Right Now

In 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugrated as South Africa's first black president.

In 1994, the top grossing movie in the world was "The Lion King".

In 1994, the #1 Hit song was "Streets of Philadelphia", by Bruce Springsteen.

In 1994, the Vancouver Canucks made a push to the third round of the playoffs.

Right now, they have done the same thing.

Yes, it has been a long, long time coming, but the Vancouver Canucks have finally gotten over the hump and made it to the Western Conference Finals. Since that magical run in the spring of 1994, the Vancouver Canucks have made the playoffs nine times (not including this season). Of those nine times, they have made it to the second round five times. But last night in Nashville, Tennessee, the Canucks got the monkey off their back with a harrowing 2-1 victory over the persistent Nashville Predators.

In 1994, the Vancouver Canucks received some playoff performances for the ages. Kirk McLean was nearly unbeatable between the pipes for Vancouver. Pavel Bure was rocketing around the ice scoring highlight reel goals at will. And Trevor Linden seemed to always come through at the big moments with a big goal when needed. Jim Robson's call of "he'll play, you know he'll play! He'll play on crutches!" still resonates with so many of us. Well right now, we may well be seeing the best individual playoff performance we have seen since that spring in '94.

I am, of course, speaking of Ryan Kesler.

Another game, another superhuman effort from #17. Kesler was a force on the ice once again. Every time he had the puck, you could almost hear a collective intake of breath from the Preds' faithful packed into Bridgestone Arena, and with good reason. Kesler had been a one-man wrecking crew to their team, and he didn't let up last night. He made a great effort on the forecheck to spring Mason Raymond alone in front of the net for the first goal of the game, and he whacked a shot at the net on the powerplay, allowing Daniel Sedin to pocket a rebound (his first of the series and the eventual game winner).

Those goals came in the first few minutes, and they ended up holding up. David Legwand got the Predators within 1 in the second period, but that was as close as they would get.

So now the Canucks get a well earned break. Game 1 of the Western Conference Final will go on either Saturday or Sunday, according to CBC. Which one depends on how the only other remaining series goes between the San Jose Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings.

But right now, the Canucks will take a few days to relax, rest their injuries, get some practice time in, and prepare for their opponent--whomever it may be.

Oh, and they just might bask in the moment--if only for a moment--too.