Having watched my first game 2 nights earlier against the Red Wings, this was Game number 2 and was against the league-leading Chicago Blackhawks. The opportunity to see players of the calibre of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Marion Hossa was too much to resist, when planning this trip, but I made a point of supporting the home-town Canucks, well you have to don’t you? The Penguins might be my team, but the Canucks will forever be my favourite Canadian team, and of course my first team I have seen play, and you never forget your first right?
The seats for this game were good and right behind one of the goals, much better than the Detroit game where I was high up in the corner. Although to be fair, there is not a bad seat in the house, all offer great views. Being a lone traveller can be a huge advantage on a trip like this as it offers you the chance to meet people, and talk to people you wouldn’t do if you were at home. I was lucky to be sat with 3 really cool people for this game. Karim, was directly to my left and we had several good conversations throughout the evening. He is a huge Canucks fan and was very informative about the team, amazingly he was impressed with my knowledge of Hockey, which was reassuring. I guess it must seem strange to some people that an average guy from across the pond can have such a love affair with the game and the knowledge to go with it. I certainly fall some way behind the real fans from Canada but it is nice to have it acknowledged all the same. To Karim’s left were a couple, called Afton & Troy. They too were impressed when I mentioned my blog and after realising I had watched 2 games and seen 2 Canucks wins, it wasn’t long before he was offering to buy me tickets. He kept saying, why don’t you stay for the playoffs, we need you here your our lucky mascot. If only I could have done, it would have been amazing to stay in BC. Of course I would need a job and a place to stay, but at least I had the offer of the tickets!!
And so to the game...
The Canucks dominated a
game for the first time all season, against archrival Chicago
Blackhawks. The Sedins were electric and feisty, producing 4 points
while playing some smothering defence. Ryan Kesler was like a tornado
who saw red all night. The blue line was solid. Max Lapierre looked
like a third-line center, and Derek Roy and Chris Higgins played like
they grew up together. You could almost believe we were back in 2011,
as even the power play scored. I guess a lot was down to the Hawks on
cruise control with the Conference already won, but lets not take
anything away from the Canucks as they were awesome. You could argue
the Blackhawks couldnt bring their A game simply because the Canucks,
so fired up, wouldn't allow them to play. There were several
memorable moments, including Frank Corrado's first NHL shift, where
he crunched Marcus Kruger into an official. There was Alex Edler
taking out Daniel Carcillo late, putting the gloss on what's been the
best two weeks of his season. Most of all, was seeing Kesler playing
wing for the first time in 4 years, as he switched into playoff mode.
He looked back to his 2011 best. He chased hits all game, going after
Marian Hossa, jawing at Brandon Bollig and taking a run at Duncan
Keith. He saved his best for Jonathan Toews, and was in the center's
grill all night, even taunting him in the first period, pleading for
a fight by lowering his gloves almost to the ice.
'I asked him to the
prom and he declined. He said Bollig would go with me though.
Bollig's not my style' Kesler said.
The rivalry is great,
although Daniel Sedin might not think so. The Canucks star was
concussed last year by a Keith elbow and looked like he narrowly
avoided a repeat when Niklas Hjalmarsson appeared to just miss him
with a high elbow. When Daniel iced the game at the end of the secomd
period with a breakaway goal making it 3-0, his old nemesis, Keith,
gave him a two-handed whack to his back side. It sent him tumbling
into the boards. Apart from his goal he also set up zack Kassian from
behind the net for the Canucks' second goal. The 2 points allowed
him to pass Markus Naslund for second on the teams' all-time points
list. The crowd erupted when it was announced.
It was the perfect ending to an amazing trip, but also sad at the same time, as I was heading back home the following day. I sure hope to come back to Vancouver some day and meet up with my new found hockey friends. Go Canucks Go!!
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