I honestly wish I could write something to make it ok. I’d give anything to do so.
But I can’t. I know a lot of us will spend the entire summer lamenting a Sharp chance on the power play, and one Campoli turnover. And Burrows making it count. God, that sting will never stop. But remember, this victory for them only counts if they take it all the way. Maybe that’s sour grapes, but it’s what I feel, and I’m sure they do too.
But how upset are you right now? A completely exhausted, flawed, and probably injured defending champ just would not lie down, would not let it go. We are farther than we probably had any right to be. If there’s a Canucks fan out there with even three marbles left, they would tell you it was well played and they had to earn every inch. I know that for a lot of you will hear it from the fans of the Canucks, Wings, Blues, and others are probably coming. But what do we have to apologize for?
Yeah, there were a lot of points pissed away this year, and we spent our time bitching about that. We should have never been in this position, but that goes both ways. We shouldn’t have made the playoffs, at the same time as we shouldn’t have been scrapping for just a spot either. It’s hard to reconcile. Where do you go?
Was it all a cheap thrill? I don’t know, maybe, but I doubt it. Finally, after we’d been begging for it all year, the Hawks showed the heart and sack of a defending champ. It looked so desperate, and I, like you, when Toews simply decided he was going to get a shorty to tie it thought it had to be our game. It wasn’t. Sometimes playoff games are just coin flips. We got one on Sunday. We didn’t get one tonight.
At the same time, the Hawks put themselves in a position to be executed by one simple bounce or mistake. They have the option of blaming anything they want, but deep down we and they know why they’re here now. It didn’t have to be this way, they made it so. 3-0 to the best team in the league is such a big hill to climb, no matter what you think you or they or made of, it’s asking so much.
It wouldn’t be fair to not compliment the Canucks. I don’t think I or anyone in the 606 thought they could hold their nerve tonight, and they did. They played an excellent game, and were only a Hail Mary from seeing it out in OT. It hurts to see them celebrate, I get it. But you know that they deserve it. And they know that they were pushed so far, they simply can’t have anything but respect for us now.
It’s going to be a long summer. But this team is not that far away. It’s two, maybe three moves from being elite again. I know it deep down when I say:
The future is bright. The future is red.