And, Here, We Go!

Yeah its an old logo, but hey this post is about two days too late. Anyway it begins tonight. Third straight years these two teams will face each other. And I think I speak for every Canucks fan when I say I want it to end a little different this time. We know the history, but its just that, HISTORY. Tonight starts a new playoff. This team has to look forward not backward.

Canucks of course are missing Manny Malhotra and Raffi Torres. This will be a big hit to the third line. Although the fill ins have been good (Tambellini, Lapierre, Higgins, Samuelson, and whoever else Alain was plugging in there), but Torres return in Game 3 will be nice. The Blue Line is essentially back to normal. I am very interested to see how Christian Ehrhoff does. He was the only starting member of the Defense that stayed healthy most of the year playing in 79 regular games.

The Blackhawks have a rookie goalie going in net, again. Cory Crawford should be Chicago's MVP this year, essentially doing what Niemi did last year: filling in for an over-paid, under-performing veteran (Huet). Although, Marty Turco is hardly making the ridiculous amount Huet is being paid still, even though Chocago pawned him off on some European team.

I said it before, but the Canucks have to remember what happened the last two years in history. Its in the past so they have to put it behind them. As much as I want to see how Ehrhoff and the third line plays, my number one player to watch is Roberto Luongo. He has to perform for this team to get anywhere. The Canucks have to remember to have a very short memory throughout these playoffs as well. The 2009-2010 Philadelphia Flyers had a very short memory, worked out well for them.