Love Our Canucks

To be honest, when the Dallas Stars failed to beat the Minnesota Wild in their final game of the regular, allowing the Chicago Blackhawks to squeak into the playoffs, I was more than a little apprehensive about the prospect of the Canucks facing the Hated Blackhawks in the first round. And what’s not to hate about the Blackhawks? The same team who has quashed the Canucks’ playoff hopes for the past two years is going to have another kick at it this year I thought to myself as everybody started making comparisons between this year’s Canucks and those of the past.

Regular season stats mean bupkis in the playoffs as the teams involved are playing with a renewed intensity, and the fact the Canucks finished on top of the league standings seemed of little comfort as the Blackhawks have somehow manged to get the Canucks number in their previous playoff meetings, and use it to their advantage. This year, like the last two years, the rivalry between the two teams would be ignited again, and with that rivalry always seems to come with a heavy dose of hate, and this year was no different!

Another thing we’ve come to expect from this rivalry is how both teams seem to bring out the best, and sometimes worst of their opponent. And the series this year was no different as the verbal jabs at each other were volleyed back and forth after each game, and the media slant on it made for some good press. And a lot of the talk and hype was carried over to the ice surface during each game, and it made for some very entertaining hockey.

After all the dust has settled, and the Canucks emerged victorious in the first round, I would just like it to be known to all the Blackhawks fans in Hockey nation, that we, the Canucks fans, know exactly how you are feeling today. Yes, we know exactly how you are feeling the day after your team has been eliminated from the playoffs, because your team has evoked those emotions in us for the past two years. It sucks, we know!

We’ve felt and lived through the pain, frustration, anger, bewilderment, and uncertainty that comes from having your team eliminated in their playoff run, especially the feeling that your team is better than the one that beat your team. We know! When Jonathan Toews tied the score (while short-handed of all things) with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game, everybody in Canucks Nation collectively thought “Oh shit, not again!” Luckily, for our psyches though, Alexandre Burrows was able to prevent Canucks Nation from going through the same emotions we’ve gone through for the two previous years, and for that we are thankful.

But one thing I am sure we can all agree upon, is that the rivalry between the Canucks and the Blackhawks will remain one for the ages. As I’ve said before, whenever the Blackhawks play the Canucks, it always feels like a playoff game, and that’s good for hockey, and the sport.

So with all hatred aside, I would like to say that this year’s series between the Blackhawks and Canucks will be remembered for a very long time as one of the team’s most fiercest battles, against the team’s biggest rival. Who would have thought the Canucks would take a commanding 3 game lead in the series only to watch the Blackhawks force a game 7, and push it to overtime no-less? This series ran the gamut of all the emotions. It was thrilling, and stressful, and at times maddening. In a nutshell, it was unforgettable, and considering the rivalry between the two teams it was everything anybody could have hoped it would be!