Another Year For Canada To Wait

That '93 Habs team just looks better and better as the years go by.

That was the last Canadian-based NHL club to capture the Stanley Cup, and the elimination of the Vancouver Canucks Monday night by the Chicago Blackhawks ensured that it will be at least 2010 before Canada gets another NHL champion.

REUTERS PHOTO

Daniel Sedin and other Canucks hang their heads.

Damn Hawks. On their own, they knocked out two of the three Canadian contenders, the Flames and the Canucks, creating a long summer of soul-searching in both Calgary and Vancouver.

But first things first. Monday night was a spectacular night for the sport of hockey, and the NHL.

All the negative stories in the world - the corporate brawl over the Phoenix Coyotes, the absurd non-suspension of Carolina's Scott Walker - couldn't obscure the fact that two games Monday night, the Canucks-Hawks thriller and the OT contest between Washington and Pittsburgh, delivered as much of everything as a hockey fan could want.

You can take your 1-0 and 2-1 games if you want them. Me, the 5-4 Caps win and the 7-5 Chicago triumph represented hockey at its best, a terrific combination of skill, hitting and passion that produced an entertainment package that no other sport could match if the NHL could ever find a way to deliver it on a consistent basis.

It's the greatest game on earth, particularly when it's allowed to be.

We'll leave the Caps and Pens for now since there's another game in that series to be played. Chicago, meanwhile, roared back from a 4-3 third period deficit and in so doing obliterated the myth of Roberto Luongo for now, if not for good. Luongo gave up 21 goals in the six-game series and is now a career .500 goalie in the post-season at 11-11. How on the basis of performance and results he could be projected as Canada's starter in the Olympics next winter strains the imagination. In fact, right now, he would be No. 3 in my books behind Martin Brodeur and Cam Ward.

The good news for the Canucks braintrust led by GM Mike Gillis is that Daniel Sedin delivered two beautiful, clutch goals, which should make it at lot easier for Gillis to throw millions at the Sedin twins this summer.

Ex-Leaf captain Mats Sundin scored a nice goal Monday night, but his dream of being part of a Stanley Cup winner - if that was indeed the point of going to Vancouver - ended once again in disappointment. Retirement now again stares Sundin in the face and while he ended last year with most believing he had miles still left on his chassis, there's far less belief in that notion now.

The Hawks, meanwhile, look likely to face their Original Six rivals Detroit in the Western Conference finals, with the Red Wings holding a 3-2 series lead on Anaheim heading into Game 6 Tuesday in Orange County. That would be a memorable matchup, the natural successor to the brilliant Pittsburgh-Washington clash which, unfortunately, will have to come to a conclusion Wednesday night in the District of Columbia.

Patrick Kane's hat trick paced the Hawks Monday night, but this is a hockey team that plays with breathtaking exuberance and doesn't seem to realize it shouldn't be experienced enough to get this far into the NHL post-season. The Hawks were within a few minutes of going down 3-1 in the series to Vancouver, but fought back late in Game 4 to create overtime and then win it.

They were the big Canadian killers in these playoffs, and who would say now they have no chance of taking this all the way to a championship?

Comments

[Simon]

The "myth" of Luongo? Well maybe this one game proves that the situation has changed (doubtful), but his excellence has been no myth.

As a counterpoint to Luongo’s 11-11 mark, I see that Brodeur is 15-21 in the playoffs since his last Cup win six years ago.

[JethroQWalrusTT]

Sundin proved he's a glorified passenger on any team, with any wingers, and with any excuse at the ready for his apologists. Sundin plays rent-a-Cup and hops on a good team only to be bounced early, yet again.

Now, Vancouver knows he's no leader.

*sarcasm on*

But 'at least', Sundin made out like a bandit (for a change).

*sarcasm off*

Sundin superstar myth: RIP.

The guy is so clutch, I hear he may take a giant risk and sign with the Red Wings. :)

[Tabber]

Hawks can't go further, they've run out of Canadian teams to beat! Henril Oberg has a point, that Sundin needed the pre-season to get himself moving, but whether he can persuade that aging body to return to work that quickly is the question in my mind. If he can't, it's time to kick back in retirement (it's a good life, eh?).

[Ryan Shaw]

I for one, will be cheering the Hawks over the Pens at this years Finals.

[Jim Biggar]

Sundin does not deserve a Stanley Cup, after stiffing Toronto last year by not allowing them to trade him to a contender at the deadline, he was going to retire a Maple Leaf, he comes back to a different team and Toronto got nothing. As well it was great to see Bertuzzi eliminated from Stanley Cup contention. If the Hawks accomplish nothing else this year at least they kept the cup out of the hands of those two players.

[Jamie]

Why does Fleury get no mention...this will be 2 years in a row he takes his team the NHL finals...Hockey Canada needs to take long hard look at USA Basketball. They are right where the US was back in 2004. They think they are the best, and then all their 30-40 yr olds got blown out by younger, better, faster european teams. They put together a plan where they had their team built 3 years in advance. They grew together and then dominated in China. It's coming to a culmination, and 2010 is going to leave a bad taste in the mouth of canadian hockey fans everywhere.