Hale got out of the way, but still got clipped by Cooke's elbow. Hale turned around and jumped Cooke, who kept his helmet (with visor) on and merely grappled until the referees came to break it up. To sum it up, Cooke had the intention to commit one dirty act, he ended up commiting another, then he refused to back up his actions and lastly, in a final cowardly act, he left his 'visored' helmet on, dooming Hale into lacerating his hands should he have thrown a punch.

Moving along... it appears that at least one other person here in Vancouver agrees with GM Dave Nonis' actions at the trade deadline. Matt Pettinger, who made his Canucks debut, was more visible than Matt Cooke was before he got traded. Other minor Canucks news: Brendan Morrison is coming back soon(!) and it looks like Byron Richie wasn't on the trading block afterall. The Canucks play tonight against Vancouver native Gilbert Brule and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Photo courtesy of SFU Athletics