Let's look at the hard facts:
1. We lost 9-1 to Anaheim. NINE to one!
2. We lost 6-1 to Dallas in a 'must win' game.
3. We have been horrific since Christmas.
4. We took a 3 goal lead into the third period and allowed SEVEN GOALS! vs the loly Islanders who didn't have their best player (John Tavares).
5. We couldn't trade Luongo so we traded Schneider for a 9th round draft pick.
6. So in Luongo we trust, then Tortorella sits Luongo in the heritage classic even though Luongo only played one game in the Olympics. He also sat the other two games previous. So Luongo says, "I'm done!" (And who can blame him after the last year and a half) so we trade him for at best 3rd line C and a backup goalie. The Canucks have treated Luongo bad enough for a long time, I'm happy for him.
7. As much as I like coach Tortorella, he has lost the room, he's tried to fight the opposing coach in between periods, and his style on the ice is so boring. We can't win 1-0 or 2-1 games when we can't score.
8. The Canucks have given up. Have you watched a game lately? They lack effort and heart. If they have decided to pack it in, I will refuse to watch any longer.
9. After last season, Gillis fires AV and hires Tortorella? Why didn't Gillis get fired??? I can't think of one thing Gillis done really well in his tenure as the GM. Santorelli or Stanton were flukes...no one thought they were going to be any good. Plus even if you count them it pails in comparison to the MASSIVE mistakes with Luo's contract, the lame Schneider trade, the terrible trade with Florida to move Luo, and who can forget Hodgson for KASSIAN!
Who wants to play in Vancouver with all this garbage and a tough coach like Tortorella, and a terrible GM in Gillis? What Free Agent will willingly want to come to Vancouver? Only the desperate ones who won't improve our hockey club.
Let's look at the rumours:
1. Supposedly Kesler has asked for a trade (again can we blame him?).
2. Supposedly we had 2 Kesler offers on the table.
a) A deal was done with Anaheim for only 2 draft picks.
b) A deal was done with Pitts for B.Sutter and 2 draft picks.
* Supposedly our ownership stepped in and veto'd both or the main deal. If that is true, BRAVO to our owners.
Is it okay to have a 2nd team?
People make fun of me all the time that I have a second team to cheer for...really? After 38 years of pain, it makes perfect sense. We have made the finals 3 times. We got lucky in '82 to even be there...and in '94 we should have won game 7 and in 2010 we should have won Game 6 but didn't and got embarrassed in the 7th game (not scoring 1 goal) 4-0.
It's been well documented that I like the Flyers as well. Why the Flyers? Well when I was young I loved Lindros (didn't love the whole snubbing Quebec thing but it is what it is). I really enjoyed the Legion of Doom. Loved the drafting and direction they have heading in. Loved Briere, LeClair, Hextall, Coburn, Richards/Carter, and most recently Vorachek and my boy Giroux! I like cheering for a team in the West and the East to make things interesting.
Heart to heart, father-son conversation
I had a conversation with my 4 year old son. I said to him, "Son I like the Canucks jersey you are wearing, it looks good on you. But maybe it's time for us to cheer for a different team." (After all it's been one big roller coaster ride being a frustrated, loyal Canucks fan. And I don't want him to go through all the pain with no to little joy.)
He replied, "I do like Pittsburgh."
I answered, "Yeah, that's a good choice."
And as hard as it was for me to have that conversation with him about it, it was settled. I knew what I was asking of him was in the end the right call. Sometimes the right thing isn't the easiest thing to do.
As for me...I'm moving on to my second team. Who MIGHT just become my 1st team. I'm done with Vancouver...at least for this season. Or until Gillis gets fired.
They say in sports, you can make money and get a good fan base if you can sell hope. Well the longer this goes on, the more hope is dying or has been lost.
Of course I could be wrong but I doubt it.
