It has Come down to This

For me, the NHL season ended back on April 26th when the Hawks lost to the Canucks. Sure, it continued on for other fan bases, it just wasn't the same here. The best part was rooting against the Canucks (ala rooting against LeBron). Sure, it has been fun, sure, it has been aggravating, and any other load of emotions from both sides of the spectrum.

But it ends here.

Tonight.

It's almost like watching a battle of good and evil. It's like watching your favorite Super Hero come up to the biggest battle they have ever had against their biggest arch villain, and not knowing the outcome.

Somehow, in the end, the good guy always wins. Right? Wrong? I don't know, none of us do, but that answer is coming.

Karma would only seem ready to strike and have the Canucks leave the arena tonight with no prize. On the flip side, karma is a fickle, odd thing. Say they do win, get their prize. Then what? When does she strike (she will)?

Will Henrik and Daniel collide into each other early next year (twinsenses off skew) and then Vancouver disappears into mediocrity? Or, will she come shining through and maintain balance in the world.

It happened the other day, after all, with the Mavericks beating the Heat and winning the NBA championship. Therefore, we know the precedent has been set. Can it be repeated?

The Bruins are like Spider Man, and the Canucks like the Green Goblin. They have home ice, Bobby Lu has been solid at home this series, and the Bruins have been virtually scoreless in Vancouver.

The world needs a superhero now, more than ever, good needs to prevail. The only reasonable way this will happen is for Boston to play hard (not saying they haven't) utilize whatever PP time they are given, and score early (and hopefully often).

Part of me on the inside would love to see one more Bobby Lu 4+ goal game, and then watch him abandon his team to find himself in South America next year.

Destiny awaits.

Let's go Bruins.

Beantown

Thank you, Boston Bruins. After going through the same senseless play and crap from the Canucks as we did in Round 1 it was great to see you respond in such a way. The fact that you responded with an 8 goal blasting of the Canucks on Monday night was a sight for sore eyes for this Hawks fan. The real story of the night, sadly, was the hit by Aaron Rome on Nathan Horton.

I know at this point it has been debated to death but that still doesn't excuse the fact that it was a terrible, dirty play. The fact of the matter remains that, while not a blindside hit, this was a hit shoulder to head. Watching the replays, as well, it appears that Rome changes his pace after Horton releases the puck to step in and make the play.

The resulting conclusions reached by the NHL is a 4 game suspension for Rome. In reality, however, this is a terrible trade off. The scary part is the potential for any retaliation in Game 4 (read Dan Carcillo knocking out Jeff Carter last year while trying to level Tomas Kopecky in last years Cup Finals. For those of you unfamiliar Carter and Carcillo were teammates, Kopecky was a Hawk).

Needless to say the early going of game 4 could be extremely exciting as Boston will come out with a ton of energy and probably press extremely hard and try to set Vancouver on their heels. The most important part now, is for the Bruins to come out strong and score a goal or two in the first ten minutes. If they manage to let the Canucks off lightly, that will give Vancouver a nice mental boost.

Boston needs to do what's best for them, and the sport of hockey, and put their skates to throats of the Canucks and end it, mercilessly. The type of goonish behavior that has been exhibited by Vancouver over the past few years (I'm looking at you and your eight your old child antics Burrows) has no place in the game. Yes, the taunting, and tough guy acts are fun, but at some point it stops being fun and starts being classless and silly (i.e. hair pulling, I know he's an easy target).

If this Vancouver team were comprised of any other group of players maybe it would be possible to root for them, they are from the West after all. But as it stands the best thing that could happen now would be for Boston to absolutely destroy them.

Here's to hoping!

Go Bruins!