Break on Through

June 13, 2011 is a day that every single person inside of Canuck Nation is hoping against hope will become a historic day for the Vancouver Canucks and their fanbase.

Tonight in Boston, the Canucks have a chance to do what their franchise has never accomplished in 40 years. They have a chance to accomplish what no team from Vancouver has accomplished since 1915. That's right. For the first time in 96 years, a hockey team from Vancouver will have the chance to win a Stanley Cup.

The Canucks enter this game coming off a roller coaster of a series that has had more than its share of twists and turns. After two gut-check victories in Games 1 and 2 that made the Canucks look like a team of destiny, they got ventilated in Games 3 and 4 in Boston by a resurgent Bruins team. Calls for goaltender Roberto Luongo not to start in Game 5 were heard, but then he bounced back in tremendous fashion by posting a 1-0 shutout victory in Game 5 to put the Canuck on the precipice of glory.

The storylines don't stop there. It's been well publicized that tonight's game could almost represent a story coming full circle for Daniel and Henrik Sedin. For it was Boston's home building, the TD Banknorth Arena, where the Sedin Twins were first drafted as fresh-faced teenagers by the Vancouver Canucks back in 1999. They now have the chance to win the franchise's first ever championship in that same building.

Meanwhile, Ryan Kesler is simply looking for a win. The 2009/2010 season wasn't too kind to Kesler. He was one of the best players on Team USA during the 2010 Olympics, but ultimately had to settle for silver as they lost to Canada in the gold medal game. His Canucks were then trounced in the second round by the arch-nemesis Chicago Blackhawks. He then went on to lose by the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league's best two-way forward to Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, by only a handful of votes.

Kesler needs to win something, and tonight he gets a chance to do just that. He looked rejuvenated in Game 5. It's not secret that he was injured in the climax of the Western Conference Final. While he had a strong first game of this series--setting up Raffi Torres' dramatic winner--he faded badly in the subsequent games. Yet in a must-win Game 5 on home ice, he looked like the man who defeated the Nashville Predators single handedly, the man who shut down Jonathan Toews in the first round. He didn't hit the score sheet, but he did everything else short of playing goal.

And how about Roberto Luongo? The man with one of the most bizarre love-hate relationships with fans and media that I have ever seen. His highs are so high--he becomes a media darling, is considered one of the best goaltenders in the league (if not on the planet) and the chants of "Luuuu" are sang with adoration. But the lows reach almost submarine-like levels in depth, as the questions of his mental fortitude roll in, whether or not he can lead a team to a championship, do teams win in spite of him rather than because of him, and are the Canucks better suited playing their backup and then dealing Luongo in the off-season.

All of this for a guy who, really, has proven himself a winner in every sense of the word. I've talked about his international resume before, but just to recap--a World Cup of Hockey Gold, two World Hockey Championship Golds and an Olympic Gold medal. He has also been nominated for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender three times, twice has been a 2nd Team All-Star and he shared the William M. Jennings Trophy this year with backup Cory Schneider for the fewest goals allowed.

The guy is good. And if there was still any lingering doubt, he put a stamp on it with his performance in Game 5. But really and truly, the questions will still linger until he hoists a Stanley Cup over his head.

Which brings us back to tonight. The Canucks have been a quiet bunch when it comes to what motivates them. Be it Luongo's walks along the seawalls, Alexandre Burrows getting lost in thought thinking about his fallen teammate Luc Bourdon, Ryan Kesler wanting to win anything in sight, or Sami Salo perhaps having his last, best chance to win hockey's holy grail, they remain a tight-lipped bunch about it.

But make no mistake, they know that the Stanley Cup is in the building tonight. None will see it early in the game--it will remain hidden in the bowls of the TD Banknorth Garden, waiting to be unveiled should the Canucks emerge victorious. But to borrow a Star Wars reference, the Canucks will know it is there. They will sense its presence. To a man, no one who dresses for the Vancouver Canucks tonight has ever won that Cup. The only players on the team who have--Mikael Samuelsson and Aaron Rome--have been lost due to injury and suspension. For everyone except Raffi Torres, this will represent the first game ever that they have had a chance to win the Cup. Torres' last chance was 5 years ago in Game 7 when, as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, he lost his chance to win the grail.

The Canucks have been quiet about what motivates them, but make no mistake. They will feel the presence of Lord Stanley's mug. They will feel the presence of perhaps the most iconic trophy in the history of professional sports, the most difficult trophy in all of sport to win.

It has been a long, gruelling two month grind. The puck dropped on the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs back on April 14th, and here the Canucks are, two months minus a day later with the ultimate prize in sight.

This is what motivates them. From the first time as toddlers that they grabbed a toddler-sized hockey stick to bat a tennis ball idly around their living room. The times where they beat, battered and bruised the shins of their parents and siblings by playing around on the floor or out in the road. The times where they became rep players, got drafted to junior or college teams. The days where they were either drafted to the NHL or signed as free agents. The days where they played in their first regular season games and the days where they played in their first playoff games. The days where they missed the playoffs and the days when they were acquired by the Vancouver Canucks. The days of this Stanley Cup run of 2011...all of this has lead to this moment.

This is the day that every single member of the Vancouver Canucks has dreamt of for their entire lives. The marking slogan for the Canucks right now is "This is what we live for".

This is what they've dreamed of.

And it's within reach. So go get it.