The Vancouver Canucks look unbeatable this year. Wait, shh…did you hear that? All the classic Canuck haters out there reading this, just collectively said: “Pfft yah well you haven’t won anything yet and the Canucks are gonna choke, and President’s Trophy curse and blah blah…” My response: “…eeeeeeat shit.” Let us real Canuck fans enjoy this. Let us get pumped up about our chances, and for the love of god I don’t give a shit about your team and it’s history and how many rings are plugging your ears. I’m gonna go ahead and do something weird: Cheer for the home team. A home team that has led the league in the four major categories for most of the season. A home team that has had the best season in franchise history. A home team that has won even when 5 of our top 6 defensemen were injured at the same time. A home team that’s referred to as “scary good” by non-Canuck fans. It’s okay, when you wipe away your tears from being so scared, I’ll let you on the bandwagon as a representative for: “guy who’ll be happy the cup is in Canada”.
It feels good and I’m not going to let douchebag doubters bring me or my team down. The Canucks are deep and if you take your Canuck-hating goggles off, you’ll see that this team was built for the playoffs. They have balanced scoring and consistent play from the D, and they’re well coached and waaaay more disciplined this year compared to previous years. As always, there have been a few players that have had their slumps - Raymond & Tambellini – but they’ve played hard, and the rest of the team has stepped up and supported them. Players like Hamhuis and Malholtra were amazing additions; it was pretty rad to see Malhotra accept the President’s Trophy with Henrik. Oh, and that led to a classic Canuck-hater move. I’m watching the final game of season at a bar and when Malhotra came out (wearing large sunglasses for obvious reasons), some idiot yells out “nice shades man, come on, look at him!” Most people ignored the guy, but a few of us slowly turned and stared at him with ‘are you for real right now?’ faces. Eventually someone came up and told him Malhotra was hit in the eye with a puck and almost lost the vision in that eye. Stew on that Leafs/Habs/Flames/Golden Seals fan. Keep your overweight, near-sighted, poutine inhaling thoughts to yourself. Nobody cares how eager you are to hate the Canucks.
Anyways, there’s so many examples of individuals stepping up and doing well on this team - Kesler and the Sedins of course – but, in my mind, two players deserve the most credit: the goalies. Luongo and Schneider are by far the best goaltending duo in the league, and Canuck fans have had the luxury of not worrying about who’s in net, which is a weird feeling. They just locked up the Jennings Trophy and I can only imagine what other teams and fans of other teams must think when they see that our back up goaltender is playing well! It’s given Luongo a chance to play fewer games and be more rested going into the playoffs. You know what? Why don’t you just shut up and look at the season-ending goaltending leader stats below. Jerk.
I’m going to enjoy this playoff run and soak in all the sports talk shows as they continue to debate which team will meet up with the Canucks in the finals, and if they can beat us. In the meantime, I’ll be here, trying not to jinx anything, and tuning out the idiots wearing this jacket eager to tell me their “experienced” opinion. My response to them will be: F*ck you. (And a mega f*ck you if you cheer for the Canucks and then boo if Luongo lets in a weak goal.) It’s our time and we are all Canucks. Be happy the Cup is coming home to Canada and maaaaybe I’ll let you drink my piss out of it. Maybe.
– Jay Haddow
I like angry Jay!