Forget about the Sidney Crosby goal in the Olympics. 'The Goal' at GM Arena (sorry Rogers Place, okay, whatever), is now Alex Burrows' in game 7 OT against the Blackhawks. In what will go down in History as one of the most intense games in the Canucks 40 years, their 2-1 victory allowed them to exorcise the demons, or as John Shorthouse said in his great call of the goal, slay the dragon.

Does anybody else feel like they actually played this game? I think I was more tired than most of the players and I probably looked worse than Raffi Torres when all was said and done. I actually intended to write this immediately after the game but I had to go to the ER for an IV due to too much stress and dehydration. (Okay, that's not true. Just trying to spice up my blog a little. You still awake?) Why wouldn't I cut it as a sports journalist? Well, I don't have time or space to list the reasons on here, but one of them would be that I always seem to be about 2 days late with my blogs. Incidentally, I'll be posting my round 1 NHL predictions tomorrow.

I told myself I was no longer going to be superstitious. I didn't wear my Canucks jersey or bring out any flags for the first 3 games of this series. I wore my Canucks jersey and put flags on my car for games 4, and stubbornly once again for game 5. Then for game 6 I went with my autographed Canuck t-shirt and they got back to playing their game. Luckily I went with the same t-shirt for game 7. So much for not being superstitious. (Incidentally my t-shirt has Daniel, Burrows, Kesler and Malhotra autographs among a few other Canucks, BUT it also has Shane O'briens's. So not sure what to do now.)

Game 7 featured just an amazing effort from the player who clearly should be captain of this team. Ryan Kesler was a man possessed. He gave everything he had and I fully expect to see some Kesler jerseys throughout North America in the years to come. He was that good. Since Manny's unfortunate and tragic eye injury, Kesler had to step into that defensive center role. It's not really fair to bitch about his numbers. Funny how everyone just looks at the stats to determine if someone is playing well or not. You can't judge his performance in game 7 by looking at the numbers. Well, unless you want to look at Jonathan Toews production or plus-minus.

The guy who will go down in History as the real hero in this game of course will be Alex Burrows. Fitting too, as he is probably the classiest Canuck. He signed autographs for a long time in Penticton during training camp and when there were no more to sign he asked if there were any others, looked around and when he saw that there weren't he then said goodbye and walked into the dressing room. He also talked to the fans and answered their questions. Now that's classy, although I'm sure Ron Mclean woudn't think so. While Burrows was the man, scoring the first Canuck goal on an awesome set up by Kesler, and finishing things off with a great, opportunistic individual effort in the OT, he also made some costly mistakes. He had the puck stolen from him in the neutral zone late in the 3rd while on the power play, leading to the tying goal by Toews. He needed to play safe, smart hockey there and dump the puck in. He also took the penalty in OT which the Canucks luckily were able to kill thanks in part to a solid save by Luongo off of a Patrick Sharp one-timer in close. But regardless of that, he was the one to finish off the Hawks and for that he is a hero in Vancouver and rightly so.

When 'the goal' went in I jumped around my house waving my '94 White Hot Canuck towel for what seemed like forever. It was 'the' Olympic goal, times 10. (Incidentally, I'm now out day-to-day with a groin pull, a charley horse and a bruised spleen.) Did I enjoy the whole experience? Nope. It was painful to watch. PAINFUL. Looking back it was an amazing hockey game. This is the way hockey was meant to be played. (That's why I hate watching Minnesota and Columbus and often Nashville as well.) We came within an eyelash of disaster. I felt like we were on the Titanic and by some miracle just barely steered clear of the ice berg.

Another hero on this night was the man that couldn't have possibly faced any more pressure than he did. In fact, I don't know how he wasn't crushed by the tidal wave of pressure on him while he stood there for the National Anthems. Roberto Luongo stood his ground and was solid, and at times great. He didn't need to be spectacular because when the Canucks are playing THEIR game, he rarely ever has to be. It was a game that he couldn't relax for a second. We never did get that 2 or 3 goal lead. But still he battled and battled some more. He fought the puck a few times but his D were right where they should be to help him out. And then when the shot fired out from the grassy knoll (okay it was Toews on his stomach in the slot), and my heart felt like it was going to explode, Roberto didn't fall apart. That's the stuff champions are made of. Canuck fans will NEVER EVER be able to agree on who should have played game 6 or even game 7 for that matter. There is the Luongo camp and the Schneider camp. (It's kind of like trying to debate which one is more feminine, Donny or Marie. It's a waste of time, we will never agree.) I'm in the Luongo camp but I can certainly see both sides. I think the team as a whole is better because Luongo was in net when they were able to 'slay the dragon' and not Schneider. And for the people bitching about the rebound Luongo gave up on the Toews goal, (and even asking why Roberto was on his stomach in OT in game 6, you do realize the original shot was deflected right?) you can all give your head a shake. If the Canucks get by Nashville you can expect Luongo to have issues again at some point. It's the NHL playoffs. There is a reason the Stanley Cup is the most difficult trophy to win. There may even be a time when Cory Schneider gets another start. We'll see. But calling out Luongo when there are almost always 2 or 3 miscues by his team before the puck even gets to him, doesn't really help matters. Heaping on the pressure doesn't really make things easier for him. And incidentally, calling him Loosongo isn't really very funny. Or original. There. I said it.

Other Canucks that deserve mention for their great play in game 7 are Edler and Hamhuis, both played amazing D, the Higgins, Lappierre and Hansen line was a force, especially in the second period, and Ballard played solid after being a healthy (?) scratch for the previous 2 games. If Ballard was indeed healthy I have to question the decision not to play him. And I'll go even further. The decision to play Alberts over Ballard was the reason they lost game 6. Salo was out after 4 shifts and didn't return and the Canucks were down to 5 D early. It was Alberts first game in over 2 months and he was out there when the overtime goal was scored. That seemingly small decision almost cost Alain Vigneault his job.

It wouldn't be fair of me to talk about game 7 without giving credit to those lowly, no-good, oughta be tossed out of the league Chicago Blackhawks. Hey, after the misery they have bestowed on us Canuck fans, how could I possibly like them? The biggest credit of all has to go to their rookie goalie Corey Crawford. I clearly didn't give him enough credit going into this series. He played great all series long and in game 7, when it mattered most and the pressure was at its peak, he was simply spectacular. There is no more pressure for a goalie than when they are down a goal. The Hawks were down by 1 for almost the entire 3 periods and he kept his team in the game. It looks like he's going to be a star in this league for a long time to come.

I will also give credit to Pentictonite Duncan Keith. The whole Chicago team has had a tough season. They've played a lot of tough hockey, struggling just to make the playoffs. Keith played a lot of minutes all season and was clearly worn down heading into this series. He likely has a few injuries as well. But something happened in game 4 with the score tied 1-1. He was the one that seemed to ignite this team. (The weak too-many-men call and missed off-side helped too. Sorry, had to throw that in there.) He then seemed to carry the team on his back for games 4 and 5. He's a great player, he did all he could, and it was almost enough.

Jonathan Toews battled Kesler head-to-head for most of the series. It's fair to say that Kesler won that battle, but Toews was also exhausted and beat up heading into the series. I've heard that he has issues with both shoulders. He's a great Canadian hockey player and found a way to take his team into OT in game 7 against the President's Trophy winning Canucks. (I know, I know. The President's Trophy and $10 will buy you a small coffee at Starbucks.) I would hope that all Hawk fans are proud of the entire team. They battled hard all year after losing a lot of their depth players from last years Cup winning team. They played a lot better than I thought was possible.

Now the Canucks move on. Funny how all the other teams get at least 2 days rest. Conspiracy? I don't know. I think it's just that Bettman doesn't like Canadian teams. If Montreal had beaten the Bruins in game 7 last night, they'd probably be playing tonight too. So does Vancouver phone this one in? Are they still flying high over their huge win on Tuesday and unprepared? Or do they just continue where they left off? We'll find out very soon but I'm thinking that now that they've finally gotten the monkey off their backs, they will start to soar. (Because clearly you can't soar with a monkey on your back.) Just don't expect a wide open end to end, entertaining series like the last one. I expect it to be tight checking. We will probably see a lot of 1-0, 2-1 games. The Canucks need to play their best every game and if all goes well they will earn themselves a rest when this series is over. Because if they don't play their game, they will earn themselves a very long rest.