Shhh. Don’t tell the four teams waging war on a nightly basis for Central Division supremacy about what’s going on in the sleepy Northwest. Alright, it’s not much of a secret really, but I don’t know if people realize just how much the Canucks have benefited from running roughshod over the "cupcakes" in their division the past three seasons, especially the Colorado Avalanche. This stuff will make those Central Division guys cringe, if not cry.

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As the Canucks get set to roll into the Rockies for Saturday’s afternoon game in Denver (they’ll also play in Minnesota and Calgary on their four game road-trip), they carry a 10-3 record within the Northwest this season. The Canucks are 2-0 against the Avs and have yet to surrender a goal to them in their two meetings so far (3-0 & 6-0 victories). A 9-0 aggregate score is fairly one-sided, I’d say.

But let’s stretch the sample size a little. Going back to the start of the 2009-10 season (two and a half seasons ago) the Canucks have met with virtually no resistance from any of their divisional foes. Over the past three campaigns, the Canucks have claimed a whopping 90 of a possible 122 points from divisional opponents. That is a staggering 73.8% of points available. And that includes clobbering Colorado for 24 of last 28 points (85.7%) up for grabs in their past 14 meetings! In fact, the last time Colorado beat the Canucks outright was October 3, 2009 – the second game of the 2009-10 season. The Canucks are 11-0-2 in the 13 head to head meetings since.

Opponent 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 Totals Colorado 4-1-1 5-0-1 2-0-0 11-1-2 Edmonton 4-2-0 4-2-0 3-1-0 11-5-0 Minnesota 4-2-0 4-2-0 3-1-0 11-5-0 Calgary 3-2-1 5-0-1 2-1-0 10-3-2 Total 15-7-2 18-4-2 10-3-0 43-14-4

While the Canucks were initially upset when the NHLPA "vetoed" the NHL’s realignment proposal, their continued dominance in the Northwest is a reasonable consolation prize.





