After a few deep breaths, here's my six cents:
1- Even though we came up one short, I'm still really proud of my team! The Canucks proved that they are a Stanley cup contending team, and next year, with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths, they will bring home the hockey Grail (ala 2009 Pittsburgh penguins). Give the bruins credit this year. They were the better team in the series. In the first few games, the refs allowed them to do as they pleased (even though I really didn't agree with it), and the bruins exploited this opportunity to physically break down the Canucks. What resulted in games 6 and 7 was a decimated Canuck team with nothing left to give.
2- the turning point in the series was the Hamhuis hit/injury. Dan is our strongest and most reliable defender. He was sorely missed out there against the huge bruins team. His absence also completely threw off our back end chemistry, which severely limited their offensive punch (one of our biggest weapons)
3- We need a better winger on the second line with Kes. When a man-bear (i.e. Chara, Weber, etc) shuts down the twins, we need the second line to step up. More often than not, our second liners (other than kes) were absent. This is on Gillis's to do list for the offseason.
4- what the hell happened to our special teams in round 4?
5- Thomas outplayed luongo..... BADLY! This could get interesting given the fact that we have Schneider. One of these two has to go (maybe for that second line winger that was needed). Is Schneider ready? Would anyone want Luongo? Would we want to trade Luongo? A bit of a conundrum.
6- the F-tards that rioted in Vancouver after the game were not true Canucks fans. They were drunk, immature idiots who just wanted an excuse to break shit downtown. Examples of true Canuck fans showed up the next day for voluntary city cleanup. I'm also a little surprised that the city allowed this to happen, given the 94 precedent. The city should have been better prepared. Regardless, handout lifetime game bans for those convicted in riot activities.
Is October here yet?
Go Canucks Go!
