What Just Happened? – This Loss May Be the Worst Yet

Welcome, Mike Gillis, to the end of the season for the Vancouver Canucks. I almost feel bad for you because you had no idea the type of heartbreak you were in for when you agreed to this job. I am writing this at 5 A.M. because I can’t sleep. I cannot shake that ridiculous third period out of my mind, and I know that wherever you are, you can’t sleep either. During Vancouver’s incredible winning streak in February, you were quoted on the Team 1040 saying, “The slowest group to come around is clearly the media because they look at everything as if it's 20 years ago and something is going to blow up and explode.”

The 2009 playoffs might just be the largest explosion in Canucks history thus far. Down by 2 goals midway through the second period, the team showed guts and determination, not only tying the game at three’s before the end of the period, but grabbing the lead quickly in the third. Adam Burish of the Hawks answered with a tying goal 2 minutes later, but once again the boys in blue showed how much they wanted it. Daniel Sedin scored what should have been the game winning goal with 7:45 left on the clock.

On a night when three scoring lines produced for the Canucks, the team’s best players were their best players with the Sedins scoring 3 points between them and Mats Sundin having a 2 point performance, the Canucks most important player and captain Roberto Luongo had a stinker. For all the goals allowed that could be blamed on others, there was one, Patrick Kane’s game-tying wraparound with seven minutes remaining, that no goalie should ever let in. And that was when we knew that this shootout wasn’t going to go our way.

In Vancouver, the season never just ends for our Canucks. No, they bring our hopes up higher every year and then they inevitably kick us in the teeth. Here’s a quick recap of the recent memories. In 2002, the eighth-seeded Vancouver Canucks roared into the playoffs as the hottest team in the NHL and stole two games from the Red Wings in Detroit. Finally, we thought, the Canucks were ready to take the next step after being swept from the playoffs in 2001 by the Colorado Avalanche, and boy were we excited. Midway through game three of the series with the Wings, Nik Lidstrom scored from centre ice on Dan Cloutier, and we watched as the Canucks disintegrated before our eyes, losing four games straight. And we sat there wondering, “What just happened?” In 2003 the seas parted for the Canucks as they drew the sixth seeded Minnesota Wild in the second round. Up 3-1 in the series, they realized that if they beat the Wild, they would face the seventh seeded Anaheim Ducks in the Conference finals. The bandwagon was hopping that year, but a 3-1 series lead was not too much for the Canucks to destroy, and destroy it they did. In game 7 of the series, the team held a 2-0 lead in the second period, only to lose the game and the series in the third. We, the fans, were stunned, again thinking, “What just happened?” Of course there is game seven of the Calgary Flames series in 2004, where Matt Cooke tied up the game with four seconds remaining on the clock to send the game to overtime. Alas, it was only to bring our hopes up and crush them once again in overtime, leaving us once again in disbelief, “Seriously, did that just happen?”

This year, the Vancouver Canucks may have had their best shot in their 39 year history. Scoring lines three deep, the most solid group of six defensemen in the NHL, and the goalie with god-gifted talent had been assembled and engineered for one thing: playoff success. They managed, yet again, to bring Vancouver fans’ hopes up, which is not easy considering what we’ve been through. We know better, we’re a weary bunch of pessimists, but they had us captivated. I must admit, I was wrong when I predicted that goalie Roberto Luongo would be dialed in. He seemed anything but, and considering he is the Canucks best player, hardest worker, and has had so many clutch performances, allowing 7 goals in a playoff game is a stunner.

Welcome to Vancouver, Mike. Beware of explosions.