Challenges, Adversity Face Canucks On Eve Of 6-Game Road Trip

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Just-saying  JUST SAYING….     By Andrew Chernoff    December 12, 2015

 

Vancouver faces a 6-game road trip against some stiff competition, over the next two weeks before their next home game on Boxing Day, December 26 against the Edmonton Oilers.

The road trip starts against Chicago tomorrow night, ending on Tuesday, December 22 against Tampa Bay.

In between they play, Minnesota on December 15; Philadelphia on December 17; Detroit on December 18; Florida on December 20.

Vancouver has infused the line up with some youth this season with the likes of rookies Ben Hutton, Jared McCann, Jake Virtanen,  Sven Baertschi, and Brandon Sutter but clearly the Canucks  have been led by seasoned veterans like the Sedins, Ryan Miller, along with defensemen Alexander Edler, and Dan Hamhuis.

The Canucks though will be without Dan Hamhuis who is expected to be out at least two months after surgery Friday to repair a facial fracture, coach Willie Desjardins told the Canucks website on Friday.

Vancouver continues to be without young center Brandon Sutter who has been sorely missed since November 10, 2015 and recently had sports hernia surgery on December 2 and is not expected in the line-up again until the latter part of January at the earliest.

Sutter has already missed 14 games, and could miss as much as 15 more games before returning; Hamhuis could miss as much as 28 games.

Vancouver is also without Luca Sbisa (hand injury) and Jake Virtanen (conditioning assignment with Utica Comets).

Hamhuis and Sutter are pivotal to the Canucks success and their experience, intensity, skills and leadership are hard to replace especially when Vancouver has to make up for a less than acceptable 30 game record, and take their game up a notch or two, and start now to make a run for a playoff position.

If Vancouver continues to demonstrate their inability to win against some of the top teams in the league on this road trip, the Canucks could be in last place in the Pacific division, when they face Edmonton on Boxing Day.

One of the other consequences of a poor showing on the road trip will be their inability to fully be masters of their own destiny in getting a playoff spot at the end of the season. They may have to pray for divine intervention.

Canucks are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games since the end of the 7-game road trip in November.

First 10 games of the season, Vancouver was 4-2-4. Next 10: 3-5-2.

Capture

The Blackhawks began a 4-game homestand with a 2-0 shutout of Winnipeg on Friday, in which Patrick Kane picked up a point for the 25th straight game, matching the longest streak among active players, set by Sidney Crosby in 2010-11.

chic

The Blackhawks have lost 3 of their first 6 games of December to Minnesota, Ottawa and Nashville  and are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. Chicago has at least one power-play goal in seven of its past 10 games.

As coach Willie Desjardins pointed out in his post-game interview after the 4-0 loss to Boston, no team is going to feel sorry for Vancouver.

Vancouver has to adopt the adage of ‘One For All, And All For One’. Simply put, each teammate should act for the benefit of his team, and the team should act for the benefit of each teammate.

Other teams have been written off at Christmas in previous seasons: Calgary, Minnesota, Los Angeles, San Jose, Winnipeg, Ottawa.

You have to go in convinced at what you’re doing and you have to go hard. That’s the only way you’ll be successful in this league. So, mentally, we have to accept where we’re at and we have to be prepared to play hard. We know what we’re doing. The guys know the systems,they just have to have confidence that if we play hard we’ll get our opportunities. Willie Desjardins after the Dallas loss.

“It’s like playoff hockey for us, and we need to recognize that. Our urgency level has to be higher. I think the guys know that, so I would expect us to be battling.  Saying that, I do believe in the character of this group, and I don’t believe there are many nights that they haven’t given everything they have.” Willie Desjardins, prior to the Canucks taking on Minnesota in the first game of their last road trip.

The above comments by coach Willie Desjardins still ring true for Vancouver as they prepare for each team on their road trip. The players would be wise to heed the words and apply the expectation.

Just saying….

CANUCKS JOTTINGS

  • The Sedin twins combined for nine points against Chicago in their first meeting of the season at Rogers Place on November 21—Daniel notched a hat trick, while Henrik posted a career-high five points, including four assists.
  • Both Sedins have been point-per-game players for the Canucks this season
  • Daniel Sedin has 22 points (9-13-22) in the last 15 games. He recently had a seven game point streak from Nov. 14-27; it was the longest point streak of any Canucks player this season and his longest since a seven game streak from Oct. 22 – Nov. 5/13. He currently leads the team in points (33), goals (13), assists (20), ppg (5) and ppp (13). He is 5th in NHL scoring.
  • Henrik Sedin has 20 points (6-14-20) in the last 15 games. He recently had a six game point streak from Nov. 16-27. He also had a five game point streak earlier this season from Oct. 29 to Nov. 7. Last season, the Captain recorded points in three or more consecutive games on 10 different occasions. Henrik ranks second on the team in points (29), goals (9), assists (20), ppg (4), and  ppp (12). He is 9th in NHL scoring.
  • Chris Tanev leads the team and ranks 6th in the League in blocked shots with 74. His defence partner Alex Edler ranks 18th in the NHL with 59 blocked shots.
  • Alex Edler, with his power play goal on December 9 surpassed Rick Lanz for sole possession of second place for most PPG by a Canucks defenseman, with 38.
  • Rookie forward Jared McCann is t-14th in rookie scoring with 6-goals and 3-assist for 9-points. Among rookies, he ranks 8th in goals; 9th in shots-on-goal with 50; 9th in shooting percentage at 12%.
  • Rookie defenseman Ben Hutton is t-14th in rookie scoring with 9-points on 9-assists. Among rookies, he ranks t-4th in assists; t-18th in shots-on-goal with 34; 3rd worst among rookies this season in plus/minus with a -8.
  • Ryan Miller, has seen action in 24 of 30 possible games this season. His record is 9-9-6, with a .914 save percentage, his highest in three seasons.
  • Miller stopped 64 of 67 shots over his last two starts to help Vancouver break out of their 5- game losing slump.
  • Vancouver power play goals in a nutshell this season:
    • 1 goal in 14games;
    • 2 goals scored in 2 games;
    • 3 goals scored in 1 game;
    • no goals scored in 13 games (streaks of 5  in a row; 4 in a row).
    • Streaks of games in a row with 1 or more: 8 games and 5 games.
  • Power play opportunities in a nutshell this season:
    • 1 opportunity: 3 games;
    • 2 opportunities: 5 games;
    • 3 opportunities: 7 games;
    • 4 opportunities: 7 games;
    • 5 opportunities: 2 games;
    • 6 opportunities: 4 games;
    • 5 opportunities: 2 games;
    • 6 opportunities:  4 games;
    • 7 opportunities: 1 game;
    • 8 opportunities: 1 game.
  • Power play summary:
    • Of 4 or more opportunities: 15 for 77 in 15 games: 19.4%
    • Of 3 or less opportunities: 6 for 34 in 15 games: 17.6%
  • They wrapped up a four game home stand on December 9 with two straight wins. Canucks record: 11-11-8. The two wins helped Vancouver claim second place in the Pacific division, as they begin a 6-game road trip on December 13.
  • The last time the Canucks won two straight games was when Vancouver defeated Arizona and Philadelphia, October 30 and November 2, respectively. The Canucks record: 6-2-4. Vancouver would lose their next game to Pittsburgh, ending their win streak at 2 games.
  • Vancouver was  tied with Los Angeles for first place in the Pacific division, as they embarked for their November 7-game road trip
  • Canucks road trip in November started with a Vancouver power play that was 1 for 9 in three previous games
  • The road trip this month starts with the Canuck power play 2 for 16 in its last 4 games.
  • The Canucks penalty kill had only allowed 1 goal on 7 man advantages in three previous games prior to the November road trip.
  • Vancouver’s penalty kill has killed all 11 man advantages in the last 4 games.
  • Vancouver lost 6 of their 7 games on the November road trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New catalyst paves way for bio-based plastics, chemicals

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PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University researchers have developed a catalyst that easily converts bio-based ethanol to a widely used industrial chemical, paving the way for more environmentally friendly, bio-based plastics and products.

The researchers have published a paper online describing the catalyst in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and have been granted a U.S. patent.

The chemical industry is interested in moving away from fossil fuels to bio-based products to reduce environmental impacts and to meet new regulations for sustainability, said Yong Wang, Voiland Distinguished Professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering.

The catalyst works on bio-based ethanol to create isobutene used in plastics and other products.

The industry has traditionally made a widely used chemical called isobutene – used in everything from plastic soda bottles to rubber tires – by superheating crude oil. But in collaboration with the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company, Wang and his colleagues developed a catalyst to convert bio-based ethanol, which is made from corn or other biomass, to isobutene in one easy production step.

The researchers examined the costs and lifetime of their catalyst to determine its practicality for the marketplace and determined that it could be used for other closely related feedstocks. They also discovered just how their catalyst works, knowledge that could be used to design more efficient catalysts for a wide range of applications.

In addition to ADM, the work was supported by a grant from the Department of Energy (DE-AC05-RL01830, FWP-47319).

“This is one example that shows the benefits of closely linking the practical and fundamental aspects of research to develop scalable and commercially practical catalysts for applications of importance to industries,” said Wang, who holds a joint appointment in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Source: Washington State University

Source: New catalyst paves way for bio-based plastics, chemicals | Science Codex

Stress in older people increases risk for pre-Alzheimer’s condition

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December 11, 2015–(BRONX, NY)–Feeling stressed out increases the likelihood that elderly people will develop mild cognitive impairment–often a prelude to full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.

In a new study, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System found that highly stressed participants were more than twice as likely to become impaired than those who were not. Because stress is treatable, the results suggest that detecting and treating stress in older people might help delay or even prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s.

The findings were published online today in Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders.

Each year, approximately 470,000 Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia. Many of them first experience mild cognitive impairment–a pre-dementia condition that significantly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s in the following months or years.

This study looked at the connection between chronic stress and “amnestic mild cognitive impairment” (aMCI), the most common type of MCI, which is primarily characterized by memory loss.

“Our study provides strong evidence that perceived stress increases the likelihood that an older person will develop aMCI,” said Richard Lipton, M.D., senior author of the study, vice chair of neurology at Einstein and Montefiore, and professor in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and the Edwin S. Lowe Chair of Neurology at Einstein.

“Fortunately, perceived stress is a modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment, making it a potential target for treatment.”

“Perceived stress reflects the daily hassles we all experience, as well as the way we appraise and cope with these events,” said study first author, Mindy Katz, M.P.H., senior associate in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology at Einstein.

“Perceived stress can be altered by mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive-behavioral therapies and stress-reducing drugs. These interventions may postpone or even prevent an individual’s cognitive decline.”

The researchers studied data collected from 507 people enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study (EAS), a community-based cohort of older adults.

Since 1993, the EAS has systematically recruited adults 70 and over who live in Bronx County, NY. Participants undergo annual assessments that include clinical evaluations, a neuropsychological battery of tests, psychosocial measures, medical history, assessments of daily-living activities and reports (by participants and those close to them) of memory and other cognitive complaints.

Starting in 2005, the EAS began assessing stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). This widely used 14-item measure of psychological stress was designed to be sensitive to chronic stress (due to ongoing life circumstances, possible future events and other causes) perceived over the previous month. PSS scores range from 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress.

The diagnosis of aMCI was based on standardized clinical criteria including the results of recall tests and reports of forgetfulness from the participants or from others. All 507 enrollees were free of aMCI or dementia at their initial PSS assessment and subsequently underwent at least one annual follow-up evaluation. They were followed for an average of 3.6 years.

Seventy-one of the 507 participants were diagnosed with aMCI during the study. The greater the participants’ stress level, the greater their risk for developing aMCI: for every 5 point increase in their PSS scores, their risk of developing aMCI increased by 30 percent.

Similar results were obtained when participants were divided into five groups (quintiles) based on their PSS scores. Participants in the highest-stress quintile (high stress) were nearly 2.5 times more likely to develop aMCI than were people in the remaining four quintiles combined (low stress).

When comparing the two groups, participants in the high-stress group were more likely to be female and have less education and higher levels of depression.

To confirm that stress was independently increasing risk for aMCI in this study, the researchers assessed whether depression–which increases the risk for stress as well as for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease–might have influenced the results.

They found that depression did not significantly affect the relationship observed between stress and the onset of aMCI. Similarly, stress’s impact on cognitive status was unaffected if participants possessed at least one e4 allele of the APOE gene, which increases their risk for developing late-onset Alzheimer’s.

The study is titled “Influence of perceived stress on incident amnestic mild cognitive impairment: Results from the Einstein Aging Study.”

source: Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Source: Stress in older people increases risk for pre-Alzheimer’s condition | Science Codex

No negotiation with terror groups: Assad

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“Everyone who carries a machinegun is a terrorist,” says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, adding he will not negotiate with armed groups.

In an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE on Friday Assad said he would not hold political talks with any armed groups, and accused Washington and its ally, Saudi Arabia, of wanting “terrorist groups” to join negotiations.

He said Syria had had contact with armed groups for one reason only: “To reach a situation where they give up their armaments and either join the government or go back to their normal life … This is the only way to deal with the militants in Syria.

“There’s no point in meeting in New York or anywhere else without defining terrorist groups,” he said. “For us, in Syria, everyone who holds a machinegun is a terrorist.”

His comments come after an agreement was reached on Thursday by more than 100 members of Syria’s opposition parties and more than a dozen rebel fighting groups to send a joint team to meet the government next month.

Foreign ministers of countries opposed to Assad are due to meet in Paris on Monday to prepare for talks with Russia and Middle Eastern countries in New York on Thursday with a specific focus on trying to form the opposition delegation for the peace talks.

A list of 34 members of a secretariat designated to select the opposition’s negotiating team contained 11 representatives of rebel fighting groups, nine members of the exiled political opposition, six from Syria’s internal opposition and eight independents.

The powerful Islamist insurgent group Ahrar al-Sham was represented, along with several Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups that have received military support from states opposed to Assad, such as Saudi Arabia and the United States.

At one point on Friday Putin appeared to hold out an olive branch to the West, making what appeared to be Russia’s first explicit statement of support for rebels opposed to Assad in the fight against Islamic State.

At an annual meeting at the Defence Ministry, he said the FSA was engaged in “offensive actions against terrorists, alongside regular forces, in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Raqqa”.

“We support it from the air, as well as the Syrian army, we assist them with weapons, ammunition and provide material support.” he said.

But FSA groups dismissed any suggestion of Russian support.

Reuters

– See more at: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/12/12/assad–syria-prepared-to-negotiate.html#sthash.WTMGe6Qa.dpuf

Source: No negotiation with terror groups: Assad

Big Losses for Stocks At Week’s End

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Canada’s main stock index fell hard on Friday, including deep losses for financial and energy stocks after crude oil prices lurched near 11-year lows.

The S&P/TSX composite index plunged 226.64 points, or 1.7%, to close the day and a turbulent week at 12,789.95, its lowest level in two years. On the week, the index was down close to 4%

The Canadian dollar slid 0.6 cents to 72.80 cents U.S.

Energy-related companies dragged the benchmark down Friday, falling sharply Friday and reversing an earlier weekly gain. The group suffered worst weekly slide in a month.

Canadian Natural Resources was down 97 cents, or 3.2%, to $28.99, while Suncor Energy was off 45 cents, or 1.3% to $35.22.

Financials were also punished after Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that the federal government would raise minimum down payments on some government-insured mortgages.

Mortgage-lenders Home Capital Group Inc. docked 88 cents, or 3.2%, to $26.83, and Canadian Western Bank fell 79 cents, or 3.4%, to $22.38, to its lowest level since September.

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. dropped 19 cents, or 3.9%, to $4.67.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. sank $2.03, or 1.2%, to $169.77, before paring the losses after the railroad controlled by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said it is open to making a competing bid for Norfolk Southern Corp. The company had been the target of a $27-billion takeover effort by Canadian Pacific Railway.

Hudson’s Bay Co slumped $2.50, or 12.6%, to $17.40, after cutting its sales forecast for this year and next in an earnings report late on Thursday.

On the positive side, the maker of Ski-Doo snowmobiles and See-Doo watercraft, BRP Inc., advanced $1.92, or 9.5%, to $22.10, after reporting soaring profit helped by favourable exchange rates.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 2.19 points to 502.09.

All but one of the 13 TSX subgroups were lower on the day, as metals and mining moved lower 3.6%, energy settled 3.4%, and health-care tottered 2.6%.

The lone holdout against the negative tide was gold, up 1.5%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks closed out a volatile week with sharp losses Friday, as oil hit near-seven-year lows and news of another corporate merger weighed ahead of the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated decision on rates next week.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 309.54 points, or 1.8%, to close out the week at 17,265.21. DuPont and Goldman Sachs were the greatest weights on the index as nearly all member stocks declined.

The S&P 500 stumbled 41.44 points, or 2%, to 2,010.79, as energy lost more than 3% to lead all sectors lower.

The NASDAQ index deducted 111.71 points, or 2.2%, to 4,933.47, as Apple traded more than 2.5% lower.

U.S. chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical officially agreed to merge in an all-stock deal to form a combined company valued at $130 billion U.S. The new firm, to be called DowDuPont, is expected to eventually separate into three entities.

Despite declines of about 5% Friday, DuPont is still up about 4% for the week so far. Dow Chemical traded more than 2% lower Friday, on track for slight gains for the week.

BlackRock traded more than 6% lower, while Legg Mason and Charles Schwab were off more than 4.5% in afternoon trade.

In economic news, October U.S. business inventories were unchanged, while September’s figure was revised to 0.1% from 0.3%

The preliminary read on December U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment was 91.8.

November retail sales rose 0.2%. Ex-autos, retail sales rose 0.4%.

The U.S. Labor Department said on Friday its producer price index advanced 0.3% after falling 0.4% in October.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 2.14% from Thursday’s 2.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices slid $1.22 a barrel to $35.54 U.S.

Gold prices gained $5.16 to $1,076.74 U.S. an ounce.

Source: Baystreet.ca – Big Losses for Stocks At Week’s End