I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Finally.

A fan remarked today that the layoff between games for the Vancouver Canucks was far, far too long. "Heck, the last time the Vancouver Canucks played a hockey game, Winnipeg didn't even have an NHL team!"

Well, they do now. (congratulations to Winnipeg!) And now, finally, we are sitting on the precipice of the beginning of the Stanley Cup Final. This series has already been dissected to death by people far better at analyzing hockey than myself. The Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks have more than likely scoured hours of video tape on each other, searching for weaknesses that they can exploit in an effort to bring home hockey's Holy Grail.

Everything that can be said about these two teams has been said. Every storyline about the series, every similarity, every difference, every Boston player who has a B.C. connection and every Canuck player who has a Boston connection has been analyzed. Heck, they even traced members of the Boston Bruins team now--today--back to the worst trade in Vancouver Canucks history. You know. The one that saw us ship out B.C. Boy Cam "Seabass" Neely to the Boston Bruins for a big fat pile of nothing. The same Cam Neely that went on to become an NHL Hall of Famer.

Yes. It seems every storyline has been told.

So I'm going to step back and try and be original for a second. I am fully aware that the tale I am about to tell could likely be told by a counterpart of mine in Boston. I am sure that the Bruins' roster is filled with stories of brotherhood, redemption and spirit. But damnit, this is a blog about the Vancouver Canucks. So I'm going to put a hold on delivering lip service to the Boston Bruins for just one night.

I feel the Vancouver Canucks can and will win this series. That is a claim almost any Canuck fan can make. But I am not going to sit here and analyze special teams, goaltending styles, depth of scoring, physicality, impartial vs. partial officiating or what have you. As I said before, that has all been done by writers far better versed than myself.

The reason why I feel the Canucks are going to win this series and win their first Stanley Cup is because, well, they just have to. This is the final chapter in so many stories of redemption, I find myself almost incredulous looking at them all side-by-side. Take a good look at the faces of many of the players wearing Vancouver Canucks colours. Each of their faces, each of their names tells a different story. Each of these men has suffered incredible amounts of blood, sweat, and tears to get to this point. And oh so many of them have something to prove.

Let's start with the new guys. The two cast offs that were acquired at the trade deadline. Two ex-Montreal Canadiens by the names of Christopher Higgins and Maxim Lapierre. It wasn't too long ago, for either of these two, that they were both considered vital players on the most storied franchise in the history of the NHL. Chris Higgins was a high first-round draft pick in 2002. He posted three 20+ goal seasons between 2005 and 2008. He was then dealt away by the Habs at the age of 26 years old. What went wrong?

The popular consensus is that Higgins enjoyed the Montreal night life a bit too much. As a young hockey player whose star was on the rise in one of the biggest hockey hotbeds in the country, he enjoyed a bit too much off-ice extra-cirricular activity. What began as a trade from Montreal to the Big Apple of New York City turned into a two-year exodus that saw him play for five teams in the course of two calendar years. But the Vancouver Canucks saw enough in him that they liked; they rolled the dice and acquired him for a 3rd round draft pick and a defensive prospect (Evan Oberg) who may or may not make an impact on the NHL.

Maxim Lapierre is a similar story. Also an ex-Hab, Lapierre was a vital component of the team that made a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Final last year on the back of sublime goaltending by Jaroslav Halak. The man affectionately referred to by Habs fans as "Yappy Lappy", so dubbed for his propensity for driving opponents bat**** crazy, was considered a keeper. But part way through the 2010-2011 season, he was cast off to Anaheim. The buzz began--he was uncoachable, undisciplined. He bounced from team to team much as Higgins did--he has played for three teams in the 2010-2011 season alone.

But now both of these players are playing in the Stanley Cup Final. And they have both made signifcant contributions along the way. Higgins leads the team in one of the most important departments in which a player can lead a team--game winning goals. He has accounted for three of them. He has also surprised Canuck players, staff and fans alike with a stunning gritty game and teriffic work along the boards. Lapierre, meanwhile, has stepped admirably into the empty skates left by the injured Manny Malhotra. He is far and away the most physical of the Canucks, leading the team in hits thus far on this Stanley Cup run. He has also played a big role on the penalty kill, and is second on the team in faceoff percentage behind only noted defensive demon Ryan Kesler.

From where they came from, to where they are now. Two cast-offs that nobody else wanted, to two vital players on a team endeavouring to win its first Stanley Cup. Do you think these two might, just might, be motivated?

How about Kevin Bieksa? Oh yeah, he's the guy that scored the goal to get us to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since Bill Clinton was President of the United States! Yeah! Everybody loves the man they call "Juice". He's an internet sensation with his "Shot Shot Shot" reference. He's charismatic, he's a leader on the team, and man has he ever scored some big goals for this team. He was great against the Sharks!

We might say that now. But it wasn't always the case.

Flash back to only just last season. For the second time in his career, Bieksa suffered a freak injury--the same injury that caused him to miss significant time in the 2007/2008 season: a laceration to his leg. He returned in time for the playoffs, but he was still somewhat out of sync. Fans lamented what they called a "Jekyll and Hyde" playoff performance last year, perhaps puncuated no better than it was during Games 5 and 6 vs. Chicago in the second round. In Game 5, Bieksa was a force. He scored 2 goals and added an assist in a 4-1 win to extend the life of the Vancouver Canucks. Just two nights later, he committed costly turnover after costly turnover and the Canucks were ventilated 5-1 by the eventual Stanley Cup Champions on home ice.

Canuck Nation, naturally, was screaming for his head. Fans across the internet were lining up with offers to drive him to the airport. Indeed, when the Canucks acquired Keith Ballard and Dan Hamhuis, it looked like Bieksa's number was up. The media was asking him every day about the possibility of being traded, and Bieksa acknowledged it was all out of his hands. And it was.

And had it not been for another freak injury to fellow Canuck defender Sami Salo, the lasting impression we as Canuck fans might have had of Kevin Bieksa's tenure as a Canuck may well have been that final game against Chicago. A game punctuated by errors. But Bieksa got a reprieve. And here we are, only 1 year later, and he's the man of the hour. He has been the consensus top defender for the Canucks thus far in these playoffs, playing a fantastic blend of physical, in your face hockey. And now he puncutates that with goals rather than errors.

Do you think the defender who many were ready to run out of town only one short year ago might, just might have something to prove?

How about Roberto Luongo? When he played for a nothing team in the middle of the sunbelt, fans across the league agreed he was one of the best goaltenders on the planet. On any given night, he was usually the only reason that the hapless Florida Panthers weren't getting blown out of their rink. Once he was traded to Vancouver, the criticism began. "Reboundo" was a favorite nickname at the time. But Luongo answered his critics with a season to remember in 2006-2007. He was a finalist for both the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender, and the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP. He had a stunning playoff run after making the post-season for the first time in his career. People jokingly referred to the Vancouver Canucks as "the Roberto Luongo". He was, for all intents and purposes, the face of the team. And the most important player.

But perhaps that season built up a bit too much mystique. Flash forward one year, and a difficult pregnancy for his wife lead to a struggle down the stretch for the Canucks--the Northwest Division Champs the previous year--to make the playoffs. They ultimately fell short, and much of the blame fell unfairly at the feet of Luongo.

The next season, he was named Captain of the Vancouver Canucks. A very rare move to make a goaltender Captain, and it was largely a ceremonial duty, but one that he and the team seemed to embrace. He was a man on a mission. In spite of missing time due to injury, he was duly back in form. The Canucks made the playoffs again and swept the St. Louis Blues largely on the strength of Luongo stymying everything that they had to throw at him. He was back in form. But then, the Canucks would run into a nemesis that would haunt them for three years: the Chicago Blackhawks. The 2008/2009 playoff season saw the birth of what many anti-Canucks refer to as "7uongo". Game 6 between the favoured Canucks and the upstart Chicago Blackhawks. A series which the Canucks had lead 2-1 was now lead 3-2 by a young team that had never tasted the playoffs. The Canucks came out hard and poured 5 goals into the Chicago net. 5 goals in front of one of the best goaltenders in the game. It seemed enough to win.

But it wasn't. Luongo allowed 7, and the Canucks were eliminated from the playoffs to the tune of Chelsea Dagger.

The whispers about Luongo began that off-season, and he set out in 2009-2010 to silence them. He started off in teriffic fashion--he was excellent leading up to the Olympic break, and then he got to complete a storybook ending for Team Canada as he came into the net in relief of one of the greatest goaltenders of all-time in Martin Brodeur and helped Team Canada win the Gold Medal for Olympic Hockey on home ice. On Vancouver ice.

But even then, the whispers continued. "The team won in spite of Luongo" was the tune the naysayers were singing. Luongo did little to dispell that down the stretch--he posted his worst statistical season a Canuck. But then the playoffs began and he seemed to have new life; a strong opening round against the Los Angeles Kings, a series the Canucks won in six games, seemed to have him on a role. That is, until the Canucks ran into the Chicago Blackhawks once again in Round 2. One year to the day later, the Blackhawks again eliminated the Canucks in six games. And once again, another round of off-season questions began. Luongo relenquished the captaincy of the team to focus solely on goaltending.

And focus he did. 2010-2011 saw him post the best numbers of his career and he earned his third nomination for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender. He also won the William M. Jennings Trophy with backup Cory Schneider for allowing the fewest goals against of any team in the league. But when the playoffs began, a familiar nemesis was staring back at him--the Chicago Blackhawks were the Canucks' 1st round opponent. The adversity Luongo had faced in his career combined to this point paled in comparison to what he went through in the first round. Everything went smoothly for the first three games; the Canucks went up 3-0 and a sweep seemed to be in store. The Canucks seemed primed to conquer their playoff demon.

But the Hawks came clawing back. They outscored the Canucks by a whopping 12-2 margin in Games 4 and 5. Luongo took the brunt of the criticism, but the stunning move came in Game 6 when head coach Alain Vigneault opted to start rookie backup Cory Schneider. Luongo was relegated to the dressing room to watch the proceedings from a TV screen. The Vezina goaltender, the Franchise player, the Olympic Gold Medal winner, was not called upon to start the game. Cory Schneider later injured himself and Luongo ended up going in cold; the Canucks lost Game 6 in overtime, and Vigneault turned back to Luongo for Game 7.

This is where Luongo re-wrote the ending to the story. He was a man who had been criticised as being mentally soft. He allowed bad goals and bad games to get to him. He allowed opposing teams into his head. Well, not this time. Luongo shut down the Hawks; only a superhuman effort by Jonathan Toews late in the game beat him. And in overtime of that seventh game, Luongo made a season-saving stop on Patrick Sharp to extend the life of the Canucks just long enough for Alexandre Burrows to score the magic goal to finally, finally, vanquish the Blackhawks.

Luongo still faced criticism in the second round for not being as good as Pekka Rinne, the goaltender at the other end of the ice. This in spite of the fact that through 6 games, Luongo only allowed 11 goals into the net. Luongo did save his best for the series against the Sharks, as the Canucks were outshot handily in the final two games of that series, particularly in the clinching Game 5. Luongo made 54 saves in the 3-2 victory that propelled the Canucks into the Stanley Cup Finals.

Do you think the goaltender who everyone outside of Canuck Nation--and even some within it--criticised as being mentally soft, as not being a big-game goaltender, as being a guy that teams won in spite of rather than because of, might--just might--have something to prove?

Last, but not least--how about Daniel and Henrik Sedin?

Drafted 2nd and 3rd overall in 1999, the Sedin Twins put up with an inhuman amount of flak over the early parts of their careers. The criticisms were quick from the start and they continued on for seasons to come. The nickname "The Sisters" was coined early, a reference to how the Sedins were supposedly soft. They were easily pushed over, they were slow, and in spite of their sixth sense for where the other was and the added ability to make the play to one another, they lacked offensive punch.

Drafted as the saviours of a franchise coming out of one of the bleakest periods in the team's history, they didn't exactly light up the NHL the way players like Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Steve Stamkos or John Tavares have since they have been drafted. No; the Sedins' progress was slow. The benefit of hindsight allows us to also add that it was steady.

But for those going through it at the time, it was just plain slow. The Twins were not putting up eye-popping numbers in either the regular season or the playoffs. The fact that they developed something of a penchant for scoring timely goals, especially in the playoffs, was lost in the shuffle.

The lockout came and went, and the Twins suddenly--quite suddenly--came into their own. They started scoring, at a point-a-game pace no less. In the span of a few short years, they went from players that people were writing off as just another couple of busts from a dreadful 1999 draft year to players who were contending for some of the finest hardware the NHL has to offer. Henrik Sedin capped this off with a dream season in 2009-2010, where he won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer with 112 points--a franchise record that eclipsed the mark of 110 set by the great Pavel Bure--and the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP. Both were first-time wins for a Vancouver Canuck. Henrik Sedin was also named the Captain of the team to start the 2010-2011 season, a season which saw his brother Daniel follow quickly in Henrik's footsteps. Daniel won the Art Ross Trophy this year and is a finalist for the Hart as the league's MVP. Not bad for a couple of busts.

But even more recently, these two were criticised for their playoff performance this year. They were both virtual no-shows against Nashville (for the most part--back to that in a moment). It was rather obvious that Henrik was labouring through some kind of injury that hampered his whole line's effectiveness, but that didn't stop the boo birds from hopping onto their soap boxes and questioning not only his playing ability, but his leadership as the team's Captain.

Lost in the shuffle of Vancouver's Game 6 win over Nashville was the fact that the Twins combined to score the game winning goal; Henrik Sedin put the puck to Kesler who shot it at the net. The rebound came to Daniel who scored the series-clinching goal. In the furor of Ryan Kesler's stunning 2nd round performance, this was lost.

Henrik was able to rest between the second and third rounds, and he attacked the San Jose Sharks in the Conference Final with a vengeance. Ryan Kesler scored 11 points in 6 games against Nashville. Henrik trumped that with 12 points in 5 games against San Jose as he single-handedly devoured the Sharks. He scored the game-winning goal in the first game. He set up the game-winning goal in Game 4, and he set up the dramatic tying goal in Game 5. Daniel was no slouch either, recording 6 points in the 5 games against the Sharks.

Do you think that these two players who endured ridicule from the press, the league, and their own fans might--just might--have something to prove?

This all brings me back to the title of this blog entry. None of these players have found what they are looking for. Hockey's Holy Grail is the Stanley Cup, and only Mikael Samuelsson and Aaron Rome have played for teams that have won Cups. But for all of the above mentioned players--and there are more on the roster than that, but I feel like I've already written more than most can read in one sitting--they just have to win. Their trials and tribulations have lead them to this moment.

A recent advertisement says "this moment is where everything you want will collide with everything standing in your way".

The Boston Bruins are standing in their way. My hunch is that for these players, the Bruins are child's play in comparison to the personal demons they have overcome to reach this moment.

It's time to bring this thing home

It's time to bring the Stanley Cup to Vancouver.

You Could Be Mine

Canuck Nation has now had a few days to digest the fact that our boys in blue are off to the Stanley Cup Final. The screams of joy have faded, the cross-examining of the series against the San Jose Sharks is well underway, but the excitement for the Final is really just beginning.

Tonight the Canucks will find out just who they will be facing on the NHL's biggest stage. The Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning will clash in a seventh and deciding game in tonight's conclusion of a tough, back-and-forth series that has seen a surprising amount of offense. Heading into the series, netminders Tim Thomas and Dwayne Roloson were on a roll. Thomas is the favorite to win this year's Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender, and Roloson was deep in the discussion of potential Conn Smythe candidates as the Playoff MVP given his sensational play to get the Lightning to the 3rd round.

But the Eastern Conference Final hasn't really been a game for goaltenders. High scoring affairs have been a hallmark of this series as these two supposedly stingy defensive teams have traded goals with speed and efficiency. Thomas has faired better than Roloson, managing a shutout and a 1-goal against victory. Roloson was also held back from starting in Game 5 in place of backup Mike Smith (sound familiar, Canuck fans?) before returning to guide his team to victory in Game 6.

I use the term "guide" loosely, as Roloson was far from unbeatable in another high-scoring battle. But I digress.

The Boston Bruins are trying to win their first Stanley Cup since the 1970s, when names like Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito were still patrolling the ice for the Bruins. The Tampa Bay Lightning are the most recent Cup winners of the remaining teams, having taken home the grail in 2004. Both also feature a Vancouver connection--for Boston, it is Vancouver bread Milan Lucic. The young power forward, best known amongst Vancouverites for his days as a Vancouver Giant in the WHL, is extremely popular in his home province. His mix of size, skill, intimidation and absolutely formiddable fighting ability is an easy combination for a fan favorite. Many (myself included) fondly remember "the shift" during the Memorial Cup held in Vancouver, where Lucic did his best impersonation of a runaway freight train--flattening several players before accepting a challenge to a fight that he won handily.

On Tampa Bay's side, one of the most recognizable faces in Vancouver Canucks history awaits. Mattias Ohlund--he of the most points scored in the history of the franchise by a defensemen--is enjoying his first lengthy post-season run of his career. While his offense has dried up, the earmarks of Ohlund's game remain--namely calm, cool defensive play, good leadership in the room, and a propensity to destroy oncoming forwards who have the ill fortune of skating with their heads down.

The question has been asked many times--who is the better opponent for the Canucks? My answer is neither. These are two teams that will have fought tooth and nail to arrive in the Finals. These are two teams that can hurt you in any number of ways. Picking and choosing an opponent is not how Cups are won, it is about beating the best in order to be the best.

So the Canucks will continue to wait.

And we can continue to dissect the most beautiful "ugly" goal many of us have ever seen. Kevin Bieksa's "duck shot" from the blueline that fooled the no-longer-unbeaten-in-a-playoff-series Antti Niemi to propel the Canucks into the Finals. A Final where, regardless of the opponent, they will be the favorite.

My darling wife remarked to me that when Bieksa scored, I sounded like I was dying. (hint - a lot of screaming, which may not have sounded entirely masculine, ensued) She didn't think it was possible for me to go any more completely ballistic than I had when Alex Burrows scored the series-clinching goal over the Chicago Blackhawks all the way back in Round 1. But I did.

But I'm hoping that just like the Canucks, I can ramp it up just one more time.

Like A Rolling Stone

In some of my ramblings, I have made a habit of referring to 1994. That, of course, was the last time the Vancouver Canucks made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. 17 years is a very, very long time to wait, but we can now finally add a new point of reference for that feat - 2011.

Seventeen years to the day that Greg Adams scored a double-overtime game winner that launched the Vancouver Canucks into the Stanley Cup Finals, another funny shot from the blueline resulted in a double-overtime game winner that did just the same.

It was not a pretty victory. The Canucks were outshot by a healthy margin, but were fortunate that Roberto Luongo stepped up to join Kirk McLean and Richard Brodeur with perhaps his finest playoff performance to date, making 54 saves in all. The Canucks trailed late in the third and looked as if they would be boarding another flight for San Jose to play a Game 6. Ryan Kesler was labouring on a funny looking injury to one of his legs and lacked the same zip and pop he had had previously. The prospect of a lengthened series did not bode well for that injury.

But with just under 15 seconds left, Canuck Captain Henrik Sedin lobbed a shot at the net. It is something that he and his brother Daniel are sometimes criticised for not doing enough--making the simple play and getting pucks to the net. But Henrik did on this occasion. It wasn't particularly hard or fearsome, but it was accurate and on goal. Ryan Kesler did the rest, getting a stick on it to deflect the puck between Antti Niemi's legs to send the game to overtime.

But once overtime began, the Sharks were swarming again. They came at Roberto Luongo in droves, but the Canuck netminder stood tall and batted pucks aside to his teammates or swallowed them up in his glove with authority. He was in the zone and he gave his team a chance to win this game. A chance they finally capitalized on on perhaps the most bizarre play of the playoffs to this point.

Alex Edler's attempt to dump the puck deep into the San Jose zone deflected off a stanchion directly to Kevin Bieksa. There was no one on the ice apart from Bieksa who knew where the puck was, and he quickly slapped at the puck--nearly missing the bouncing biscuit altogther--at thenet. Before Antti Niemi even realized it was coming, it was behind the Sharks goaltender and Rogers Arena erupted.

It was an unjust end for the Sharks who played arguably their best game of the series. But it was justice served for at few Vancouver Canucks who, at various times, have had their playoff mettle and intensity questioned.

Let's start with Henrik Sedin. It wasn't all that long ago (about a week, to be precise) that people were questioning both his leadership ability and his playoff intensity. He was clearly afflicted with something throughout the first two rounds, but then the best thing possible happened for him--he got a lengthy break between the conclusion of Round 2 and the beginning of Round 3. He then exploded in this series against the Sharks, recording 12 points in just 5 games. He either scored or set up 3 of the Canucks' four game-winning goals in this series. The Captain has now firmly re-established himself amongst the elite players on not just this team, but in the league.

Secondly, let's look at Kevin Bieksa. This was a player whom many assumed had punched his ticket out of Vancouver last year. He had just come off an up and down season, marred by both injury and inconsistency. He turned in a truly Jekyll and Hyde performance in the 2010 playoffs, and looked to be a victim of a cap crunch once the Canucks went out and acquired both Keith Ballard and Dan Hamhuis via trade and free agency. Indeed, the popular consensus was that the Canucks came very close to dealing the blueliner.

But then Sami Salo tore his Achilles' tendon and Bieksa got a reprieve. He went on to play arguably the best season of his career, but the real story has been his coming out party in these 2011 playoffs. He scored 4 goals in this series and was a force to be reckoned with at both ends of the ice. He physically manhandled any Sharks forward who came his way and played with the even blend of nastiness and talent that you would expect out of a top defensemen. And for a player who many fans were lining up to ship out of town just 1 short year ago, the turnaround has been remarkable.

Last but not least, there is Roberto Luongo. The criticisms directed his way were bizarre, and there is perhaps not a goaltender or player in the league who most call overrated who has actually become underrated. Luongo backstopped Team Canada to an Olympic Gold Medal on home soil, no easy task. His detractors say anyone could have played goal on that team and won (future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur couldn't). He bounced back from being benched in Game 6 of the first round against the Chicago Blackhawks with a teriffic Game 7 performance, punctuated by a goal-line save off Patrick Sharp in overtime. To his detractors, he still wasn't as good as his counter part at the other end of the ice (Corey Crawford). In the second round, Pekka Rinne was better. And in the 3rd round, he was facing "Mr. Undefeated in a 7-Game Series" Antti Niemi.

Well, Luongo answered those critics last night with a 54-save effort. He was a wall when the Sharks had an early 5-on-3, and he made several difficult stops in overtime. He was undoubtedly the best player on the ice last night and is the reason that the Canucks are taking a well-earned break before playing for the Stanley Cup.

There will be complaints. Already, Canuck detractors are decrying what they feel should have been a non-icing call that lead to Kesler's tying goal. (this writer slowed the play down on PVR and looked. I do not find it definitive at all that the puck struck Daniel, in fact, I think it hit the same stanchion that would later result in Bieksa's game winner). There is the fact that the Canucks were handily outshot. Anything they can say to put down the Canucks will be said.

But right now, their voices are falling on deaf ears. Because nothing they say can take away from the fact that the Vancouver Canucks will play in the Stanley Cup Finals.

And yeah, that feels pretty good.

Just Came Back

17 years ago tomorrow, the Vancouver Canucks soared into the Stanley Cup Final to the sounds of Jim Robson's call of "Greg Adams! Greg Adams!" while Vancouver and British Columbia celebrated. It was Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a double overtime affair that ended with Greg Adams jamming home a Felix Potvin rebound.

And now, 17 years to the day later, in another Game 5, the Canucks can once again vanquish an opponent and move on to play for Lord Stanley's Cup.

It's an interesting storyline headed into Tuesday evening's Game 5. The Canucks have shown an impressive killer instinct and resilience through the first four games of this series. Perhaps it was on its best display on Sunday afternoon, where in spite of giving up five consecutive power play opportunites (several of the calls being of the questionable variet), the Canucks rebounded to capitalize on their own power play chances.

Sami Salo looked like a young stud on the blueline again as he pelted consecutive one-time blasts past fellow countrymen Antti Niemi. He also picked up a helper on Ryan Kesler's game opening goal, and that sequence of three set a franchise record for the fastest set of goals a Canucks team had ever recorded in the post-season.

Another storyline was centered around Raffi Torres. He has had a very interesting playoffs for the Canucks. Most people remember his opening game in the first round against the Blackhawks, where he caught Chicago defensemen Brent Seabrook with his head down and rocked his world. It was a play many expected would warrant a suspension, but none came. That seemed to give Torres' physical play a much needed resuscitating breath, as he has once again been a wrecking ball since then.

That was on full display on Sunday in two instances; when he caught San Jose Mac Truck Douglas Murray with his head down along the boards and exploded into him (it was called charging, but that's debateable). But the second and more important instances was where he caught Shark captain Joe Thornton in a vulnerable position along the boards and sent him crashing to the ice, too.

Thornton did not finish the game, although he is expected to suit up in Game 5. But what kind of condition is he really in? No one knows for sure.

The Canucks are about to have their killer instinct tested once again. It took them four tries to vanquish the Chicago Blackhawks in Round 1. They halved that to two tries against the Nashville Predators in Round 2. They would sure like to halve it again tomorrow night on home ice. The Sharks are banged up, they are asking troubling questions to the reflections they see in the mirror. There is a seed of doubt in their collective psyches that the Canucks simply must exploit.

The Sharks will more than likely bring their best effort of the series tomorrow night at Rogers Arena. The Canucks must keep on marching to the beat that has gotten them this far--wait for your opponent to make a mistake, pounce, and make them pay for that mistake.

If they can do that, they could be on their way to the big dance for the first time in 17 years, with someone else's name in place of "Greg Adams, Greg Adams".

T.N.T.

The Vancouver Canucks have been called a lot of things by their opponents in this NHL playoff season. It all started with Chicago captain Jonathan Toews in the first round when the Blackhawks were down 3-0 to the Canucks in the series. Toews angrily expressed to the media that the Canucks were not as good as everyone (outside of the Blackhawks' dressing room) was making them out to be and that the Blackhawks had not "exposed them for what they are".

What they are remains to be seen, but the Canucks ended up edging the Blackhawks out of the playoffs.

In the second round, Nashville Predators' coach Barry Trotz accused the Canucks of diving and embellishing. He specifically highlighted Ryan Kesler's play in Game 3 in overtime that lead to the game winning goal, where he "chickenwinged" (trademark pending) the stick of Nashville defensemen Shea Weber to draw a hooking penalty. The NHL became aware of embellishment going on in the playoffs and warned the remaining teams that it would be called more closely.

In an ironic twist, Daniel Sedin's series-clinching goal against Nashville was scored on a power play, with Jordin Tootoo sitting two minutes for--you guessed it--embellishing.

So now it's the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks. The Canucks have arrived in San Jose holding a 2-0 series lead against a Shark team that is seeing red. The venom spewing from the mouths of the Sharks' players makes the comments from Toews and Trotz seem like child's play in comparison.

It began after Game 1. Logan Couture said the Canucks had been ordinary, and that the Sharks had lost themselves the game. Dan Boyle jumped on the embellishment bandwagon and accused the Canucks of "snapping their heads back like they've been shot with a gun".

It only got worse after the Game 2 blowout. Ben Eager was able to bang rocks together to the press to communicate that he thought Kevin Bieksa was a phony. Ryan Clowe called Canuck agitator Maxim Lapierre a coward.

Throughout all of this, the Canucks have been calm, both on the ice and off it. Roberto Luongo said on Thursday that the Canucks will take a punch in the face in order to get ahead in these playoffs, and he isn't lying.

The Canucks have a major opportunity ahead of them tonight to put the San Jose Sharks on the ropes. San Jose--like Vancouver--has had a reputation of wilting under pressure. This is the second straight season they have been in the Conference Final, and thus far between those two seasons, they are 0-6 in Conference Final games.

The Canucks can further plant a seed of doubt tonight with a win that would put the Sharks on the brink. That win has to come in the HP Pavillion, affectionately known as "the Shark Tank". It's a building that has not been friendly to the Canucks in recent years, although they are 2-0 in visits this season. The caveat to that is that Roberto Luongo hasn't started a game there this year--Cory Schneider got both the starts in San Jose.

I would guess that the Canucks see a lot of themselves in their opponent. It was just last year that the Canucks were coming apart at the seams playing against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. They were frustrated, they were angry. They took a number of bad penalties and the Blackhawks made them pay dearly on the scoreboard. They voiced their frustration to the media, they accused the Blackhawks of showboating and playing dirty hockey.

The Blackhawks' response was to shrug it off and remain focussed on hockey.

Now--at least through two games--the tables are turned. If the Sharks are to come back in this series, it is critical that they keep their composure and stick to the game on the ice. They certainly have the talent to do it, and the Canucks need to be extremely wary of that fact.

For the Canucks, there are two keys. The first is to improve their penalty kill, which has a 100% failure rate thus far in this series (0-for-3). But the second is to keep doing what they are doing: play hard, don't get down after goals, and try to light the powder keg that is San Jose's temper.

We'll find out who is more successful in their execution tonight.

One Wild Night

There is an old joke that goes "I went to the fights and a hockey game broke out".

Okay, so there was only 1 full-fledged fight in last night's 7-3 clubbing of the San Jose Sharks by the Vancouver Canucks, but the game was filled with animosity and bad blood. It extended well beyond the final horn of the game as well.

But let's back up a bit and start from the beginning. The San Jose Sharks once again jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a slick power play goal by rookie Logan Couture. But the Vancouver Canucks--as they did in Game 1--thundered back with two goals in quick succession. It took just over a minute in Game 1, and just under a minute last night. Daniel Sedin struck first with his first goal of the Western Final, and Raffi Torres potted his second of the playoffs just moments later.

The Sharks would eventually tie the game again on another power play goal, making their power play a perfect 3-for-3 in the series to this point, but that's where Kevin Bieksa took over.

First, the Canuck blueliner put his team ahead again with a slippery five-hole shot on a breakaway. Then, to his surprise, he was challenged to a fight by noted (non) pugilist Patrick Marleau. Bieksa was happy to oblige and proceeded to tune the Sharks' forward fairly badly.

On the Sharks bench, Ben Eager was going insane. Sharks coach Todd McLellan mistook this loss of sanity for a player who could show some emotion and proceeded to put him on the ice, where Eager promptly charged star Canuck Daniel Sedin from behind and stapled him to the boards, a play that should have been a five minute major and a game misconduct.

Fortunately for the Canucks, he received only a minor penalty. But we'll come back to that in a moment.

Defenders of Eager will say he was just following the hockey "code", an eye for an eye if you will. Eager has his own code, it seems, and if anyone has found it, color me impressed. I say that because I believe his code is written in his own excrement on the wall of a cave somewhere.

But this did not follow any code at all. Patrick Marleau was the one who challenged Bieksa to scrap, not the other way around. Marleau knows he is not a fighter and was hoping to inspire his team with a gutsy performance. He admitted all of this after the game. But perhaps the only person he inspired was Bieksa, who tipped his hat to his dance partner and praised the gutsy move.

So when one of your teammates seeks out a fight and loses, it is most certainly not a situation where you charge out to injure an opposing team's star player.

But now we come back to "fortunately, he received only a minor penalty". Becuase from that point on, Eager completely undid the San Jose Sharks. The game was still 3-2 at that point. The Sharks killed off the minor penalty to Eager to start the third period and a tense 20 minutes looked to be in order. But as soon as Eager was free from the penalty box, he slewfooted Mason Raymond. Back to the box he went. And this time, the Canucks made him pay.

Chris Higgins scored his first goal of the series to make the score 4-2. The Sharks then took a "too many men on the ice" penalty. Daniel Sedin made it 5-2.  Then, with Eager and his line on the ice, the Twins made minced meat of the big oaf and set up Aaron Rome--no, that is not a typo--for his first ever playoff goal. 6-2. Ryan Clowe then mixed it up with Maxim Lapierre, whose response was to make a sequence of silly faces at the frustrated Sharks forward. Mason Raymond scored on the ensuing power play. 7-2.

Eager would eventually score for the Sharks, making it 7-3. But after doing so he kicked off a fracas by taunting Roberto Luongo (while your team is losing by 4 goals? Seriously.) And he spent another two minutes in the penalty box. Immediately after he got out, he took yet another penalty for cross checking and was also awarded a misconduct.

The venom continued after the game. Eager (again ignoring the fact that Marleau challenged Bieksa, not the other way around) called Bieksa a "phony" and said it was unfortunate that someone was going to pay him a lot of money this summer given that he is an unrestricted free agent. (jealous, Ben?)

Ryan Clowe called Maxim Lapierre a "coward". Clowe had challenged Lapierre to a fight, and Lapierre--showing a bit of the side that made him so reviled when he played for Montreal and earned him the nickname "Yappy Lappy" just made faces and whispered sweet nothings to him.

While humorous, the Canucks do not need Lapierre doing that. The Sharks are doing just dandy in taking penalties all by themselves. Captain Henrik Sedin had a quick chat with Lapierre after the play, presumably telling him to tone it down.

But the namecalling was in full flight after the game from the Sharks' side. But from the Canucks side? Calm. Professional. To a man, they shrugged off the Sharks' antics both on the ice and off it. This might be the single biggest difference in this team from years' past, as they are not the ones coming unglued. They are letting the remarks slide and they are getting the job done on the ice.

Maybe if Ben Eager and his teammates realize they are playing hockey and not trying to be a poor approximation of WWE wrestlers, they'll have a shot in this series.

But as the series shifts to San Jose, Vancouver is going to enjoy their 2-0 series lead. They are also going to enjoy the fact that not only did they make the Sharks unravel yesterday evening, but they penalized them in the best way possible for doing so--by putting pucks in the net.

Now the question becomes, can they do it in the Shark Tank?

Life In The Fast Lane

After a long stretch where the Vancouver Canucks played 1 game over the course of a week, Game 2 of the Western Conference Final goes tonight and the "every other day" playoff schedule resumes. For the Vancouver Canucks, this is a good thing.

For the San Jose Sharks? It seems to be a different question.

If the Canucks were looking for bulletin board material after their 3-2 victory in Game 1, they've got it in spades right now. Excuses poured out of the Sharks' players. Ryan Clowe hinted that the Sharks were tired and worn down from a long series with the Red Wings. Dan Boyle accused the Canucks en masse of diving. Logan Couture said that the Canucks didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary to win as the Sharks lost that game all by themselves.

Only coach Todd McLellan seemed willing to direct any credit towards the Canucks, with the double edged statement - "They found their legs while we lost ours."

So was Game 1 a situation where the Sharks jumped out to a 2-1 lead, the Canucks turned it on and came back and won? Or was it that the Sharks started strong and simply gave up, allowing the Canucks to steal a win that rightfully belonged to the visitors in teal?

It's all a little reminiscent of Jonathan Toews stating that the Chicago Blackhawks had not "exposed the Canucks for what they are" back in Round 1, a statement that had Canuck Nation aflap.

Lost in the parade of "reasons" why the Sharks lost Game 1 that were offered up by their players was the fact that Daniel and Henrik Sedin had their best game in some time. Henrik in particular, who has battled speculation that he is playing hurt since the playoffs began. He made a great play to get the puck deep to Alexandre Burrows on the tying goal, and made a slick move in front of the net to bury the game winner just minutes later. He looked strong on the puck, he looked involved in the play, he looked rejuvenated. The break had clearly done him some good.

Another thing that the Sharks might want to consider before they blame Game 1 on their long, seven game series with the Detroit Red Wings too much, is how the Vancouver Canucks played in Game 1 of Round 2 after a seven game series against the Blackhawks.

It seems like years ago when Roberto Luongo and the Canucks shutout Nashville 1-0 in Game 1, a game where Pekka Rinne seemed to be the only Predator on the ice and his team couldn't get anything going against a hard charging, physical Canucks team. Nashville coach Barry Trotz alluded to the fact that there was some emotional carryover for Vancouver from having played Game 7 just two nights before. So where was it for San Jose?

It would just seem easier to blame fatigue for the loss rather than look in the mirror.

But this all brings us to tonight. Both teams have had a couple of days to rest, their last lengthened break of this round. The Canucks hold a 1-0 series lead and have the chance to head to San Jose with double that tonight. The Sharks have a 2-9 all-time record in Western Conference Final games, and you have to think the Canucks could plant a big seed of doubt in their head should they manage to strike again tonight.

The Sharks are promising more energy and a more physical presence. The Canucks were easily the dominant physical team in Game 1 long before they came back on the scoreboard. Joe Pavelski (poor guy) was the recipient of two earth-shattering bodychecks from Alexander Edler and Chris Higgins. Kevin Bieksa made life truly uncomfortable for anyone who came down the boards on his side of the ice. The the third line of Jannik Hansen, Maxim Lapierre and Raffi Torres were doing their best impressions of wrecking balls all evening.

The Canucks will sport a slightly different look to their lineup, and it might have something to do with the above. Tanner Glass will come out of the lineup after delivering only 1 bodycheck in his last three games. For a player who relies on physical play as his bread and butter, that simply isn't good. Speed demon Jeff Tambellini will take his place in the lineup, his first start since the Canucks' series clinching victory over Nashville in Round 2. Tambellini is no slouch in the hitting department either, having delivered over 100 hits in just 62 regular season games this year. His speed could also give the bigger, slower Sharks some issues.

Meanwhile, between the pipes, two goaltenders will both try to rebound from Game 1. Antti Niemi was the best Shark on the ice, but he allowed some juicy rebounds and seemed to struggle when the Canucks started putting pucks high on him. Roberto Luongo gift-wrapped a goal that Joe Thornton was only to happy to deposit into the net behind him, and while Luongo has had a solid playoff, his penchant for letting in iffy goals really needs to stop. The silver lining here is that he did not crumble after the give away, but instead remained in form to make several key stops which allowed the Canucks to come back in the game.

In the end, both teams are promising to be better tonight and there will be some slightly different looks to the game. It should be a treat.