Wet Coast Sports

http://www.wetcoastsports.com/the-bit-players The Vancouver Canucks’ success in achieving their first 3rd round appearance of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 1994 is largely due to Ryan Kesler’s “Superman” impersonation – and lesser contributions from the usual cast of characters the like of Higgins – Ehrhoff – and Luongo. Ryan Kesler will be receiving the attention of the best of the San Jose’s defence pairings Boyle and Murray. Boyle leads all NHL defensemen with 11 points in the playoffs and Murray leads everyone with 51 hits and is third with 34 blocked shots. The team’s ability to show the stuff they are made of and reach the limited dance card for the Finals will be largely dependent upon how much the bit parts are played by the third and fourth lines … and the third pairing of their defence. I am not suggesting the San Jose defence will eliminate RK17′s effectiveness – just potentially limit it. The impact that Henrik and Daniel have on the series is a pivotal area of course – but so can be said for that of Joe Thornton; Patrick Marleau and Devin Setoguchi … and it is sensible to believe over the series there will be some balance between the two lines. Where the real swing of advantage will occur in this last stepping stone before the Stanley Cup Finals, will happen in the total of third and fourth line contributions. Can Raffi Torres cause turnovers? Can Maxim Lappiere continue to play solid defence and win face-offs? In the absence of Michael Samuelsson – will Jeff Tambellini be able to generate any offence? Conversely, will the sub-par performance of Joe Pavelski to-date continue? His stats over the past 13 games played of 5 goals and 2 assists with a plus 7 rating are not horrid … but warrant his current assignment to a third line spot. There will be several areas to watch in the deciding on the winner of the Western Conference. The less obvious play of the bit players will be a large factor in the winner’s formula.

http://www.wetcoastsports.com/western-conference-finals-the-matchup So the Western Conference finals start in t-minus 24 hours…and the stage is set for what should be an exciting series. Both teams come into this series having knocked off two good teams, and both have had a few days to rest and prepare for the mayhem that could insue if both teams come out firing on all cylinders. The Sharks are coming off a huge win over one of the most experienced, and veteran teams in the league, the Detroit Red Wings. They won a nail-biter in the 7th game, after losing 3 straight to the Wings. They should be fired up, and if their top players play like their top players, they could the President’s Cup winning Canucks with tough challenge. The Canucks had a very different opponents in the second round of these playoffs. They played a younger squad, who were playing their first ever second round series. They had a tough battle for 6 games mostly because of all-star performances in all 6 games from their rookie goaltender, Pekke Rinne. The Canucks were finally able to shake off their nemisis, The Chicago Blackhawks in round 1 of these playoffs, but have they been able to completely shake the monkey off their backs that have held them down over the past 2 seasons? Let’s think back to the 2010 NHL playoffs when Antti Niemi was in his first full season as a member of the Blackhawks. Niemi and the Hawks went onto to beat the Canucks in 6 games, and eventually win the Stanley Cup. This has got to enter the minds of some of the returning Canucks team as they get set to play game 1 on Sunday night. After coming off an MVP-esque second round against the Red Wings, he will be looking to his jewelery collection started last season. After losing on their past 3 attempts in the Western Conference Finals, the Sharks are looking to play in the Stanley Cup series for the first time in their history, but they will have it in tough against the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks come off their best season as members of the NHL, setting team records in almost every catagory. The one player everyone is watching very closely on the Canucks team, is goaltender Roberto Luongo. Roberto is looking to add a some hardware himself, after winning Gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He has tasted victory and he knows a shiny ring would look really nice beside the gold medal in his sock drawer. Luongo had an outstanding 1.63GAA in the second round against Nashville, with a .933 save %. If he continues on this path, there’s no line in the league that can beat him in 7 games. The outcome of this series is going to come down to whether the Sedin twins will come out and play with the big boys. Their performance in the play-offs to date has been dismal. Being tied at this point with the worst plus/minus among all players left in the playoffs, with -8, they are going to need to step up and prove they are worthy of the regular season praise they received all season long. If they come out and play like they have all season, I see the Canucks winning in 6 games. What the heck, Im going to say Canucks in 6 games, regardless! (Don’t let me down boys!) -Kevin Luck- @wetcoastsports

One less Shark in the Killing Zone I’m sure we’re all aware in the wild which animal would come out on top. Now when it comes down to the NHL, we also have two mammoth forces colliding in the Western Conference Final. The Vancouver Canucks vs. the San Jose Sharks, two absolutely power house teams. The San Jose Sharks, like the Canucks have also recently won the The Presidents trophy in 2008-2009 only to lose in the conference quarter final against Anaheim. Then the year following get swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in in the Conference final. So just like the Canucks, the Sharks have had their own Playoff woes. This gives them something to prove, just like the home team. The Canucks won 3 of the 4 meetings during the regular season. The last game of the season between these two clubs was one of the most interesting games I’ve ever watched. The Sharks had 48 shots on Cory Schneider, and the Canucks won it 5-4 in a shootout from a goal from Alex Burrows. “It was a very hard game played along the boards, very competitive,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. “The games against them have been very tight. Special teams have worked in their favor, not ours, and it’s probably been the difference in the ones we lost.” Will the Sedins come alive? This is one of the biggest concerns from the fans point of view. I believe the Sharks game is much more suited to the style of play for the Sedins, they were the leading scorers in the series this year. We should see an emergence from the twins, and the time off between series was a real blessing for Henrik Sedin in particular. Whatever has been ailing him hopefully was able to repair itself with the time given. Henrik missed all of the practices thus far, and is probably doing everything he can to rest and repair. Daniel and Henrik must improve their plus/minus this series if we’re going to see a win from the Canucks, but that is a given. -8 is the worst on the team, but, what is happened thus far is in the past and all of the Canucks will tell you; What’s happened has happened and they only want to focus on the future, and take one game at a time. The Orca will eat the Shark within 6 games.

http://www.wetcoastsports.com/the-dreaded-bandwagon I want to bring up something that has been lingering around and taunting Canucks fans for as long as I remember. Anyone who has any type of liking towards our home team is automatically labelled as jumping on and off some sort of rickety old band wagon. Well, maybe not rickety, it is Vancouver after all. The wagon is probably filled with people in their stylish rain gear drinking expensive lattes and happy to be out of their 300 square foot penthouse apartments. Regardless, this dreaded wagon is the topic of conversation for a lot of people and it is starting to drive me crazy. The words "typical Vancouver Canucks fans" makes my skin crawl and I think we need to get some things straight. As fans of any team we're allowed to show our emotions even if that means we're ripping off our jerseys when Luongo has let in the third goal in row and Schneider has to take over. We're allowed to drown our sorrows in a pitcher of beer when we've lost a game in overtime and now we have to play again in two days. We're allowed to be sad but at the end of the day we're always going to be Canucks fans. This doesn't mean we're off the wagon, it means we have heart! Now that we're advancing to the third round I anticipate that this "wagon" talk will pop its ugly head up again. I guess there are true fans and wagon fans but lets be supportive of everyone. I mean, who else is going to spend all that money on Canucks car flags? We'll ride this wagon right until the end and invite the rest of Canada to join us. Kiprusoff, you can join us too since we'll need some red headed support and you're already 10 golf games into the season. But first, we're going to need some rules. If you want to be on this wagon you better be on it for the long hull. If the Canucks lose a game you are NOT allowed to jump off the bandwagonWhile on the bandwagon you're still allowed to make snide remarks towards any Canucks player that makes a crappy playMoping is allowedNail biting is also allowed PublishWatching the games is required. If you miss one then its your due diligence to do your research and pretend to know what you're talking aboutThere is no dieting allowed on the wagon, beer and chicken wings are a mustYou're allowed to look down on wagon jumpers, insult accordingly and refer to rule oneNot washing your Canucks attire and not shaving is acceptable but please refrain from smelling bad, armpits must remain clean and odour freeHate the opposing team and their playersIf, or should I say when, we win the cup bro-mance will be overlooked, hugging strangers is acceptable, and high five everyone else who've supported the wagon from the beginning.This is the one time in the lives of all hockey fans that they should jump on the Canucks wagon and be proud. I know deep down there is some toothless Oilers fans cheering for us on the inside and we all should lend a hand and help him up to join the likes of all wagon riders. As game one of series three awaits go rush out and get your Canucks paraphernalia, it's been 17 years after all