A CRUEL END

They just couldn't convert...

Tonight, as I had feared, the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in game seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins win their first championship since 1972. Though the Canucks played ferociously for the first fourteen minutes of game seven, they still managed to surrender the first goal. Ultimately, they could not solve the Bruins’ defense and more importantly, they had no answer for the brilliant Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas. He was unstoppable. Simply put, the Canucks could not score enough goals to win. For Vancouver, the loss marked a sad, bitter, and disappointing end to a season that held so much promise. Chosen by many at the beginning of the season to be the frontrunners for the Cup, they ultimately failed in their goal in spectacular fashion. There is no joy in having now witnessed three Vancouver Canucks teams go to the Final and seeing all three return empty-handed. The manner in which the 2011 edition of the team lost will be remembered for years to come. It’s clear the why and how Vancouver lost can be attributed to several things.

Though full credit goes to Boston for the series win, it could be easily argued that the 2011 Vancouver Canucks found a way to lose the Stanley Cup. To use a cliched term, the Canucks “snapped defeat from the jaws of victory”. They came roaring out of the gate in the series, establishing a 2-0 lead. Historically, teams that had won the first two games of the Final finished with a record of 42-4, a telling stat that showed Vancouver was headed in the right direction. As with many Vancouver teams though, the Canucks managed to find a way to lose, even in the face of victory. The team failed to put up even a single decent road game. Just one good performance in Boston would have secured them their first Stanley Cup. Instead, they were horrible away from Vancouver. The Canucks were timid and played like they were afraid to lose or in other words, they didn’t play like champions. They had their best chance in game six, when all the pressure was on Boston in a must-win situation. Instead, they squandered their chance and had nothing close to a killer instinct. Game seven offered them another chance and again, they could not convert.

So where did they go wrong? One cannot begin to discuss the shortcomings and failures of the 2011 Vancouver Canucks without mentioning “superstar” goaltender Roberto Luongo. He was merely average tonight and nowhere near as good as Thomas. On a night that he could have stood on his head to steal a game for his team, he once again failed to do that. In previous games, he was apt to let in early and soft goals. When the team relied on him most to give them a lift, he let the wind out of their sails and single-handedly drained the momentum from his teammates. Luongo was wildly inconsistent during the playoffs. His grand and embarrassing failure to keep it together during three games in Boston was a huge reason why the Canucks still are without a championship. He had three chances to redeem himself while away for Rogers Arena and each time he let himself, his teammates, and all of British Columbia down. His exceedingly average performance tonight was just another stain on what is now a tarnished career. Though he gets paid superstar dollars and he believes himself to be a superstar, it’s quite clear that Roberto Luongo will never ever reach the legendary stratosphere of goalies where the likes of Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, and Ken Dryden belong. Luongo does not deserve all of the blame for the misfortunes of the Canucks but he shoulders a considerable amount of it.

So who else was accountable for this failure? Look no further than to the offensive stars of the team, namely the Sedin twins. Daniel and Henrik were back to back Art Ross Trophy winners, scoring more points in the season than any other player. In the regular season, it appeared they could tally assists and goals at will. They seemed to be magicians with the puck, dealing out pretty plays that confused defenders. They dominated between October and March. In the playoffs, they became ineffective and wilted. Teams found a way to stifle them. The Sedins were nearly invisible against the Bruins. At first, I was hoping for a bounty of Sedin points. In the end, I was just relieved if no goals were scored against Vancouver while their line was on the ice. For the Sedins, the biggest knock against them was that they were not playoff performers, that they simply disappeared when the games mattered the most. The playoffs of 2011 did absolutely nothing to change that perception. The Sedins will continue to be hounded by those labels and wear them like shackles. Can they ever be depended on in the playoffs?

While the Sedins could not score, the other lines on the Canucks could not compensate for the loss in offensive firepower. In the earlier rounds, the second and especially the third lines were able to cover up for the Sedins. Players like Jannik Hansen, Raffi Torres, Chris Higgins, and Maxim Lapierre were able to chip in unlikely goals here and there. This was enough to get them past the weaker teams. These players were not expected to be offensive superstars so the fact they were stopped against Boston shouldn’t lead to much criticism on their part.

Last but certainly not least, we must mention the impact of injuries. Every single year, the NHL playoffs bear witness to injuries to key players that their teams cannot hope to survive without them. It was my biggest fear from day one that a critical Canuck would be felled by an injury and that the championship would slip away. It’s clear now that injuries were another major part of why the Canucks lost. Consider Mikael Samuelsson, the 2nd line winger. He could not continue beyond the Nashville series and was in and out of surgery before even the San Jose series was over. Samuelsson is the only Canuck on the current roster to have won a Cup. Who knows what might have happened had his goal scoring talent been added to the mix. Then consider Manny Malhotra. Struck in the eye in mid-March, the fact that Malhotra was even a part of the Final was inspirational. I wonder though, how much less effective he was because of the injury. What if the Canucks had a Malhotra that had not been hit with the puck? Would he have been better in faceoffs? Would that have led to fewer offensive chances for the opposition? At one point, I considered Malhotra’s injury to be the one that would be most costly. I now know this was wrong. The loss of Dan Hamhuis on defense clearly had the most impact on the Vancouver Canucks. Signed last summer by GM Mike Gillis, Hamhuis was coveted for his ability to shut down the opposition’s star forwards. He was a rock on the blueline, making smart plays and repelling the opposition’s top lines. Hamhuis made Kevin Bieksa better. Hamhuis silently made things easier for the Canucks and he was key part of why things went relatively smooth after the Chicago series. Without Hamhuis, the opposition became harder to handle and Bieksa seemed at times lost without his partner. What I would give to somehow go back in time and tell Hamhuis not to hip check Lucic in game one. Of all the missing players, I wonder the most what the outcome would be if Dan Hamhuis had been back on the blueline. Last but not least, let us discuss the walking wounded. In the next few days, we will find out the extent of the injuries of players who somehow played through the pain. I am most interested in the severity of Ryan Kesler’s ailment. In the first round, I was disappointed that no one player had stepped up his game to become one of those playoff warriors who understood what needed to be done to win. Kesler answered my call in the second round. While the Sedin twins floundered, Kesler took it upon himself to single-handedly win the Nashville series. Scoring the majority of the Canucks’ points in those six games, he elevated his game to levels that only true playoff warriors would understand. Then in game five of the San Jose series, he somehow injured his leg. Missing only a few shifts, he managed to hobble his way onto the ice and scored the tying goal to send the game into overtime. Kesler was silent against Boston and I am guessing it wasn’t because of a lack of will. It would not surprise me if he had played the last seven games on essentially one leg. If Kesler had been completely healthy, what kind of performance would he had given?

Many others will continue to analyze the Vancouver Canucks’ stupendous failure in this 2011 Stanley Cup Final and much will be written. In the end though, the Vancouver Canucks are still without a Stanley Cup and it is now 41 years of futility. I will have more to write about this terrible end to the season but tonight, Vancouver Canucks fans only know more sadness and despair.

 

HEARTS WANTS VANCOUVER, HEAD KNOWS IT’S BOSTON

Tonight, the Boston Bruins will face the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh and final game of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. The winner of this game will be awarded the Stanley Cup. The sentimental side of me wants Vancouver to win but logic and reality point towards another clear and concise Boston victory. The signs just don’t look good for Vancouver. The likelihood of a Vancouver win seems exceedingly small.

Every game so far has been won by the home team. We are essentially waiting to see if Vancouver will be the first (and I guess only) home team to blink. While people might point out that past indicators will play out again in the last home game, consider the extreme circumstances of a game seven. No team will be holding back, as there are no more games after this. Boston has the momentum going into the last game. They ventilated Roberto Luongo in a span of four minutes, essentially ending the game in that short time frame. They know he is beatable and can be beat multiple times in quick succession. Boston knows Luongo can be easily shaken mentally. They will spend the first ten minutes of the game trying to get any type of shot at him, from afar, from close, using hard shots and soft ones, all in hopes he’ll give up a soft goal. It’s that first soft goal that Luongo has been so infamously known for. It’s almost a sure-fire blueprint for beating the Canucks. Shoot enough pucks at Luongo so he gives up a soft goal. Then watch as his team gets the life, jump, and energy sucked from them because of that weak goal. The Canucks are ripe for the finish at that point. Once rattled, Luongo will surrender several more weak goals before he’ll be pulled for Cory Schneider. By then, victory has been secured. It’s a game plan that’s worked for Boston for all of their victories. I just know Luongo will let in the first goal of the game on a weak shot.

Of course, goal deficits can be erased if a team’s offensive threats can rally and take back the game with their own goals. Sadly, the Canucks have been horrendous offensively against Boston. They have scored just eight goals in six games. Each of their victories over Boston have been by just one goal. Their anemic offensive means that Luongo has to play almost perfect for them to win. That’s an a tall order for a goalie who has been pulled three times in the series so far and I stress “so far”. The Sedins, who tallied so many points in the regular season, have been nearly invisible this series. Desperate to shake the stigma of players who wilt under playoff pressure, they’ve done nothing to change people’s impressions of them. The Swedish twins could easily take control of games with their offensive magic in the regular season; they’ve done nothing of the sort against Boston. They’ve failed to adapt to the stifling defense arrayed against them. They could also be crumbling under the weight of massive expectations.

On the other side, Boston is playing confident. The Bruins are playing to win. The Canucks will play game seven not to lose. Who looks like a champion in that case? Let us not forget the stellar play of Boston goalie Tim Thomas. He has surrendered just eight goals in six games. Let that stat sink in for a minute. The Canucks themselves surrendered that many goals in game three alone. The almost assured winner of the Conn Smythe trophy has played like the dependable, rock solid, elite playoff goalie that teams need to win the Stanley Cup. In other words, he has been everything that Roberto Luongo has not. The Canucks must find a way to score more than 1.33 goals against Thomas if they want even a faint hope of winning the seventh game. With their current woeful offense, that seems almost impossible at this point.

They say anything can happen in a game seven but there’s lots of indicators and stats to show that the Bruins have a hefty advantage going into Wednesday night. It would be a damn shame for Vancouver to lose the series at this point but it sure seems like we’ll be watching the Bruins lift the Cup in Vancouver tonight. A damn shame.

LIKE A BROKEN RECORD

I hate to trot this video out again but have a look at how a genuine clutch NHL playoff goaltender lifts his team up and steals a game singlehandedly. Some one pointed out to me today that Kirk McLean only had two games in the glorious run of 1994 where he surrendered four goals or more. So far, and I stress the “so far” part, “superstar” goalie Roberto Luongo has had six of those games.

Once more, the day ends with Kirk McLean as the best goaltender to ever play for the Vancouver Canucks.

GREETINGS FROM WINNIPEG

I am writing this post from a hotel in Winnipeg tonight. I’ve had some great experiences in the last three days. More than anything, I’ve discovered first-hand why license plates here have the phrase “Friendly Manitoba” on them. I have been shown an immense amount of hospitality here. It appeared to me that  everyone involved in the wedding knew my name, both first and last for some reason, even though I only knew the groom and one other guest. I was made to feel welcome and comfortable the entire time. I really need to go to bed but I’ll dole out some interesting highlights.

I got out to Dauphin, Manitoba by flying with a small airline that had their own terminal on the outskirts the main airport. This small terminal was essentially just a large room. The airline had a cat that was allowed to freely roam the terminal, interacting with guests.

The aircraft that flew me to Dauphin was the smallest I’ve ever been in. I believe it was a Fairchild Metro II. It had no separation between the cabin and the cockpit. I could see the pilots working the controls the entire time. You couldn’t stand straight up in the cabin. I was handed earplugs before we took off because the engines were so close and loud. When we landed, I could see the landing strip out the front cockpit windows. For the first time ever, I was able to see what the pilots saw during a landing.

At the wedding, there was an open bar, which ran out of gin by midnight. Even though I had only ordered three, possibly four gin and tonics, the bartender blamed me for the gin shortage.

On Sunday, two people from the wedding drove me back to Winnipeg. I didn’t have a chance to meet them at the wedding but they were nice enough to let me hitch a ride with them. They are super nice people and even gave me an informative tour of the city.

I’ll have to end the post here. Tomorrow is a travel day. I need to wake up, have some breakfast, and check out of this hotel. I’m flying back home tomorrow, there’s a certain sporting event I need to see at 5pm PST.

MANITOBA ADVENTURE

My loyal readers, I am flying to Manitoba on early Friday morning to attend a friend’s wedding. I met Phil when I was living in a graduate school residence at UBC. Some of you might know Phil as a frequent commenter on this blog. I value his support and his readership.

The wedding is actually taking place in a town called Dauphin, located northwest of Winnipeg. There are approximately 8000 people living there. I hope to be the only Asian person in Dauphin while I’m at the wedding. They actually have a Safeway and a Walmart there, so it can’t be all that small of a town. I’m taking a small commuter plane to Dauphin from Winnipeg and that flight is less than an hour. It sure beats the 3.5 to 4 hours it would have taken by car.

I’m scheduled to arrive in Dauphin 20 minutes before the start of game five of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. I was initially worried this might be a series clinching game but Vancouver’s dismal performance in both games in Boston proved my fears to be unfounded. The Canucks are reeling from the beatings they took though and I’m not very confident they can turn the tide in game five. I am preparing myself to watch an ugly game from somewhere in Dauphin. I’m not even sure where the best place to watch the game is in Dauphin. They must have a bar there that offers the game in HD. If I’m gonna watch the Canucks off the rails again I’d like to see it in glorious HD.

Because of the timing of the commuter flight and the selection of flights available to me, I was forced to take a flight that leaves from YVR at 9am, which means I have to get to the airport extremely early. I could cut it close by getting to the airport by 8am but that’s as late as I would want to get there. Since I’m taking transit to the airport, I’d have to leave my place around 7am to get there for about 8am. Leaving at 7am means I’d probably have to wake up at 6am. In my infinite wisdom, I have decided I am just going to stay up through the night as I already have many things I still need to do to prepare for my trip. This may turn out to be one of the more dubious decisions I’ve made recently. We’ll see what happens.

To help you share this adventure with me, I’ve decided to make random tweets throughout my trip. Some of you might not know I have a Twitter account. I do but I really have nothing of substance to tweet usually. Twitter is not for me. I barely have anything to say on a daily basis so I have even less to say on a more frequent platform. This trip should be more conducive to tweeting though. No need to follow me, just check up on me here every couple of hours.

I’ll be back on Monday, just an hour or so before game six of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, where one team will face elimination. I already have a bad feeling I know who that team will be.

LESS FAT MEANS LESS TASTE

I mentioned in a previous post that just about two o’clock everyday at my place of work, they bring around a “snack cart”. It’s got all sorts of goodies on it. I tend to avoid all the stuff that’s not good for me but I can’t resist the snack sized portion of Oreo cookies they have. It’s two Oreo cookies in a small pack. It’s a good compromise between too few cookies and too much fat and sugar. Prior to starting my current contract, I could not remember the last time I had an Oreo. I had forgotten how tasty they were.

Last night I was at the supermarket when I passed by the cookie aisle. I very rarely buy cookies as I know they’re not very good for you. I stopped by though and saw that they make “reduced fat” Oreos. Throwing caution to the wind, I bought a package. When I got home, I tried one of these reduced fat Oreos. I’m sorry to report that the fattier version of the Oreo tastes better. It’s like the fat is basically what makes the Oreo taste so good.

It’s just another example of foods that are worse for you, taste way better than their healthier alternative.

E3 2011

This week in Los Angeles, the video game industry’s highest profile convention is taking place, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. E3 is where companies finally reveal the games and hardware they have been working on for months or even years. From a local and personal view, it’s a time when my friends and people I know in Vancouver can finally talk about and show what they’ve been diligently crafting at their respective studios.

E3 is always a good thing for the industry. It raises the profile of games, enough so that even the mainstream media takes notice, but if only for a week. In a perfect world, all the games at E3 will go on to be big successes. I would love if everyone experienced prosperity and had positive outlooks ahead of them. The truth is, I’m still not sure if the industry, at least in the Vancouver area, has clawed its way out of the mire it found itself in for the last two years. Let’s hope we can build on this week’s momentum.

The demo you see above is for Black Box’s Need for Speed: The Run, the game I would have worked on, had Black Box not decided I was useless to them. Many of my friends are working on this game and a lot is riding on how well it does from a critical and sales standpoint.

WHOOPS

This evening the Vancouver Canucks were dominated by the Boston Bruins in game three of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. The final score was 8-1, marking Vancouver’s most lopsided loss in the playoffs thus far, and that’s saying something considering the meltdowns they had against Chicago in round one.  Though goaltender Roberto Luongo could not be faulted for all the goals, his performance now makes a lot of people, myself included, nervous about which Bobby Lou is going to show up next game. Will it be Lou that shutout the Bruins in game one or the shaky Lou that will give up an easy one in the first period?

Despite the loss, I am going to make a bold and confident prediction. For reasons I cannot divulge, I have supreme confidence that the Canucks will take game four. Given my history of posts regarding the Canucks, this stunningly positive outlook for the next game might be surprising to you, my loyal readers. Let me just say that there are forces at work now that were not in play in previous games and playoff rounds.

You read it here first.

THE WEDDING RECEPTION

On Saturday evening, my sister had her wedding reception at Kirin at City Square. Just between you and I, my sister has been legally married since December, when she and her husband eloped to Maui and tied the knot there. Our mother though, required a large banquet to be held nonetheless, basically nullifying all the reasons why my sister eloped in the first place. Anyways, unfortunately, the reception was not the biggest event of the evening in Vancouver. That title belonged to Game Two of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final which was being contested just a few kilometres from the restaurant.

The date of the reception was booked well in advance of the start of the hockey playoffs but I felt sorry for my sister and her husband, as making people choose between those two events was tough. There was a somewhat last-minute declination that I suspect was because of the hockey game. I came fully prepared to the restaurant. I had an AM radio, my smartphone with mobile Internet, and my netbook. I also had my duties for the wedding. I was one of two greeters who received the guests, took their gifts, checked their names off a list, and escorted them to their table.

I was at the restaurant well before any guests arrived and I am somewhat embarrassed to say the first thing I did was to check for a free wi-fi connection. I did indeed find one and it was City Square’s public wi-fi connection. It would be this connection that would prove pivotal for the rest of the evening for many, many people. The game was being streamed live at the CBC web site and it started at 5pm. The wedding guests didn’t start to arrive until after 6pm. There wasn’t much for me to do to help prepare so I just sat at the greeters’ table with my netbook, watching the game. My brother-in-law actually did one better. He commandeered the projector that was supposed to be showing pictures of him and my sister and he streamed the game instead using his own laptop. The game was projected onto a sloped part of the ceiling, which gave the rest of the restaurant a good view as well. As soon as the game went up, a few of the waiters wandered over to come take a look.

There were sporadic moments where I had to take people to their tables and where I needed to be in some photos but I was pretty much able to watch the first half of the game. When all the guests had arrived, I was then able to sit at my assigned table. It was there that I discreetly put my netbook on the table so that everyone watch the game without having to look up. I didn’t miss a single goal, except for OT, when I was in the middle of telling the entire table my story of when I touched a bag of sand. I knew OT was about to start and I was about to shut up to watch the game again when I looked up and Burrows was already celebrating. Honestly, who scores 11 seconds into OT?

Once the game was over, I was able to eat in a much more relaxed manner. The rest of the evening went smoothly. Had City Square not had their free wi-fi, things would have been much more stressful. Thanks to my sister and her husband for letting us watch the game at their wedding reception!