AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT

I haven’t been to a wedding in over two years and I haven’t been outside of this province in over 14 months. Yet, in the next two weeks or so, I’ll be at two weddings, one of which will take me to Manitoba. Of course, the next two weeks are also when my beloved Vancouver Canucks are playing in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in seventeen years. The NHL released the schedule for the finals today. The moment Kevin Bieksa scored the 2OT winner to propel the Canucks into the finals I was filled with dread as to how those weddings would come together to clash with my intense desire to see the Canucks battle for the ultimate prize in hockey.

One wedding, my sister’s no less, is on June 4th. The other wedding, the out of province one, is on June 11th. My original hope was that the series would be over by the time the second wedding rolled around. As you can see from the schedule, the second wedding lies between games five and six. My sister’s wedding banquet is on the evening of the second game. There’s nothing I can do about the second game. It’s my sister and my only sibling. I guess family must come first. It won’t be an elimination game, so makes it a bit better. Don’t tell anyone though, but I’ll have a radio earpiece in one ear from 5pm onwards that day. Shhhhh!

The second wedding is an interesting situation. In a perfect world, the Canucks win it in four games and by the time I go to Manitoba, I go with a relieved and huge smile on my face. Odds are, no team is going to sweep in this series. Game five in Vancouver could be an elimination game and I will be watching it in Manitoba. I would take a Vancouver series win in any situation but I’d prefer it if I were in Vancouver if they did win. I’d like to see the celebrations first-hand. If the series goes to six games or beyond, it won’t matter. I’ll be home by the time game six rolls around.

So to sum it up, the most ideal situations involve Vancouver winning obviously but them winning it in four or six games (well, seven I guess too). The less ideal situation is them winning it in five.

I can imagine I am not the only person dealing with these types of situations right now. All over British Columbia, fans are scrambling to clear schedules and absolve them of responsibilities in order to follow the most important playoff series in the last seventeen years of Canucks hockey.