Time To Shine

It's time to throw history out the window. Forget about the past two seasons. Forget about losing 3 straight and facing the dire possibility of becoming only the 4th team in history to blow a 3-0 lead in the playoffs. Forget about winning the President's Trophy. Now, it's just about winning one game. It's about giving everything you have and finding a way to get it done.

This series has more than lived up to expectations. While games 3 and 4 were a letdown to even the most objective hockey fans (7-2 and 5-0 games aren't the most exciting to watch), game 6 had everything you could have asked for and more. It was intense, dramatic, controversial and exhausting. Well, I was exhausted anyways. Let's just say that sleep hasn't exactly been a friend of mine for the past week or so.

There is a huge goaltending debate in Vancouver that will probably go on for the foreseeable future. Schneider or Luongo? We can argue this forever and never agree. It's like abortion. Or capital punishment. Or whether Sarah Palin has the IQ of a stick or a rock. (I'm thinking rock incidentally.) Why has Vancouver been known as a goalie graveyard for 40 years? Well the fans accepting nothing but perfection would probably be one reason. So much pressure is being put on Luongo right now it's incredible. (And by the way, those of you saying 'he's making 10 mill this year he should be able to handle it!' don't understand that pressure doesn't have a price tag. Salaries don't mean anything in the playoffs.) Going into game 6 Luongo was 3-0 in games where his teammates have shown up. He played outstanding in 2 of those games. No he was not at his best in games 4 and 5 but how many goals would you consider to be bad goals? I would say only the first goal in game 5, but that's only off the top of my head. (And did I mention that I am sleep deprived?) While Cory Schneider played great in just over 2 periods in game 6, and raised his trade value in the process, I think it's fair to say that 2 of the goals he let in were worse than any the Luongo did. I think it was a mistake to start Schneider but then my entire family disagrees with me so what do I know? (Although I should point out that the only thing my Mother likes better than the Canucks is Vodka, so what does SHE know?) Anyways, the bottom line with this whole goalie debate is that it doesn't matter which goalie plays in net. If the Canucks play at the top of their game, we will win. There. Now wasn't that easy.

The other issue from game 6, and for most of the series in fact, has been the officiating. There is a lot of talk on CDC about NHL conspiracies. I have been quite outspoken about this on previous blogs. I try not to get too wrapped up in conspiracies in general but I do find them fascinating. I do believe in some conspiracies (911, JFK) and don't believe in others (moon landing hoax, Britney Spears singing live). I tend to think there isn't one in the NHL but I wouldn't completely rule it out. I think what is more likely is that the NHL wants to see each series go to 7 games. More revenue and overall much more exciting to watch. I haven't watched all the games from other series but I'd be willing to guess that once a team has won 3 games they have a lot of calls go against them. I've heard that Phoenix got favorable calls against Detroit (for obvious reasons) and I thought in the last LA-SJ game the Kings Doughty should've got a double minor late in the game and the charging penalty the Sharks took with just over 3 minutes left in the 3rd should've probably only gotten 2 minutes and not 5 and a game. Back to the Canucks-Hawks series, I don't think there's any question that the reffing played a significant role in getting Chicago back in this series. With the Canucks up 3-0 and tied 1-1 early in the 2nd period in a lifeless Chicago Arena, the Canucks received a phantom too-many-men call and just after it expired the same linesman that called the too-many-men missed the off-side that happened seconds before the go ahead Chicago goal. WIth the big momentum boost the Hawks then scored again 17 seconds later. So at that point it should still have been 1-1 and I really believe that if the Canucks were to get that next goal this series would have ended on that night. Instead it was 3-1 and the Canucks lost their way as they tried to climb back into the game.

While a lot of the calls and non-calls are debatable, you can't debate the penalty totals in this series. I don't really have a problem with the calls that went against the Canucks, but I have a real problem with what wasn't called on the Hawks, particularly the Scott punch to Burrows' face, the clearing the puck over the glass (it's not rocket science, pinpoint where the puck left the ice and where it landed, draw a straight line and you'll see that it went over the glass before landing on the bench), the hit on Bieksa in OT should have gotten a 2 min charge, but in my opinion did not warrant a suspension. There was also an obvious holding the stick, Hossa on Alberts mere seconds before the winning goal. No call. I think the penalty shot could have gone either way, but most likely if it had been Kesler on a breakaway and Seabrook did that there would have been a minor penalty on the play. I realize there were missed calls on the Canucks as well. I try to be as objective as possible. But you just can't deny the numbers. They don't lie. The Canucks have the best power play in the league and they haven't really been able to take advantage of that.

I'm glad that Mike Gillis spoke out to the media. Somebody had to say something. Vigneault doesn't ever seem to do anything but smile. I want a coach that will yell and scream when necessary. (And ONLY when necessary.) I firmly believe that if Vigneault was more like Quenneville or Babcock (a little more confrontational with his players) the Canucks would have shown up for game 5 and finished this series off. The team looked disinterested. The refs didn't even have to give the Hawks a helping hand in that game.

The other thing nobody seems to be talking about after game 6 was the fact that Salo got injured on his 4th shift of the game, and it was Andrew Alberts first game in over 2 months. I don't understand why Vigneault would play Alberts after 2 months off. He's not the fastest skater and if we get an injury to one of our D or the game goes into overtime then he'll have to play more minutes than you would like him to play. Both of those things happened and he was out there when the winning goal was scored in OT. A very curious decision from Alain Vigneault. It's almost like he's asking to be fired.

And that brings us to game 7. I really hope the Canuck players have slept better than I have. I hope they remember that games like these are what they dreamt of as kids. They need to play to win tonight and not like they are afraid to lose. All we can ask is that they leave everything on the ice. I fully expect the refs to let the players play. If the reffing is fair then you have to give the Canucks a decided edge. If the Canucks play like they did in game 6, and I expect them to play even better, then I really like our chances. Keep in mind that even though the Canucks have lost some big games in this series, game 7 will be their first must-win game. That will certainly be extra motivation. I look forward to seeing what this team is really capable of. I am also nervous as hell and will have trouble watching. We just need to find a way to win. Then the entire Province will explode, I will get some much needed sleep and Gary Bettman will have something to cry about. It's a win-win.