"Aaron Rome didn't get to finish the Stanley Cup final. Now he won't get to start the regular season.

Neither will Steve Pinizzotto, a 27-year-old career minor-leaguer whose dream of cracking the roster of a NHL team has ended, at least temporarily.

The Vancouver Canucks dropped another pre-season game Sunday night, but that rather meaningless loss paled in comparison to the setbacks suffered by Rome and Pinizzotto.

Rome, who was suspended for his open-ice hit on Boston forward Nathan Horton in the Cup final, suffered a broken finger early in the third period of a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Arena.

Pinizzotto, who has never played a regular-season game in the NHL, had been making a strong push to grab one of the fourth-line roster spots up for grabs with the Canucks. He suffered a left shoulder injury after a collision with big San Jose defenceman Douglas Murray

"He'll be re-evaluated, but I think they announced it was dislocated," coach Alain Vigneault said of Pinizzotto after the game. "He fell awkwardly there. It's unfortunate, we'll know more in the next couple of days how long it's going to be, but it should be a while. . .It's hockey, it's life, some stuff happens.""