The Stanley Cup


The elusive silver statue, if you will, is the most desirable trophy in sports.

There is no other sport than hockey that consists of a grueling TEN months’ journey, physical/mental/emotional/social commitment (for the athletes and the fans), combined with passion rooted from a Montreal ice rink in 1875.

Halfway through the 2010-2011 regular season, I was made aware of the Olympic-Stanley Cup tradition (I heard/read from a difference source but this is a good one – it doesn’t have the Montreal Olympic/Stanley Cup win in the timeline though). For over 80 years, every state/city that hosted the Olympics and has a National Hockey League Team has had its team hoist the Cup the following year. The Vancouver 2010 Olympics were monumental and record-breaking in many many ways, but perhaps the best part about it is that it’ll help our boys, our team, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, to lift up that over-30 pounder trophy.

My writing is awful right now but I’m just too nervous and excited for history to be made tonight. A lifetime of waiting has prepared me for all outcomes, but I can’t ignore that gut feeling I’ve had for the past five months.



By the way, when I googled Stanley Cup, there were logos of past champions such as the Red Wings, Penguins, and Blackhawks. Also, halfway down the page, a few photos of Canucks jerseys. No sign of Bruins’ horrendous yellow/orange anywhere. More signs? I believe in karma, doing good will bring you good. The Canucks’ fans have always been positive, supportive, and incredibly nice people – we’ve built up an unstoppable K-Force in this city, there’s no way the Bruins are going to win in our home arena.

The thing is, if the Bruins don’t win the Stanley Cup, their fans aren’t going to be in the biggest group withdrawal in history. Vancouver Canucks fans really give the team their all. If the Canucks lose in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at home, not only will there be riots reminiscence of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, but people won’t be able to eat, sleep, or even FUNCTION. I’m not even exaggerating that much. My life has been completely taken over by the playoffs for the past month and a half. Whether we win or lose tonight, practically the entire city/province’s population will be in a deep Canucks Coma, only to be healed when the new season starts, with Mason Raymond and Kesler and our other stars healthy and ready to set another record-breaking season.

Links to share:
Canucks Fans Video:
http://video.canucks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=1184&id=112003
Canucks – “Inches”

EDIT:
So I know me and my blog post sound pretty stupid, naive, and completely arrogant in hindsight. But those were my true feelings and I don’t regret a word. I went downtown today, but I was more on the outskirts because I knew that riots would break out in the core. Of course, I cannot say that I expected it to be as dramatic as this, with three reported fatalities and more likely to be revealed in headlines tomorrow – but we should have known that this kind of stuff happens when a huge, unchecked crowd gathers in a small area (under the influence of alcohol, stress, and/or just plain criminal desire). My biggest concern is with the preparation of the city for this event. IMO, the Olympics were successful because there were strict bag check points and security in all venues. I know that previously, crowds did need to proceed through a bag check before they were allowed to the viewing party on CBC Plaza, but because the number of people got out of hand, it became impossible to have a fence around them and therefore impossible to regulate the regular viewers and the trouble-seeking scumbags……..
….I’m too tired to finish this post. But just my two cents for now.