Rick Tocchet buries his own players after ugly preseason performance.

It is the National Hockey League preseason and the games technically do not matter in the grand scheme of things, but that did little to diminish the embarrassment Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet felt on Sunday night.

Tocchet stood behind the Canucks bench as his team put out one of the worst performances we have seen so far in the preseason during a blowout against the Calgary Flames, one that mercifully ended after the Flames put up 10 unanswered goals. That's right, the final tally when it was all said and done was 10 - 0 in favor of the Flames.

Needless to say Tocchet was not very happy with what he saw on the ice, and following the game he let both members of the assembled media and his players know exactly how he felt.

"I feel like Sean Payton," said Tocchet in his very first comments during his post game media availability.

For those who don't understand the reference, Sean Payton is the head coach of the National Football League's Denver Broncos and on Sunday Payton and the Broncos were on the wrong side of a blowout of their own, losing by a score of 70 - 20 against the Miami Dolphins.

In spite of his obvious disappointment, Tocchet did try to give some of his players a little bit of credit by pointing to the fact that many of them never quit during the game in spite of the lopsided scoreline. Specifically Tocchet had praise for Nils Hoglander, who may have been the best player for the Canucks on the evening.

"I thought he was one of the positives tonight," admitted Tocchet. "He's just got to learn.... don't get frustrated, stay in yourself. But I do like his effort."