On a night where most of the world was focused on the 44th Presidential Election in the United States of America where history was made with Barack Obama elected as the first African-American President in the country’s history, there were a small band of Canuck fans, say 18,000 or so, who went to GM Place in Vancouver to cheer on their Canucks team.

It was a night of many important events that made this game special, where the Vancouver Canucks shutout the Nashville Predators 4-0.

To summarize, there were five main triumphant cheers tonight at GM Place for these main events.

1. Congratulatory applause for the new President of the United States.
2. The Predator’s coach, Barry Trotz, applauded for his 750th game coached.
3. The excellent performance by the game’s first star, Kyle Wellwood.
4. Roberto Luongo achieving his third shoutout of this young season.
5. The Canucks winning the game 4-0.

First Period >> Getting Synchronized
The first period started with both teams playing very tentatively. The Predators were keeping things simple and the Canuckswere a little out of sync. Although both side had their chances, the goalies, Roberto Luongo and Dan Ellis, were sharp. The period ended tied 0-0.

Second Period >> Taking the Lead
The Canucks started to come on this period. I think they got mad, which can be a good thing.

Martin Erat gave his old teammate, Darcy Hordichuk, a cheap shot in front of the Predator’s bench and got a penalty for it putting the Canucks on the power play.

It was on this power play where a “garbage or bang away in the goal mouth crease” goal put the Canucks on the board. The Sedin twins managed to get the puck to Kyle Wellwood on this power play where he banged the puck home for his 5th goal of the season. Canucks were up 1-0.

This made the Predator’s upset, so Nick Tarnasky decided to drop the gloves with Shane O’Brien and duke it out. It was a good fight with both players landing good punches to one another.

There was feeling coming into the game.

Third Period >> Finishing the Predators Off
The third period is where the  found their scoring touch again. Mason Raymond scored his fifth of the season on another one of Vancouver’s power plays when a point shot from Kevin Bieksa made it to the net with Steve Bernier banging at the puck on one side of the net and Mason Raymond on the other. The Canucks were now up 2-0.

But wait, there’s more.

There was a faceoff in the Predator’s zone around the six minute mark. The Canucks win the faceoff with the puck ending up on Taylor Pyatt’s stick. He manages to find Kyle Wellwood alone in front of the net, where he put three or so moves on the Predator’s netminder, Dan Ellis, and scored the Canuck’s third goal on the night.

For a guy that people were questioning in the past, he was now receiving cheers and applause. In fact, right after the goal, the whole stadium chanted “Wellwood”, “Wellwood”, “Wellwood” for about 10-15 seconds to congratulate him for his efforts and that he leads the team with 6 goals on the season. In certain cases, there are specialty players in the league. They may not be flashy, but they have good hockey sense and know where to be at the right time. Kyle Wellwood is one of these players.

Daniel Sedin wrapped up the night with his fourth goal of the season, in a similar fashion to Wellwood’s first goal of the game, banging away in the crease for the loose puck. This is a great sign. If the Sedins are willing to pay the price to try to score goals in the “dangerous” areas, they will have elevated their game to have more grit.

Next Game: Vancouver Canucks versus Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday November 6 2008 at 7:00pm PST