OH MY GOD! That was intense to say the least! So crazy. Where to even begin?! They came out looking good, then bad, then Luongo made a HUGE mistake, the Sedins were looking like, well the Sedins we all knew they were capable of being, Kesler goes down, Kesler comes back and...history was made.
I wasn't mad in the last minute of the game. Seriously. I was just very disappointed. It went back to my whole thing of them not having that killer instinct they needed. On top of that Kesler gimped off, as well as Bieksa. I had that thousand yard stare. All I could think was "You had the chance and you didn't do it...then, with 13.2 seconds left:
What?! We are going to overtime! Now before all the haters jump on, yes the face-off this play resulted from glanced off Daniel's shoulder, thus it should have negated the icing. But what do you expect from an officiating crew that didn't call one penalty on the San Jose Sharks...ALL GAME. So fair game, San Jose Chokers.
The officiating was just as stellar in the first overtime. mason Raymond gets high sticked in the mouth? No penalty. Sharks are slew footing? Thats fine. I would like to applaud Gary Bettman. Not just for this game or this series or even this playoffs, but ever since the lock-out he has let his referees decide games in the playoffs. So thank you Gary for turning the NHL into the NBA, where the refs decide the game.
On to more important things. Such as just over halfway through the second overtime:
Elation! Pure elation. I couldn't get to sleep for two hours, just laid their smiling. Call me lame I don't care. Just awesome. Puck goes off the stanchion and nobody had any idea where it went...except Kevin Bieksa. Puck came knuckling right to him and he did what he was supposed to do rip it on net. Just awesome...still smiling. I have probably watched that goal 30 times throughout the day.
In all this celebration and recounting of events, which will continue for years and years after this, three players need their do: The Twins and King Luie. The Twins were amazing, they looked like we knew they could look in the playoffs. Also Henrik not even touching the Campbell Trophy was great, loved it.
Bobby Lu? What can you say: 54 saves. Best part was the aftermath of that second goal when he became a brick wall. Mistakes happen, its how you bounce back. He looked focused all game, had great positioning and made some tremendous saves when he needed to. This team was down late and didn't panic, thats a scary thing if you are an opposing team.
Best part for me? Hearing Jim Hughson say: "The Vancouver Canucks are going to the Stanley Cup Final!" Still gives me goose bumps.
where in ohio are you? i'm a native vancouverite recently transplanted to toledo... trying to find canucks fans in the area has been pretty rough.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Ohio is definitely hockey purgatory. I am in the Akron area unfortunately, about 30 minutes south of Cleveland. Went to my first game in Vancouver back in November, loved the city and the game.
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