This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from VancouverIAM where you will find the best blogs from Vancouver, British Columbia as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring.

Canucks Turning it Around Despite Absentees

Eric Duhatschek, blogger for the Globe on Hockey Blog, writes that considering the Canucks are hurting from the absences of Salo, Bieksa, and Ohlund (for three games), their defence played spectacularly. Although, already “deep into their farm system,” if Lucas Krajicek “hadn’t been ready after an eight-game absence Sunday night, they could have been in deep trouble.” He particularly praised rearguard Willie Mitchell, abetted by Edler, for doing an “efficient job against the Flames’ Jarome Iginla, who has now gone nine games without a goal against Vancouver.”

The post goes on to say that the Canucks have turned around in recent days, “keyed by their strong play defensively in front of Roberto Luongo who had to be solid but not spectacular to defeat Calgary.” There’s talk of brining in Richard Matvichuk, but “once everybody’s healthy, they may actually have a surplus and then be in a position to trade for [a] scorer.” Vancouver will reach its 20-game mark on Tuesday night against the Oilers. “The good news for the Canucks is that they’re starting to play better after an awful start on home ice.”

Lions Just not Roaring

Lowell Ulrich tells it plain and simple on his Fifth Quarter blog about the Lions: they were simply not good enough. The blogger opines“You can say they might have won the West Division final if their protection held enough… You could easily ask why they gave up on the run when Joe Smith had been so very effective for them all year.” The answer, he concludes, is that they just didn’t have it. The Roughriders were “just more hungry… they deserved their 26-17 win.”

Ulrich says in his post, that we’ve just got to “admit the obvious” and that the Lions will be left with much to ponder in the off season. One of the goals being to find a second import receiver. “A much bigger problem, however, exists behind the front four. B.C. had a great pass rush, but all season long they tried to hide the fact they did not have a dominant force at linebacker.” Perhaps they’ll change structure, personnel, or neither. Whatever they decide, they’ve just got to do better.

Exporting Sustainable City Planning

Recent post on Currents, a blog about current affairs in Vancouver, the blogger reveals that several of Vancouver’s city planners have been snapped up by Hong Kong and the Middle East so that they can “use the same expertise that made Vancouver into a world-class city and showcase for sustainability.” Will Vancouver be able to export their urban design skills, the blogger asks.

The post points out that “EcoDensity only makes sense in a place that can actually accommodate density without massive resource transfers and subsidies.” For instance, Dubai doesn’t have the water supply Vancouver does, nor the access to green hydroelectric power. “This may be a case of importing the look of Vancouver without the underlying sustainability.”

Boom Equals Bust for Vancouver?

Metroblogging Vancouver asks us in a recent post if 2010 will mark Vancouver’s decline. Blogger Jeffrey Simpson, being from Montreal, reminds us that “sometimes an event or a period of time comes to define the city in such a way that the city seems and feels locked in that time period.” He points to Edmonton still feeling like it’s traped in the 1908’s, Montreal like 1976, and Winnipeg “like 1919 just before the General Strike.”

The post supposes that the reason may be that “lots of money was poured into Edmonton during the oil boom of the '80s for development, and the same with Montreal to prepare for the Olympics.” Since Vancouver has been pushed recently by an economic boom, “will 2010 possibly be the high water mark in the development for Vancouver and the beginning of its nadir?”

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