Hi James,
I've followed the Canucks for more than 10 years, although I became a fan for the most shallow reasons. I love the same things about hockey as you do, a team sport can hardly be more exciting. Unfortunately I don't follow the action a lot less than I did some years ago, mainly because there are tons of other things to do, just watching the highlights on nhl.com, which is about all I can get here. The shootouts are really fun to watch.
With the current standings, things should stay interesting in the northwest division
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Good luck to the Avs, hope though that the Canucks will take the division title sorry.