Black Ice Vancouver

“Anxiety is the state in which a being is aware of its possible nonbeing.” –Paul Tillich

Before the First World War there was a particular code that European generals followed in battle. It was an extension of the gentleman’s code practiced by European men all over the continent since ancient times. A code of courage and mutual respect (very different from mutual love or admiration). The dropping of the Atomic Bomb and the rise of the cold war essentially saw the death of this particular code from military practices.

It was the mutually assured destruction of the United States and the USSR that relegated conflicts between the two superpowers into satellite theatres such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. But for both the US and Russians these lacked the social grace of a previous generation of warfare. It lacked gentlemanly conduct. It lacked a code. After all, nobody wants to win a fight with an unfair advantage.

One could say then that the rise of professional sports in post-war America (and Europe of course) was a reaction to this global ceasefire. After all, even the world’s only superpower needs a pissing contest now and then.

It was the cold war that propelled professional sports such as hockey into the gladiator realm. It was only here that combatants could compete with an equal advantage. It is on this stage that the Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago BlackHawks are set to do battle in Game #2 of the Western Conference Quarter Finals.

Game #1 was the best game I’ve seen the Vancouver Canucks play in an awful long time. They looked great. They hit hard. Scored timely goals. Killed penalties and shutdown one of the leagues top offensive pairings in Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Aside from Luongo, the best player on the ice for Vancouver was Maxim Lapierre and Yannik Hansen. That’s says a lot about a team boasting the talents of the reigning Hart Trophy and Art Ross trophy.  It speaks a lot about a bunch of things but mostly it says that while the depth of our anxiety as fans may run deep, the depth of talent on our squad this year may run deeper.

Maybe.

What is most impressive about the team and the series thus far (and I know it is early) is the parity between the Canucks and the Hawks. Make no mistake Canucks fans, we could still lose this series. We could lose the game tonight. Anything goes in the Tabula Rasa of the NHL playoffs. I get the feeling, however, that a lose won’t be judged so much on negation, but rather description. How exactly will a win look like for the BlackHawks? How will the lose look for the no-luck Canucks? Nobody can seriously settle for anything less then a Cup Final appearance here in Terminal City.

Win or lose at this point, appearance is everything.

–Joseph F. Delamar

Good article by Brad Zeimer on his blog regarding the Luongo captaincy. I don’t think he is alone. Perhaps Gillis used the captaincy issue as leverage to get Luongo to commit to a long-term deal. If that is the case — mission accomplished. Now let’s get a real captain.

Read Zeimers take here:

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/puckworld/archive/2010/08/23/this-is-your-former-captain-speaking.aspx

In other news. Apparently Brain Burke is pissed at the signing of Bill Sweatt last week by Gillis. Toronto won the rights to the talented college winger last month but couldn’t sign him. He is projected to play in the same vein as Mason Raymond.

Look for Gillis to continue to plug holes with the departure of Grabner and Bernier last month. For every bad move Gillis makes, he makes at least two good ones. I think the Sweatt Brothers will mark an impact on depth that the Canucks have been lacking in a while.

Talk Soon

The Vancouver Canucks played their best and worst hockey of the season on this past road swing through the Eastern Conference. With there best hockey they seemed to lose the game and with their bad hockey they seemed to win.

New Jersey

The much ballyhooed rivalry between Brodeur and Luongo never really paid off in this game.  The two prides of St. Leonard, Montreal seemed to be playing opposite games. Luongo was sharp but still seemed to let in a softie. Brodeur was limp, never really recuperating from and embarrassing goal off Daniel Sedin.

Brodeur has excelled in a backwater NHL market with little fanfare, but his numbers and hardware are impressive. Luongo on the other hand honed his craft in the swamps of Florida but has put is money where his mouth is by committing to win a championship in Vancouver.

Luongo has taken more of a risk if you ask me. The goalie with biggest balls ought to be Steve Yzerman’s only criteria for choosing goalies for 2010.

Philadelphia Flyers

Vancouver has not has much success with the Flyers the past few years, but they came to play against a team that did not. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were not the threat they were suppose to be. Phillies best player, Arron Asham, was stoned by our best player, Roberto Luono.

Vancouver is lucky, they caught a good team on the decline. The Flyers will clean up their act. After the Vancouver game they fired coach John Stevens and replaced him with the proven Peter Laviolette–known to squeeze a little blood from stone in the past.

At the beginning I had chosen a Canucks/Flyers final. Will Phillie pull a Pittsburgh this year?

Carolina Hurricanes

It makes sense in retrospect that Vancouver lost this game, but you never want to see them lose in Vagina-jersey town. Not now not ever. They still need to pick up the pace on their road-game that is why I will say that a 2-2 road-trip at this point is actually an improvement.

Nashville Predators

Vancouver could not get anything going from the opening faceoff. They always seemed a step behind the play and every tiny mistake they made turned into a goal for Nashville. Like with Carolina, it’s hard to see a good team beat a bad team, but in both of these cases you can’t fault a bad team from playing well. And in both cases that is exactly what happened.

It was a weird trip, one I’m sure the Canucks are happy is over. Now back to business at home.

Next Up – Atlanta