This series has gone from bad to worse. We all wanted the Canucks to matchup against the Flames figuring THAT was their best way to advance, we were so wrong! What we failed to realize or maybe some of you didn’t was that even though the Canucks stellar record got them in the playoffs, they are far from contenders. OK thanks Capt. Obvious, we knew that. But seriously, how many opportunities did they have this year to right the ship or even put away awful teams or even worse: the Sabres?
Too many.
Willie rolled four lines and it proved to be a winning formula, enough to make the post season; adding unforseen depth in Bo Horvat and Ronalds Kenins has filled some gaps a lot quicker than first thought; heck even Yannick Weber has found a spot of meaning here. These additions are great and all but compare them to the teams they are trying to equal and they still aren’t close. A mediocre Flames squad is proving this quite easily.
So the referees haven’t exactly helped either. They have let Michael Ferland charge his way time after time to hit Kevin Bieksa, Kevin Bieksa, Kevin Bieksa, Luca Sbisa and Kevin Bieksa. No one debates a good hit but when the hit is preceeded by oh I dunno 5-6 strides, that’s a problem. The Canucks aren’t doing themselves any favours but the stripes aren’t making it any easier.
Vancouver has been left beaten, bloodied and left for dead. Short of a chalk line, the Canucks are basically D.O.A. No special victims unit can help this crew right now, they need a CVU: Canucks Victims Unit; I take that back, WE need a CVU.
Do you know what it’s like to be bombarded by Flames fans arrogantly flaunting their new found wealth? It’s horriawful (horrible and awful mixed in a smoothie). They think this is just the top of the pops! Well i’ll let you down lightly Flames faithful, yo may beat the Canucks but there are a lot better teams than this. Four extra games isn’t as fun as you’d think.———–>Living proof<————-
Maybe the fix is on from the inside? Just kidding, we’ve all had it up to here with the conspiracies. But Brandon McMillan and Linden Vey? Bro.
It’s befuddling how Sven Baertschi gets called up and they throw in these guys? The lack of use of Henrik and Daniel over the first four games is enraging and to add to the fire Linden Vey, Derek Dorsett and Nick Bonino are the first choice? Wow! It might be time to promote Bo Horvat and get Radim Vrbata with the Sedins. Its not like that’s what you signed him for.
To see everything unravel regardless of the end result, hurts. Most of us had the mindset that if the Canucks made the playoffs this year, they were cool with losing if they went down fighting. This isn’t close to that scenario. Sure, Burrows getting the Sami Salo disease doesn’t help anything and Zack Kassian being sidelined by a mysterious injury never gave him the opportunity to set the bar. This team just hit their funk at the worst time possible.
Slightly better than the Jets though, not by much.
A higher draft pick would have been great but as one of the teams on the brink of elimination, they are one of the highest seeds to potentially fall. Was the late stretch really worth it? You have to believe it was and with some serious additions from the young guys next year (Shinkaruk, Virtanen, McCann?), the current new crop of players can build off of what essentially was a pretty good, nay, “real good” year.
There are still games to be played, at least one more tonight in Vancouver so all the worries could be meaningless if they flip the switch and make a series of it. The Canucks aren’t the best team in the post seasaon but if they figure it out, they aren’t the worst either.
Ryan Miller is supposed to start and Baertschi is making his debut. Baby steps. Score the first goal and go from there. NO, not YOU Calgary! I still believe in these guys even though I haven’t stopped crying since the end of Game 3. Just win Canucks, help get us to Saturday soberly.
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(credit – popscreen.com)
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