Vancouver Blogger Sriseth

It's been long time coming. Since becoming a NHL franchise in 1970 and in their 40th season, Vancouver Canucks are everybody's favourite to raise the Stanley Cup. Even the Canuck's haters and disbelievers now have to agree that undisputed best of the league are the Canucks. Now it's only a matter of beating Boston Bruins in four games within next couple of weeks. When Henrik Sedin raise the Stanley Cup, nobody can take it away and the whole province of British Columbia will go wild. There has never been more faithful and diehard fan base for a sports team. They deserve the very best - that is the Stanley Cup. Now let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. They still have to beat very formidable Bruins in best of seven series. 

During their first 39 seasons, Canucks put themselves in the exact same position twice. But both in 1982 and 1994, they were not the favourites. They were up against undisputed best teams at the time and couldn't pull of upsets. In 1982, Canucks were surprise finalists against Al Arbour's New York Islanders. Islanders were going for their third straight cup and swept Canucks in the finals. In 1994, it was against New York Rangers inspired by Mark Messier. Ranger's were President Trophy winners and clear favorites. But Canucks gave a good fight before loosing the game 7. Afterwards, although Canucks continually grew better and stronger as a team, they couldn't go past the second round. Past two years, it was the Chicago Blackhawks that put an end to their dreams. In 2009, Canucks were couple of minutes away from taking a 3-1 advantage in the series, and would have sealed the series had their defencemen not lost the composure for a moment to allow Martin Havlet to tie the game. In 2010, despite having a better team overall - as shown in game 1 - they failed to keep the composure against intimidating Hawks. It was a bitter experience for the fans.

This season, Canucks were the best team of the league in every aspect and they showed it in results. Easily winning the President's Trophy as the best team in regular season was a testament to the strength of the team. But fans were not in a mood to celebrate the President Cup. All they want is the Stanley Cup and they won't wait any longer. Dramatics on the final day of the season put their nemesis Blackhawks against the Canucks in round one. Fans were anxious despite the fact that Canucks were clearly the stronger team. Their worries proved true when Hawks came back from 3-0 down to tie the series at 3-3. 40 years long faith were at its tipping point. But Canucks found their composure for the game 7 and won it in overtime thanks to Alex Burrow's unassisted effort. After that it was a walk in the park for them all the way to the finals. 

Canucks vs Bruins is a classic mach up I have been dreaming of. It is a match up that could have easily predicted at the beginning of the season. Even the EA Sports gaming simulators predicted this match up before the season started. Bruins are one of the original NHL teams with a very strong fan base. They are in a 39 year old trophy drought, having won their last cup during Bobby Orr's days in 1972. Both teams are hungrier than ever to bring the cup home and cheer up their long faithful fans.

For Canucks, it's not only the expectations of British Columbia that they carry. Despite being the origin of the Stanley Cup, no Canadian team has been able to win the cup after 1993. Having only 6 of the 30 NHL teams in Canada doesn't help the chances of bringing the cup home to the hockey loving Canadians. Although several teams went all the way to the finals - namely 94' Canucks, 04' Flames, 06' Oilers and 07' Senators - they weren't the favourites at the finals and they couldn't pull of upsets. 18 years of wait is way too long after a series of cup wins mostly by Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadians prior to this long drought. Canucks are having the best change to turn the tables and bring the cup home and that will cheer up whole Canada. This is the time and Canadians are anxiously waiting.