Long-term injury reserve

As expected, Ben Kuzma of The Province reports that Mathieu will miss the season opener after being officially put on the long-term injury reserve. Says Mathieu:

"I'm comfortable with it and we talked about it [Wednesday night]. I've got to get the shoulder to feel strong enough to play and I'm not ready to take a hit."

Oh, and while I'm at it: The content was from a Sports Network story and not original, but here is a link to a Vancouver Canucks season preview from KTVU.com. Why from there and not one of the other 100 places that same preview was posted? Because KTVU is my hometown TV station* and it was weird to see it pop up in my Mathieu Schneider news feeds.

*Though I have to say, the browser title bar says San Francisco, and that ticks me off. It's Oakland based; the studios are right in Jack London Square. On TV, they say "KTVU: Oakland - San Franciso - San Jose." Not sure why it's different on the Web.

On hanging 'em up

Stan Fischler had some short quotes from Mathieu today, accompanied by the header "Schneider not ready to hang 'em up":

“It keeps me young. I enjoy it so much being a mentor to these guys. There’s no other experience you could have outside of being part of a team, of being in a room; it’s so unique and so much fun. It’s going to be difficult giving it up. Hopefully that’s a few years away."

And since I don't really have any commentary to add to that, I'll just take a moment to go off topic to say WELCOME EMMA! My friend Christina (my hockey loving friend from all the way back to the early Mathieu days when we were in high school) and her husband, Mark, welcomed their first child yesterday. Emma made us all wait. And wait. And wait. She was 2 weeks late and put mama through 4 days of labor. But she's here now, and having met her for just the briefest of moments yesterday, she was worth every second of the wait. She healthy and she strong and she's beautiful. Her parents won the jackpot! I can't wait until she's old enough to go to games with us. And now that I know what team Mathieu is on, I can order some Canucks gear for her. Actually, it's good I waited. She came in at a solid 10 pounds, 21.5 inches and is already too big for some of her baby clothes.

On Theo Fleury

Theoren Fleury is attempting a comeback after a few years away from the game and a few years of a cleaner lifestyle. Good luck to him.

Says Mathieu of Theo:

"I was fortunate enough to play with Theo in New York (1999-2000) and he's just a great competitor.I was surprised, honestly, to see he was coming back, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him make the squad either. Anybody who bounces back like he has, it takes great inner strength. You're so proud to see a guy come back from the brink like that, where he was on skid row, and pick up the pieces of his life and come back to where he is today." (from Faceoff.com)

Practicing and stuff

Mathieu won't play any preseason games, but he is practicing with the team. And by reports, he's stepping up the pace and really pushing hard.

After one practice, the National Post noted that for someone "who despite a five-month layoff and having been eligible for old-timer’s leagues for five years was panting no worse than a fit 30-year-old would." The article was actually very good, speaking to his age a bit and his role as a mentor to the younger players, but also pointing out that he still plays some damn good hockey himself.

He's anxious to play and says he'll be ready for opening night. He hasn't been cleared for contact yet, and admits there is still some work to do in the weight room, but he's skating hard and feels almost game ready. The coach and medical staff, however, are not as keen to that idea. According to the Vancouver Sun, the doctors don't think he's as close as he thinks he is, and it looks like they are leaning towards starting the season with Mathieu on the IR.

Patience Mathieu. It's a long season.

Popcorn balls

If yesterday's blog from Mathieu wasn't cool enough, how this for complete and total awesomeness: Mathieu's mom's recipe for popcorn balls in a 12+ year old "Kraft Kitchens & NHL Moms Recipes" calendar.

Mad props out to Lisa over at Lisa's Lounge for this absolutely KILLER find: More to Mathieu (http://lisashockeylounge.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-to-mathieu.html)

(Photo credit: Lisa Ovens)

I'm almost out of Shreddies and my Canadian grocery shopping connection is on maternity leave until January¹, so I'll have to wait awhile so that I can make them as authentically as possible. I hear Life cereal can substitute for Shreddies in a pinch, but I'll wait for the real stuff.


¹Before taking a few months off to have a baby (any day now, come on Emma!), my friend Christina usually went to Edmonton on business once a month, and she'd pick up all my needed Canadian grocery items. Kraft Dinner, Shreddies, Mr Big bars, mayonnaise... you know, the good stuff. I wonder if the person going in her stead can pick up a box for me. I guess there is always http://www.canadianfavourites.com/aboutus.asp

He blogs, therefore he is

Oh. Wow. Really, that is all I can muster. Mathieu is blogging. Sweet Mother Mary, Matheiu is blogging!

Check out his first installment: Long Drive, Short Camp (http://blogs.canucks.com/?p=5109)

Some highlights included him talking about his first experiences with the Internet (yes, there is a "he's old" joke in there somewhere), and his family's adventures in relocating to Vancouver. (Six hours from SoCal to Sacramento? Dude, you were so totally speeding.)

I really, really hope he keeps it up. He's insightful, honest, and entertaining, so he should have some gems. And hey, if he gets comfortable with the whole blogging thing, he can conquer Twitter next. Can't let Martin Havlat, Donald Brashear and Mike Green have all the fun.


Side note: I drove from the Bay Area to Vancouver once, and it was trying. We didn't even have a car full of kids! I imagine some parts of Hell resemble Highway 5 in California.

Side note, part 2: How many fueling stops does it take to drive a Suburban that many miles? And I hope someone warned him about the you-can't-pump-your-own-gas thing in Oregon. We had warning, and it was still weird.

Some videos

The Vancouver Canucks have some videos of Mathieu interviews up on their site.



and...




P.S. Mathieu's got great legs.

"More on the Man They call Schneids"

I haven't updated anything recently. Sorry. Been lazy.

I did write a "getting to know" Mathieu Schneider post for Canucks Hockey Blog: Guest Post: More on the man they call Schnieds. Wow, that's an old picture J.J. added to it. I think I need to head up to Vancouver and get a new one. =)

Thanks for invitation to write that, J.J. Hope Canucks fans enjoy Mathieu.

Methusaleh, he ain't... yet

The old jokes start early. In the "Better Know a Newbie," the thing to know about Mathieu is that he is good on the power play and he's old. How old is he?

"Not like Methuselah old, but like 'his junior hockey team doesn't even exist anymore,' old."

True. They don't exist anymore. And as I realized in June, he was drafted before Sidney Crosby was even born. Yup. He's old.

The true gift of that piece? This wicked awesome compilation of Mathieu goals. As Mike Halford mentions, this is "quite possibly the world's only Mathieu Schneider mix tape." And I didn't even have anything to do with it.