Bring on the Blackhawks

Roger Neilson and the Canucks waving the white towel in Chicago in mock surrender.

All is going according to plan. Anaheim has ousted Thornton and the Sharks in 6 games whilst Chicago did likewise to Bertuzzi and the Flames. I hope Anaheim and Detroit play a dog-fight of a 7 game series, but whomever wins will be a very strong adversary for the Canucks given that they beat Chicago. May Lidstrom and Niedermayer collide and give each other concussions. The Canucks should beat Chicago in 5 games if the last couple times they played in the regular season is anything to go on, but of course it isn’t and Chicago has found their game again thanks to a somewhat lacklustre Flames team. Canucks in 6, Luongo isn’t going to lose to Khabibulin.

The last time the Canucks played the Blackhawks in the playoffs was 1982. Actually, I seem to recall Chelios dismantling the Canucks whilst still a Blackhawk in 1995. Anyway, 1982 is infamous not just because it propelled us to the Stanley Cup Finals but it started the Towel Power tradition when Roger Neilson, disgusted with the officiating at a game in Chicago, put a towel on the end of a hockey stick and started waving it around in mock surrender. The rest, as they say, is history.

With any luck, Canuck history will continue on Thursday when we will finally be able to watch another playoff game we truly care about.