You know how everybody develops Stanley Cup superstitions this time of year?
Two decades after the fact, Will Dixon and I still blame ourselves for the Leafs losing their 1993 Cup ticket to the LA Kings because we simultaneously broke our cardinal rules of watching the games on the same TV sets to venture out to a Sports bar.
It wasn't an uncalled high stick that cost the Buds their spot. It was a beckoning plate of chicken wings and a pitcher of ice cold beer!
For reasons far too complex to detail, I've watched pretty much every game of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs in a completely different place in a half dozen different cities. So I can't have that exact same place wearing the exact same T-shirt superstition this time around.
Instead it's become a hunt to make sure I'm not in the same place for each remaining game.
As covered in last week's Pool Report, I saw Game One on a BC Ferry. Game Two I watched in my father's hospital room -- a room somehow continuously filled with nurses just checking that the bed was turned down and orderlies mopping a spit-shined floor.
But since the game went into an overtime that was already past visiting hours, I elected to drive to the nearest corner bar before puck drop.
You know how a car radio can cut out going down those sealed concrete parking ramps. Outages which are short but…?
Yep -- missed the big goal. One minute it's all "The way these two teams have been playing, we might be looking at a very long…" and 12 seconds later, when you're back from the Dark Side of the Moon, all you can hear is screaming and it's only seeing the guy in the ticket booth dancing that tells you who won.
It got me thinking that I need to find somewhere new and exotic for tonight's game if I want the Canuck streak to continue.
Or maybe -- they'll only win if I don't listen at all.
Wow. That's heavy.
Y'know, I've had a couple of other thoughts about this series that nobody seems to have addressed.
First, can you imagine how much this final must be eating Don Cherry alive? A bunch of Swedes, Americans and French Canadians handing his old Alma Mater their asses!
It also has me wondering about the CBC. Not only are upstart NBC's broadcasts eminently more exciting to watch but yesterday the Mother Corp's Radio division devoted a couple of hours to asking whether or not the Canucks really were Canada's team.
Among the callers were the usual suspects taking the opportunity to detail why they didn't watch television let alone hockey or condemned the game for its violence, its celebration of capitalism or for not being the kind of image the world should have of Canada.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg sold 13,000 season tickets in like 10 minutes.
And only the NHL netcam recorded who ended up with the Game winning puck.
Just sayin'
In the Infamous Writers Hockey Pool, Tim Stubinski continues to lead with Will Pascoe second and Vancouver lovers Carleen Kyle and Mark Leiren-Young tied for third. Looking at their line-ups, it'll only take a couple of Boston wins or one high-scoring game to change up the leaders.
We still got us a contest!
I'm just not sure if I should be watching. Or who gets an advantage if I don't. Or if I wear a different T-shirt. Change my underwear. Opt for a glass of Chardonnay over another can of…
9 comments:
I've got bad news --
I was up from the States (along with, oh, about 9000 other people) attending a conference in Vancouver last week for both of the wins. And now I've left.
Boston will take the next one for sure and it will be entirely my fault.
Your Regular Anonymous
Jim, you seem to have angered the hockey gods with this post. The B's woke up on Monday night and unlike the Hawks they did so before the Nucks went up 3-0. I for one think the Nucks have been winning with a style reminiscent of the 1970's when the primary strategy was to injure key players, thereby intimidating the rest. I don't appreciate it and it will come back to haunt them. In short, they are a bunch of guys, other than the sisters, who may have bitten off more than they chew.
Sorry, Research, but the Hockey Gods and I are as one.
They were merely giving Boston fans a moment in the Sun while granting the the Canucks the extra glory of winning the Cup on home ice!
Jim, are you saying the Nucks, who seem to be running out of fingers as I write, are going to win it in seven? Game seven is always a crap-shoot and how many times can you avoid crapping out?
If the B's win game five in Vancouver, they can win it on home ice. I fondly remember them winning the Cup in '72. I lived a few blocks from the old gardens and was amazed all that year at their complete dominance of the league, although I watched most of the games on an 11-inch black and white tv set. It was amazing that they only won the Cup in '70 and '72 with the team they had. Too many guys who loved the game less than the off-ice distractions.
They were merely giving Boston fans a moment in the Sun...
Well, they sure made it a bright sun.
"...can you imagine how much this final must be eating Don Cherry alive? A bunch of Swedes, Americans and French Canadians handing his old Alma Mater their asses!"
Heh.
I haven't seen stars like the Sedins manhandled like Wednesday's game since...well, ever. Not Gretzky, not Lemieux, not Crosby, not Ovechkin.
The 'nucks seem to be suffering from a collective miasma, probably related to the Horton hit.
And they better get over it, quicklike, as I'm still calling for them to win. But geeze, score already. That's the only thing they pay Thelma and Louise for.
My prediction for Game 5 is that the puck will drop, Luongo will skate the length of the ice and jump Thomas, who will be more than happy to respond, getting them both ejected.
Then Vancouver wins Game 5.
They go back to Boston, where the fans are so incensed they boo the national anthem and the NHL tells the refs to call a few more Boston penalties before things get International incident ugly for game Seven.
Vancouver wins Game 6.
Boston goes back to "wait til next season" (which they're very good at and secretly celebrate because it helps define them).
Then Kaberle gets traded back to the Leafs in a package with Taylor Seguin to get Kessel's scoring power back.
And everybody is happy.
Well, gentlemen, I've finished my week at work, and have a vacation week ahead of me.
I would be happy to spend it in Vancouver, thus guaranteeing a Canucks win (see my earlier post), if anyone would like to cover my expenses.
Your Regular Anonymous
The B's woke up on Monday night and unlike the Hawks they did so before the Nucks went up 3-0. I for one think the Nucks have been winning with a style reminiscent of the 1970's when the primary strategy was to injure key players, thereby intimidating the rest.
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