SPILLED MILK

Funny how the mind of a fan works. Funny how fast it is that that high pedestal seems to get lowered, and lowered, and LOWERED… like one of those chairs with the pushy lever thing. I can almost hear the sound below every former Vancouver supporter, as they hit the lever and hear that “SHHHHHHHHT” sound, taking the elevator from the top floor down to that basement loft where the Blackhawks reside.

People forget — Chicago is worth no higher than an 8th seed, and Vancouver is worth no lower than a 1st. (Often, we hear things like, “Hey, this 8th seed is NO 8th seed!” However, in this case they are.)

The same ones who say, “Game 4 means nothing because momentum turns so fast in the playoffs” are now saying, “Game 5 changed everything… Chicago has all the momentum.”

If Vancouver loses than, yes, we can officially call it the greatest single-series collapse in NHL history. Never before has a #1 seed led the league in GF, GA, and PP, taken a 3-0 lead in the opening series to the last team to make the playoffs, and then blown it at the rate the Canucks “seem” to be blowing it.

7-2 and then 5-0? Yikes! Where’s my paddle boat? Get me the hell off this ship!

Yes, if Vancouver loses, it would be catastrophic, to their fan base and to the NHL playoffs, as well… because every other observer would miss out on the most exciting team in recent memory. It would seem like the ultimate cruel joke to a city of two million… “Hey, let’s have the best regular season in team history — one of the best in league history — take a 3-0 lead to our arch rivals and then… just… stop playing!”

Only, this won’t happen. Nothing has really happened anyway… so, the series is 3-2… So? So, Chicago has outscored Vancouver 12-2 in the last two games… so? So, Luongo is off his game… so? So, the Sedins and Burrows are -11 in their last two games… so?

Really, so what?

If we suddenly believe that a team will just lose everything at the turn of a hat, get over yourself. Yes, this same kind of 3-0 collapse has happened before, but it’s never happened in a situtation like this. No team as good as this team has lost a lead like this, and no team as bad as this Chicago team has come back from this deficit, either.

Remember, if Chicago wins Game 6, it will seem like the roof has caved in… but, if Vancouver wins Game 7, then everything goes back to normal. NOTHING will have changed.

Philadelphia did it last year as a seventh seed, but that took a whole lot of completely different things to happen:

• Flyer’s winger Simon Gagne returned in Game 4 and scored the overtime winner… yes, David Bolland returned for Chicago, but Bolland is no Gagne. 
• The Bruins were also a 6th seed that barely made the playoffs over Philadelphia… Vancouver crushed the entire league. 
• Philadelphia was also playing fantastic hockey for their entire first round series and second series, but Chicago hasn’t been. Their first three games were dreadful — they looked lost. 
• If we believe that Duncan Keith — one player — can turn it around as fast as he did, then how can we suddenly, SUDDENLY, not believe that an entire #1 team can’t turn it around, either. 
• Yes, Washington blew a 3-1 series lead last year to Montreal and crushed the entire league during the regular season, as well… but Vancouver topped both sides of the ice this year. 

They were… sorry, WE WERE as good skating forward as we were skating backward.

My job is not to jinx this team, but shouldn’t we all as shallow, jumpy, wishy-washy Canucks fans -– of which I’m proudly one –- move past this, already? Shouldn’t we actually do what every other fan base in this league and every other league does and just KNOW that this team doesn’t care about what we think, or what we write? Shouldn’t we know that a #1 team is not a #1 team because of jinxes or good luck?

This team has earned a number one spot, and they earned a 3-0 series lead. Now, we’re all worried about pre-game rituals and momentum and black magic. Do you really think that knocking on a piece of wood — which is probably actually plastic, because what bar has real wood tables anyway? — is really going to change the fortunes or misfortunes of the best team in the NHL? Do you ever remember when a team lost a game because you shaved that morning?

You were there a week ago, be there tomorrow. If needed, be there for Game 7. Stop backing down, stop crying over spilled milk.

Everyone else is jumping ship — everyone else is switching sides — but, as Aaron Eckhart said, “The night is always darkest before the dawn.”

Every newspaper in Vancouver has abandoned their boys at sea, only they will find that their is no life raft awaiting them when they return. Every newspaper in Chicago has suddenly started believing again, and Jonathan Toews has decided that he finally has a voice — only most people from Manitoba are much kinder with their words than him.

How good will it feel when they’re all wrong and you’re right?

Vancouver. This is your team. Get up and cheer. We’re not losing.