However, part of the reason they didn’t have enough left was they way they got manhandled by Boston. The refs pretty much put away their whistles and this was to the advantage of the much larger Bruins. It certainly seemed like the NHL wanted Boston to win, the owner is a buddy of Bettman’s after all and part of the reason that weasel still has a job. He deserved everything that was thrown at him. The NHL couldn’t make Boston win, but they sure did what they could to skew the outcome in the Bruins favour. Chara mauls Henrik who eventually falls down and they both get a penalty. Yeah right. Whatever. Rome gets a four game suspension because he was half a second late on what other wise would have been a great open-ice hockey play. Okay, fine, set a new precedent, but then shouldn’t it apply to both teams. Boychuk breaks Raymond’s back and gets zilch. It was interference, it was taking advantage of a vulnerable player and, it was a head shot and technically it was even hitting from behind. And it resulted in a significant injury. All those criteria were applied in the Rome suspension but not to Boychuk. I could go on and on too. Total BS. I would like to see the outcome of a Canucks vs. Bruins series if they called penalties like they did in the regular season, even with a gimpy Kesler. If he was healthy, no contests.

And if having to watch that game 7 wasn’t bad enough, we then had to witness a riot in our downtown. This has caused feelings of anger and disgust and embarrassment and revenge. The people who participated in the riot were serious idiots. The people who instigated the riot are serious a-holes. The participants need to pay, but the instigators need to be put away.

It seemed like most of the participants were living out some sort of grand theft auto dream. Life momentarily turned into a video game which is why it looked like they enjoyed it so much. Pathetic that people lose that much touch with reality.

However, the city is going to have to take a major part of the blame for this fiasco. If you are going to invite a hundred thousand people to watch game 7 of the Stanley Cup on giant screens then you better have more than 12 police and a couple horses to manage the crowd. There should have been a thousand riot police patrolling the area the entire time. Duh. Of course the criminals were going to take advantage of this situation and of course the alcohol-fueled youth who just lost the Cup were going to go crazy and whoop it up once the criminals got the fires started. Mob mentality has been well documented.

It would have been a lot cheaper to pay for all those riot police then it is going to be to pay for the judicial system to deal with this mess. I just hope the other municipalities like Surrey are going to help pay for the fixing of this mess. It seems that 80% of the idiots who participated were from the suburbs. They even came prepared for the riot, they all seemed to have bandanas and things. They knew it was going to happen, they even talked about it on Facebook. Why did the city officials not know?

Yeah whatever you probably say, but apparently the EA simulation engine predicted 13 of the 14 playoff series this year and narrowly missed a perfect record as San Jose edged Detroit in their game 7.

That is a little creepy I must say. Although if I were a betting man I would seriously consider following their prognostications.

They are going to run their simulation engine again on Monday with updated info. If Boston wins I don’t want to know about their prediction.

But if I was to make a prediction I would say the Canucks will win in 4 games. We won the first series in 7, the second in 6, the third in 5 so naturally we will win this one in 4.

Okay, maybe that is optimistic but I am sure we are the better team. We have great special teams, they don’t, especially their power play which has been abysmal. We were the highest scoring team in the league this year and allowed the fewest goals and we proved against Nashville that we can play that defensive, boring hockey that Boston is going to try against us.

Let’s go Nucks!!! You can do it. This is for all the marbles. A Stanley Cup for Vancouver will make the Olympic gold in hockey look like a novelty act.

→ www.theprovince.com/…

What they really mean is they do not like Vancouver.

This, of course, is nothing new to Vancouver. The rest of Canada has always hated us because we’re the prettiest girl in school, and the less pretty girls -you know, the kind who dress all in black and think they’re intellectuals because they looked up “existentialism” -like to think we are dumber and shallower than they are, which normally we would respond to, except that we’re too busy right now brushing our hair. We’re getting ready to go out. We have a totally bitchin’ night ahead of us. We’re going out dancing.

The rest of Canada says, oh no, it’s not you. It’s nothing personal. It’s not envy or anything like that.

We just don’t like your team, the rest of Canada says. They’re not Canadian.

Source ↑ www.vancouversun.com/…

V.c » Well said Pete. I almost coughed up my spicy tuna roll and Blue Buck ale as I read this. I cheered for those Alberta teams as they made their Cup runs a few years ago but i certainly won’t make that mistake again.

Round three begins. Let’s Go Nucks, it’s time to slay some sharks.

This series against Chicago was like a horror movie. They were Jason. (The hockey-masked killer of Friday the 13th infamy if you have never had the displeasure of watching one of those movies.)

Unbelievable.

I am soooooooooo glad to have made it past our arch-nemesis to move on to the second round. It would have been soooooooooo wrong to have lost to Chicago again for the third year in a row.

Thank you Burrows. You are now etched in the cultural memory of this city for a long time. Burrows was a fitting OT scorer. He would have had nightmares all summer if we had lost after he hit the post in game 6 and didn’t do his patented backhand move on the penalty shot in game 7. There is also his back-story that makes him a fitting hero for the city.

And as for the talk about which was bigger, the Olympic gold last year or this win; it isn’t even close. The Canucks beating Chicago in game 7 stomps on the head of the Olympics. The Olympic gold was nice seeing as it was here, but the 2002 win was way bigger and more important because it was the first in eons and because Canada didn’t win with the pros playing in 1998. 40 years of Canucks emotion was released after this win. Who knows how many suicides there would have been last night if the Canucks had lost. I know I wouldn’t have gone that far, but could you imagine how much life would suck today if the Canucks had lost.

Canucks, we forgive you if you lose game 1 against Nashville, but after that lets kick some Predator butt. Oh yeah!

For the sake of my 88 year old grandmother, this better be the year.

Predictions for the first round:

• Vancouver over Chicago in 5
• San Jose over Los Angeles in 4
• Detroit over Phoenix in 7
• Anaheim over Nashville in 7

• Washington over New York Rangers in 5
• Buffalo over Philadelphia in 6
• Boston over Montreal in 6
• Pittsburgh over Tampa Bay in 7

And if that isn’t enough, this morning The Province had this astrological report that pointed to the fact that all the signs are in favour of a very positive year for the Aries, Roberto Luongo, who celebrated his 32nd birthday today, April 4th. Apparently Luongo’s planets are all lined up perfectly.

What more could we want?

Destiny is on our side. I just hope the team stays healthy and the refs call things, er, fairly.

On another note, if you have had the displeasure of seeing Rebecca Black and her parental bought video for the musical abomination, complete with auto-tune, that she calls Friday, then you might take pleasure from this Canuck-themed parody.

Linden, who retired from the National Hockey League in 2008, announced today he is opening a fitness centre in Coquitlam this winter. Club 16 – Trevor Linden Fitness is scheduled to open in January 2011 in Eagleridge Place at 2635 Barnet Highway.

According to a news release, the facility will be a “welcoming, state-of-the art facility designed for the average person.” The release went on to say the atmosphere will be “friendly, the intimidation factor will be reduced and exercising and getting into shape will be fun.”

Linden plans to charge $15 a month and says it will be the lowest average membership prices in the industry.

Source ↑ www.vancouversun.com/…

V.c » When I heard Trevor Linden had an announcement about his post-hockey player career I was hoping it would be more exciting than this and that it would have something to do with the Canucks, but this isn’t actually nearly as lame as it first sounds. If it was just a ritzy fitness club appealing to Hummer drivers than that would be really lame, but the fact he plans to only charge $15 per month, that is awesome, that is a third the price of a community centre. I hope there is a Club 16 my neighbourhood soon.

The Whitecaps unveiled the club’s new look at a downtown press conference on Tuesday morning. The logo incorporates the white caps of the North Shore mountains, reflected in blue in the water. “I think it’s a true reflection of the city,” said CEO Paul Barber. It’s the sixth logo in club history. Vancouver joins North America’s top tier, Major League Soccer, in 2011.

Source ↑ www.theprovince.com/…

V.c » I see what they are trying to do with the mountains and the water and the ‘V’ + ‘W’ initials, but i’m afraid it just isn’t working for me. Too many straight lines and angles, not enough curves and soft lines. I could see it being used for the Vancouver Waterworks or something institutional or corporate but besides the FC nothing in it says anything about soccer. The name Whitecaps is great and the logo should reflect the name, there should be a surging tide in it somehow.

No Canada: What will it take for us to get back to a World Cup?

So here we are again. Canadian soccer fans in search of a team to follow for the globe’s greatest sporting spectacle.

Some will drape themselves in orange, because that’s what Grandpa always did when the Flying Dutchmen took the field. South Africa expats will swell with pride for the host Bafana Bafana. Many will back Brazil or Spain, simply because they admire the beauty in their game. And vast numbers will root for England — because everyone needs to suffer a little.

The sixth straight Canada-free World Cup kicks off June 11 — almost a quarter-century of missed opportunity since that famous run of 1986.

At least Canada will be represented this time, but there’s only so much joy in hearing K’Naan’s World Cup anthem, Wavin Flag, for the 200th time.

A chuckle, a sigh, or both greet the question — “Why aren’t we there?” — and that’s from those who have lived the Canadian game at the highest level.

The answer is not short; the solution not quick.

Source ↑ www.theprovince.com/…

V.c » I think most of the people I grew up with in Vancouver played soccer as a kid so why is it that Canada can’t produce at least a few world class athletes in that sport? We know we can do it in other sports, the recent Winter Olympics proved that. (Not to mention hockey.) Soccer might not be in our blood like hockey but there is certainly passion for it, I remember the mayhem back at Empire Stadium. There is thus no doubt that the problem is institutional starting with the leadership. I hope that one of these World Cups we can all join the party and cheer for Canada instead of leaving it to the Italians and Brazilians on Commercial Drive. In the meantime I will once again cheer for any team from Africa.

The first thing we need is for Edler and/or Bieksa to land a big hit on Kane and/or Toews and then we need Demitra and/or Samuelsson to blow a shot by Niemi and we will be on our way to winning the series in 6 games. Let’s just hope the refs don’t screw us. Or that our usual Canuckness takes over and we find a way to lose. Luongo is no Cloutier, that’s just not going to happen, it just smells different this year.

Anyway, Henrik Sedin winning the Art Ross trophy is awesome. The first Canuck in our 40 year history to have the most points in a season. His 112 points also broke Bure’s franchise record of 110 points in a season. Henrik probably won’t get the Hart trophy which goes to the league MVP, but that’s okay, that is very subjective and he is at the mercy of the eastern media who don’t see many Canuck games. He has the trophy for the scoring title and nobody can debate that even if Ovechkin did play 10 fewer games. It will be interesting to see if Henrik wins the Pearson award which is given to the best player according to the players.

I was at the game against the Flames on Saturday. Thank you Flames for playing pond hockey, but that was possibly the best Canucks game I have ever seen live. It was capped off by this beauty of a goal by Daniel Sedin.