I'm gonna need some time.
Obviously my prediction for game seven between the Wild and the Canucks was necessarily rose-tinted; I'm not Dionne Warwick. But there were a few things I wasn't wrong about: The Canucks had absolutely every thing to lose and the Wild are the most emotionally unsatisfying of possible opponents.
If I see anymore of Jacques Lemerre's bland, trapping, fugly teams I'm liable to lurch all over their characteristic, workmanlike rhetoric. It's a brutal pill, and while I don't begrudge the Wild for their victory and undeniable quality, I certainly don't think there's any way to absorb defeat at their hands.
I feel more like Jennifer Connelly at the conclusion of Requiem for a Dream about this loss than I did when the Raiders got super-bowled over by the Bucs or when Manchester United were recently outclassed by Real Madrid.
The Book of Numbers
| 0 | The number of times a team has come back twice from 3-1 series deficits before tonight. |
| 1 | The biggest goal difference the Canucks were able to hold onto for their 3 series wins. |
| 2 | Todd Bertuzzi's final series goal tally versus Minnesota. |
| 3 | The number of games the Canucks never lost in a row all season, until tonight. |
| 3.24 | Dan Cloutier's final goals against average for the playoffs. |
| 6 | The number of times Minnesota has faced elimination from the playoffs and won. |
| 8 | The Vancouver Canucks total playoff home games, grossing roughly $3,000,000 in gate receipts each. |
| 9 | The amount of points seperating the Canucks (104pts) from the Wild (95pts) in the regular season standings. |
| 12 | The number of saves Cloutier made in Game 7 against 16 Wild shots. |
| 60 | Bertuzzi's total playoff penalty minutes, which currently rivals the total penalty minutes for the entire Anaheim team before they start the Western Final. |
| 99 | Trevor Linden's total playoff games in a Vancouver Jersey. |
| 2004 | The last year in which to make a run for Lord Stanley's cup before the NHL's CBA shuts down or blows up the league as we know it. |
| 1,000,000 | The number of years Jacques Lemaire imagined before the Wild would advance this far towards the Stanley Cup. |
Puck Off
Oh well, atleast I have my shining Canucks moment of the playoff to hold onto:
Bertuzzi's awesome crunching of St. Louis defenceman Bryce Salvador in the Blues' zone, which set the tone for a confident romp in Game 7 of that series.
Good luck to Ottawa--strictly nationalistic sentimentality there--and so much for any interest in Hockey deep into May.
Atleast the playoff beard is soon to be a memory.
I wonder if smacking the Wild around some more would have made the loss easier to bear. Probably not.
To Bertuzzi: "why? why? whyyyyyyyyy???"
To Cloutier: "It's not your fault!" (ahem, yah it is!)
From someone who just began watching the sport, I have to admit I don't believe the Canucks are as lousy a team as I thought but this game did NOT reinforce that!!!!
"Inconsistency" seems to be the word of the day! Now I have to figure out whether they are consistently inconsistent (say that ten times fast).
Posted by: Ann on May 11, 2003 7:17 AM
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