Pre-Season Game #1/2: Make it Count (But Not Really)

After a long summer, the Flames finally hit the ice tonight in split squad games against the Vancouver Canucks.

I know it's pre-season, but against the Canucks, it always counts. 

Rosters and game previews after the jump. 

Flames vs. Canucks at the Saddledome (7PM MT on flames.nhl.com and The Fan 960):

Flames: 

Alex Tanguay-Paul Byron-Rene Bourque

Lee Stempniak-Matt Stajan-Turner Elson

Ryan Howse-Lance Bouma-Tim Jackman

Tom Kostopoulos-Olli Jokinen-Greg Nemisz

Scott Hannan-Mark Giordano

Jordan Henry-Brendan Mikkelson

T.J. Brodie-James Martin 

Miikka Kiprusoff-Henrik Karlsson

Canucks: 

Mike Duco-Cody Hodgson-Victor Oreskovich

Darren Archibald-Nathan Longpre-Mark Mancari 

Steven Anthony-Alex Friesen-Alexander Grenier

Kevin Connauton-Frank Corrado 

Alexander Sulzer-Sebastian Erixon

Andrew Alberts

Matt Climie

The first thing that comes to mind when looking at the Canucks' roster for this game is "who?" Vancouver hasn't sent a star-studded roster to Calgary, with the most recognizable names probably being Cody Hodgson and Andrew Alberts, while the Flames hit the ice tonight with two fairly balanced squads in Calgary and Vancouver. The Canucks have also chosen to go with just five defencemen for this game; whether this is out necessity or choice is unclear. 

Canucks vs. Flames at Rogers Arena (8PM MT on Sportsnet West) 

Flames: 

Sven Baertschi-Mikael Backlund-Niklas Hagman

Curtis Glencross-David Moss-Patrick Holland

Michael Ferland-Roman Horak-Quintin Laing

Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond-Carter Bancks-Guillaume Desbiens 

Chris Butler-Jay Bouwmeester

Derek Smith-Anton Babchuk

Joe Piskula-Clay Wilson 

Leland Irving/Joni Ortio

Canucks:

Marco Sturm-Andrew Ebbett-Nicklas Jensen

Steven Pinizzotto-Jordan Schroeder–Anton Rodin

Aaron Volpatti-Maxim Lapierre-Kellan Tochkin 

Keith Ballard-Chrisopher Tanev

Yann Sauve-Ryan Parent

Aaron Rome-Adam Polasek 

Cory Schneider-Edie Lack 

Again, not an all-star lineup for the Canucks, but there are some interesting players to watch here. Marco Sturm makes his Vancouver debut after being acquired by the club in the off-season and 2009 second-round pick Anton Rodin has been turning heads. I'll also be curious to find out if this is the year that Jordan Schroeder is able to make an impact in main camp. 

Enjoy the games everyone and pray for David Moss' health in the comments. Go Flames Go. 

by Hayley Mutch