Who Is This Guy?

Maxim Lapierre

Position: Center

Shoots: Right

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 207 lbs.

Born: March 29, 1985 in Saint Leonard, Quebec

Drafted: 2nd round, 61st overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2003

Acquired: On February 28, 2011 from the Anaheim Ducks, with MacGregor Sharp, for Joel Perreault and a 3^rd Round pick in 2012 - not a bad trade, eh?

What did he do?

Lapierre played all 82 games for the Canucks this season, one of just five Canucks to do so. He is a very versatile player, and as a result saw time in a variety of different roles, including a decent amount of time on the penalty kill. He also fought seven times during the season.

Lapierre spent much of his time on the Canucks fourth line, where he played alongside Manny Malhotra and the rotating linemate du jour (Dale Weise, Andrew Ebbett, Byron Bitz, Aaron Volpati, etc.). However, when Daniel Sedin was injured for the final nine regular season and first three playoff games, Lapierre saw time on the top line alongside Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows.

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On Saturday night, the 2011-12 regular season came to a close for the Vancouver Canucks when the team wrapped up a second straight President's Trophy. Let me say that again: a second straight President's Trophy. That is a pretty damn impressive accomplishment. Since 1985-86, when the trophy was introduced, it has been won in consecutive years just five times. If we leave aside the dynastic Oilers and would-be dynastic Flames of the 1980s, who won the first four trophies, the Canucks are just one of three teams to accomplish the feat.

But, aside from ensuring home ice advantage for the duration of their playoff run, I could not care less about this accomplishment right now. And I know most other Canucks fans feel the same way.

In fact, this entire regular season has for me been, without a doubt, the weirdest since I became a fan as a child in the late 1980s. You know that ambivalent feeling you get when the preseason starts? That "Oh cool, hockey's back, but only kinda, sorta - I'll maintain a mild interest but wait for the real games to start before I get excited" feeling? That's basically how I've felt the entire Canucks regular season, and I know I'm certainly not alone. The whole season has felt like an extended preseason in which the Canucks work on weaknesses in their game, work out kinks, and prepare mentally and physically for the real season - which, in the Canucks' case, starts tomorrow night.

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via fc06.deviantart.net

Many Canucks fans have no doubt found the team's recent stretch of play unsettling. Despite sitting near the top of the standings, the Canucks have not looked as dominant as their record indicates, and they certainly have not played at the same level as last season's President Trophy winning squad.

So the question becomes: is the team just struggling through a rough patch that it will rebound from or are there larger issues? In other words, should fans keep calm and carry on or should they panic?

Dan Hamhuis was on CBC's After Hours last night. In addition to coming across as a very well-spoken and likeable person, Hamhuis was very open in discussing the team's recent struggles and its mindset at this point in the season. I found his comments very revealing about where the Canucks are at right now and how they have been playing over the course of this season.

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On Saturday, members, lurkers, and hangers-on got together at a downtown Toronto bar for the second annual Nucks Misconduct Toronto Meet-up (calling it the "second annual" and capitalizing the name clearly make it a an EVENT). The win on the ice was made all the sweeter by the fact that dominated the bar as thoroughly as the Canucks dominated the Leafs on the scoreboard. From the opening anthem, which we faithfully sang along to as Mark Donnelly held his microphone aloft, to the closing horn, we loudly and proudly cheered on the Canucks.

This year we had over 20 attendees, a large increase from the six that attended last year. And yes, one of them was a Leafs fan. My friend was keen to attend, and was a good (and self-deprecating) sport throughout the evening - despite taking plenty of heckling from the assembled 'Nucks fans.

I didn't keep tabs on who was or was not a regular here at Nucks Misconduct, although I do know that Semi_Colon and jabraham were in attendance. If you were there and want to self identify in the comments, it will help me put a username to the face!

After the jump, some more pictures from the evening.

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At the start of this month I announced that I would once again organize a meet-up for Nucks Misconduct members in Toronto. Hell, it's now a tradition, so I'm going to go ahead and call it the Second Annual Nucks Miscnonduct Toronto Meet-up.

So which game did people want to meet for? Not surprisingly the winner, in a landslide, was the Feb. 18th game against the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Thanks to everyone who voted. And sorry to SpriteofIce, who cannot make the 18th and who I am fairly certain is the lone vote for Feb. 11th.

Next Steps: If you would like to join us on the 18th, PLEASE EMAIL ME TO RSVP BY FEB. 11TH. My email address is nucksandpucks@gmail.com. Please let me know if you will be attending with anyone else. Once I have an idea of total numbers, I will make a reservation at a TTC-accessible downtown bar. If you have suggestions for good bars (keeping in mind that we may have a big group) please include them in your email to me.

Really looking forward to this, it will be great to meet some fellow transplanted Canucks fans and watch our team whoop the Maple Leafs!

via images.toronto.com

Calling all Southern Ontario Canucks fans! I thought I would organize another meet-up for fans in or near Toronto, to get together for some beers and some laughs and, hopefully, for a Canucks victory. We did this last year, and had a really fun night - and a number of NMers continued to get together throughout the playoffs.

If you are interested in joining us, please respond to the poll below to indicate which game you would like to meet for. Once we pick a date, I will post again asking people to email me so we can arrange a venue and reservations. Please only vote if you are seriously considering attending, so as not to skew the vote away from a date that is better for more people. The poll closes at the end of January, and we will go with the date that gets the most support.

And yes, that game vs. Toronto is extremely tempting.

Earlier this season, The Hockey News released a special edition of its magazine called "The Best of Everything in Hockey" - a follow-up to its 2003 edition. Unlike the past issue, which focused on all-time categories, this edition is focused on contemporary categories. The magazine consists of 57 such categories, ranging from obvious topics like Best All-Around Player to obscure ones such as Best Arena Food, voted upon by a panel of THN writers and contributors. It also features team sections that offer an all-time First and Second All-Star Team for each NHL franchise.

Obviously I would recommend that you pick up the magazine if you are interested in such list-making and ranking. However, after the jump I list the Canucks (or related people/things) that made the list in various categories, as well as the Canucks' all-time All-Start teams.

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I was in Minneapolis for a conference last week, and wouldn't you know it - the Canucks were in town to play the Wild while I was there! Naturally I got tickets the second they went on sale back in September, and I have been looking forward to this game all season. Unfortunately the Canucks put forth one of their worst efforts of the season. Let's not talk about that anymore please, it was painful to watch - especially with a Blackhawks fan in my row cheering loudly against the Canucks and heckling me every time the Wild scored.

But aside from the result on the ice, attending the Canucks/Wild game was a fantastic experience. Minnesota is not called the State of Hockey for nothing - the passion for the game runs deep, and the Excel Energy Centre reflects a strong love of the sport and pride in Minnesota hockey. After the jump, much more from the arena, including awesome beer, a bizarre jersey foul, the Hobey Baker Award, and my sweet Nucks Misconduct t-shirt!

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Ever wanted to do a limbo contest with Kirk Mclean? Or play poker with the moustachioed duo of Dave Babych and Harold Snepsts? Yeah, you know you have. And now, here's your chance.

We got an email about this recently, and after checking it out it looks like a pretty cool event that is in support of a great cause. Here are details about the Canucks Alumni Cruise to Alaska (copied from the organizers):

The Canucks alumni will set sail for Alaska from August 31 to September 7, 2012 on the Celebrity Infinity and the "Hockey at Sea!" cruise is open to hockey and travel enthusiasts alike.

Canuck Alumni members including Kirk McLean, Orland Kurtenbach, Harold Snepsts, Dave Babych and many more will be onboard and  fans can take part in on-board events like open mic night, poker and slot tournaments, ladies hockey 101, a hockey clinic, a hockey trivia contest, a meet & mingle and a private autograph session.

The cruise departs from Seattle, WA to Alaska for seven nights with ports of call in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Victoria. On the final evening of the cruise, guests will be invited to attend the Canucks Alumni vs. Greater Victoria Police hockey game in Victoria, BC. Game ticket and transportation is included in the cost of the cruise.  

Early bird registrants booking before December 1, 2011, will have the chance to win one of three "Vancouver Canucks VIP Packages," which includes a game night experience for two in the Vancouver Canucks Alumni suite, a signed Jersey from the current Canuck team, one night accommodation, dinner and $100 spending money.

A portion of all proceeds from "Hockey at Sea!" and the Victoria Hockey Game will go to the Canucks for Kids Fund.

If you would like to learn more or to register for this event, then click here for more info.

The Province recently made headlines (literally - get it?) by publishing an editorial suggesting that the Canucks trade much-maligned goalie Roberto Luongo for Tampa Bay Lightning centre Vincent Lecavalier. No one much took this editorial seriously, but I think it was on to something - it just didn't have the details quite right.

Forget trading for Lecavalier. Instead, let's trade for St. Louis.

Let me explain why I think this would be of enormous benefit to the Canucks organization.

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Another day, another disappointing loss. This time a 3-0 shutout by the St. Louis Blues. Cory Schneider looked pretty good for sporting a 3.00 GAA, which never stops people from tearing a strip off Roberto Luongo. So good luck with that, Cory.

Yeah, it was two bad losses against inferior opponents. Not great, but it is early in the season and bad stretches will happen. And the team is out of sync still, and struggling to get motivated after the June letdown. So let's all chill out, relax, and TRADE LUONGO AND SCHNEIDER AND MAKE EDDIE LACK THE STARTER BECAUSE HE'S REALLY GOOD IN THE AHL AND ALSO FIRE VIGNEAULT!!!!!!!!!

Or just chill out and relax. Either way.

After the jump, your Canucks links and NHL news and notes. Oh, and this is the end of my pinch hits for The Stanchion, so you'll be back to your regular programming soon enough.

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The Stanchion is taking a couple days break from posting, so I am filling in. Not much good to say about the game last night. Losing to the Oilers sucks, not as badly as losing to the Flames, but still badly. At least we're right back at it today vs. the Blues, so there's no need to dwell on it for too long. Here are your Canucks links. NHL news and notes are after the jump.

Vancouver Canucks News

If you would prefer to forget that Vadim Sharifijanov or Marc Chouinard ever played for the Canucks... TOO BAD!!! Because the Sun has put together a slideshow of the most disappointing Canucks of all-time. What, no Sergei Nemchinov? [Vancouver Sun]

David Booth is feeling better about joining the Canucks. [NHL.com]

Exploring the back story to the "Occupy Luongo" signs. [Canucks Army]

Rory Bolen is very much not on the "OMFG TRADE LUONGO ASAP" train, at least as of yesterday afternoon. He'd probably fit in well around here. And probably will never become the editor of The Province. [The Hockey News]

Critiquing the Canucks new goal song. I actually hadn't noticed that it wasn't "Holiday". Personally, I am not impressed. I would prefer something like this. [Pass it to Bulis]

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I know it's a little hard to see, but this is a list of every goalie to ever play a game for the Canucks. It's taken from a Sporcle quiz I did (go give it a try!) and is listed in order of all-time wins (can't believe I forgot Felix Potvin!). Following vancitydan's post about the Vancouver goalie graveyard, there are a lot of mediocre to poor goaltenders on the list and some pathetic statistics:

• Alex Auld is our 7th winningiest goalie of all-time. With 39 wins.
• Cory Schneider would already sit tied with Peter Skudra for 19th with 19 wins if this quiz was up to date. That's the same number of wins as Kevin Weekes, Sean Burke, Johan Hedberg, and Jason Labarbera had combined for the Canucks. Some of those goalies were acquired to be our starter.
  
• Mika Noronen was once considered to have a future with this organization.

Oh yeah, nestled right near the top is our much maligned starting goalie Roberto Luongo. With 154, now 194, wins. He will almost certainly move into the #1 spot this season ahead of Canucks legend Kirk Mclean. He is far and away the best goaltender the Canucks have ever had. And we should take a minute to remember that and be grateful every once in a while

When you look at this list, you realize how lucky the Canucks are to finally have some stability between the pipes. Yes, Luongo is prone to some spotty play. But if you watch this team game in and game out, like many do here on this blog, you recognize how many brilliant stops he makes and how much of a difference maker he is for this team.

We are lucky to have Luongo. Let's hope this year he proves that to the rest of Canucks Nation and shuts the hater up.

The dog days of summer are slowly coming to a close and the month-long tease of training camp and preseason is nearly here, meaning that real NHL hockey is will soon be upon us. As I anxiously wait for October 6, and continue to try to remind myself about how amazing the 2010-11 season was in spite of the way it ended, I have put together a Top 10 list of goals from the year.

The list is very arbitrary. Ask another Canucks fan and perhaps only two or three of these goals would appear on his or her list. Some goals are obvious (e.g. Burrows' Game 7 OT-winner against Chicago) while others were/are meaningful to me for other reasons. The list is quite playoff heavy, which is not surprising given the magnitude of those games. Feel free to share any gems I've missed in the comments section.

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Like many of you, I found the end of the Canucks' season to be devastating. Rather than deal with the pain, I pretty much shifted gears once the season ended, preferring to (mostly) ignore hockey and to focus on reclaiming my social and academic lives from the ravages of two months of playoff hockey. It has only been recently, as I have begun to look forward to the upcoming season, that I have started to come to grips with the way that the 2010-11 season ended.

My only point of comparison for such a loss is the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, at which time I was 10 years old. While that loss was devastating for me at the time, I could at least take solace in the fact that the Canucks were the underdog, that they kept battling up until the final whistle, and that the possibility of a return trip to the Finals didn't seem so remote. 17 years of Finals-less hockey later, I do not take the possibility of June hockey for granted in the same way. Not that I don't have confidence in this current iteration of the Canucks - they certainly look poised to challenge for a Finals berth for at least the next few seasons - but I am also aware that just making it into the final round of the playoffs is a massive accomplishment in and of itself. There are no guarantees in the future, although I remain optimistic.

I don't want to dwell on the details of the Cup Finals, because I have already had too many painful fantasies about what could have gone differently if certain injuries hadn't occurred, certain players had stepped up, or certain bounces had gone the Canucks' way. Such is hockey, and there's no point in dwelling on it too much - I firmly believe that lucky/unlucky breaks tend to even out over time. I am not thrilled with how many things went in the series against Boston, and ultimately I have to concede that, based on how they played, that the Bruins deserved to win the series. My biggest beef would be the officiating - I wish the series had not devolved into a series of cheap shots, taunts, and dives. Both teams have huge amounts of talent, and I would have preferred to see this on display unimpeded by the kind of crap that went on in the games. I don't think, for example, that much of the predictable abuse that has been hurled at the Sedins for their lack of offensive production is fair given the abuse that they endured game in and game out. But is is over, the Bruins won, and it is time to accept that and move on.

Putting aside the final couple games of the season is hard to do. But once those memories are pushed aside, there are a ton of amazing memories to look back upon from what has gone down as, thus far, the Canucks' best ever season in its history. Through 82 regular season games and 25 playoff contests, the Canucks gave us a ton of great memories to look back upon. The regular season awards speak for themselves. The playoffs - in which we finally defeated the Blackhawks and battled to deserving series victories against Nashville and San Jose - were an amazing ride. I am proud of the team, thrilled with its overall performance during the season, and grateful that I got to share so much of the journey with all of you here at Nucks Misconduct.

This post was inspired by another article I have started to work on, which is my Top 10 goals of the season (coming soon!), and it made me realize how much I love this blog and this community. Going through YouTube to watch some of the great plays from this season brought back memories of sharing those moments in Game and Post-Game Threads, often staying up until well past 1 AM EST to pore over the brilliance of a Kesler hat-trick, a Sedin OT winner, a Luongo shutout, or a massive playoff win. It was an incredible season, the Finals not withstanding, and I am glad I got to share it with you all. I look forward to more of the same in 2011-12 - only two months to go, and then we drop the puck on a brand new season. Can't wait!

via i40.tinypic.com

It is a painful anniversary: 17 years to the day that the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the New York Rangers. It is sore topic for me to discuss, and I have never revisited details or highlights of that game beyond what is mentioned in conversation or shown in NHL commercials. My memory of the game is foggy, given that I was 10 at the time and that so many years have passed since then, but I remember the emotion of that game all too well. It was crushing and devastating for so many fans who invested so much - emotionally, socially, and financially - into the Canucks.

Tomorrow's Game 7 I will remember for the rest of my life. I am hoping against hope that these 2011 Canucks can do what the underdog 1994 squad could not do. And in the process, take some of the sting off of that painful loss 17 years ago. I already have one painful Cup Final memory. Fans older than me may have two, given the 1982 squad's sweep by the New York Islanders. I don't know how much more our collective psyche can take. But all that can be put aside with one more win to cap this amazing season.

15/16. We are almost there.

GO CANUCKS GO.

I recently ran into a Halifax-based colleague, and fellow Canucks fan, at a conference in Toronto. We spent a good chunk of the lunch and coffee breaks at the two-day event talking about the Canucks, and we have been emailing back and forth ever since. After Game 4 I received an email from him with the subject line" An Open Letter to Bill Simmons", in which he attached a letter he wrote to the ESPN columnist and recently reconverted Boston Bruins fan, expressing the tension, nervousness, and fear that is, I think, felt by all devoted Canucks fans during these playoffs. It is a good read and I thought it would resonate with many fans, so (with his permission) I reproducing the letter herein. Hope you enjoy!

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A diehard Canucks fan living in Toronto since 2001, I have long vowed to return to Vancouver for a visit should the Canucks make the Stanley Cup Final - even if it meant quitting my job! Fortunately it didn't come to that, and I will be in Vancouver from June 6 until some time after the series ends. Unfortunately I do not have a spare $1000 or so to see a game live. But I will enjoy the atmosphere in the city, and will be sharing daily or almost-daily updates of the sights and sounds that I experience in Vancouver, as a city waits on pins and needles for a 41 year dream to come to fruition. This feature is aimed mostly at those fans that don't live in the city, but want to experience a slice of Canucks-crazy life in Vancouver. Hope you enjoy!

June 9-10 - Days 4 & 5 of my Vancouver trip

Well yesterday was definitely the best day of my trip. Something to do with the local ice hockey team, I believe. People seem quite excited about this group of sportsmen for some reason.  Coming up, many more pictures and some video from the post-Game 5 celebrations in downtown Vancouver.

Screw Peter Puck, this was way cooler! Yeah, I met Steve Nash. And it was pretty freakin' cool. I didn't even notice him at first, and I just noticed a group of people in Canucks gear coming up the street. I actually high-fived his kid and a few other people in his group, and then half a block later my sister said "that was Steve Nash!" I ran back and he kindly took a quick picture with me (I felt badly bugging him when he was out with family... but I did so anyway). Best of all, he was keeping it in the family and rocking the Manny Malhotra shirt!

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A diehard Canucks fan living in Toronto since 2001, I have long vowed to return to Vancouver for a visit should the Canucks make the Stanley Cup Final - even if it meant quitting my job! Fortunately it didn't come to that, and I will be in Vancouver from June 6 until some time after the series ends. Unfortunately I do not have a spare $1000 or so to see a game live. But I will enjoy the atmosphere in the city, and will be sharing daily or almost-daily updates of the sights and sounds that I experience in Vancouver, as a city waits on pins and needles for a 41 year dream to come to fruition. This feature is aimed mostly at those fans that don't live in the city, but want to experience a slice of Canucks-crazy life in Vancouver. Hope you enjoy!

June 7-8 - Days 2 & 3 of my Vancouver trip

Not surprisingly, the city felt quite subdued the day after Game 3. A grey, rainy morning did nothing to help my mood, and I laid low in East Van for most of the day. Yesterday I went wandering downtown before Game 4 started. This picture was taken in front of the CBC building. My six year-old self is extremely jealous that I met Peter Puck. 

After the jump: more from the CBC street party, some pics from Granville street, and a local strip-club gets creative in its marketing.

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A diehard Canucks fan living in Toronto since 2001, I have long vowed to return to Vancouver for a visit should the Canucks make the Stanley Cup Final - even if it meant quitting my job! Fortunately it didn't come to that, and I will be in Vancouver from June 6 until some time after the series ends. Unfortunately I do not have a spare $1000 or so to see a game live. But I will enjoy the atmosphere in the city, and will be sharing daily or almost-daily updates of the sights and sounds that I experience in Vancouver, as a city waits on pins and needles for a 41 year dream to come to fruition. This feature is aimed mostly at those fans that don't live in the city, but want to experience a slice of Canucks-crazy life in Vancouver. Hope you enjoy!

June 6 - Day 1 of my Vancouver trip

This is a screen grab from the live TV on my WestJet flight. As I flipped through the channels I couldn't help but notice how almost every TV station, bar the Space channel or Home and Garden TV, managed to work the Canucks in somehow. This was from the E! channel, which apparently has gotten Canucks fever as well. My flight was pretty entertaining. I sat next to two Canucks fans who were decked out in gear on their return flight from a wedding. Apparently they, and a few other attendees, tried to subtly sneak out of the reception to watch Game 2 without the bride noticing. I noticed quite a few other people wearing Canucks gear, but didn't get a chance to speak with them, We had a very amusing flight attendant, who announced at the start: 

Welcome aboard your WestJet flight to Boston [at which point I booed loudly, but nobody else did - awkward]. If you look under your seats you will find tickets to tonight's hockey game. Just kidding. I'm sorry, I've been watching too much Oprah lately.

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One of the best parts of being a fan is getting to share the rare triumphs of your team with people you care about, whether those be fellow fans, family, friends, or other loved ones. I always appreciate how my friends show support for the Canucks when they do well, and console me when they don't. Often after a big win, I will end up in a texting storm for about 15 minutes as I revel in the victory with friends, whether they are diehards like me or just excited on my behalf.

Last night was no exception to this trend, as before, during, and after the game, I shared the experience with friends via text. After the jump, a review of my texts from last night as the Canucks advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Apparently such an occasion brings out a lot of WOOOOOOs, TYPING IN CAPS, and multiple exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sure many of you can sympathize. If last night you had any memorable texts, emails, tweets, or drunk dials, feel free to share them in the comments.

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What can I say? Radio loves me! Particularly, OLD TIME RADIO! 

So anyway, apparently the venerable Phillip Till wants to (briefly) discuss the issue of whether or not the Canucks are "Canada's team" with me. This is a follow-up to my recent post about the issue. If you'd like to tune in, I'll be on the air on Monday around 7:10 AM PST/10:10 AM EST. And if you want to slip me a $20, I'll totally namedrop you on air.

I can only hope that my voice has recovered by then, as I am more than a little hoarse after cheering on the Canucks in tonight's Game 1 victory. Also, I have an epic history of childhood/adolescent phone-calls to CKNW - one to Dave Randorph's "Prime Time Sports" and one to Dan Russell's "Sports Talk" - to live up to, so I only hope I can do that on-air legacy justice!

Lately we've been seeing a fair bit of Canadian journalism (and I use that term loosely) debating the question of whether we can consider the Canucks to be "Canada's team". This has question has absorbed the attention of everyone from Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun to Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail to, earlier this week, Pete McMartin of the Vancouver Sun.

Let's start with Jones, who helpfully points out that in "any sports bar [east] of the Rocky Mountains . . . the majority of the fans are cheering against Vancouver" (a statement I can conclusively refute from personal experience in Toronto). He draws upon a "reader poll" which revealed that 55% of (presumably Edmonton Sun) readers do not think the Canucks are Canada's team, but does not provide any further data about said poll, such as number of people surveyed, their location, etc. Case closed. But not content to rest on his deductive laurels, Jones probes more deeply to reveal, thanks to one Finnish journalist who accounts for 100% of quotations in the article, the true reason that no one outside BC wants the Canucks to succeed. Something to do with lattes and a mild climate, I think. Oh yeah, and (gasp) that our powerplay features non-Canadian superstars.

MacGregor is less rhetorical, but no better. Yankee has masterfully eviscerated the veteran scribe over his nonsensical ramblings about Roberto Luongo, and Beantown has pointed out that MacGregor's piece on the "Canada's team" topic is no better. In the latter piece, MacGregor rambles on about why Canadians may identify with the Canucks or Canadiens during the playoffs, and trots out the tired quantitative data about the number of Canadian players on the Canucks. Long story short, if one wants to extend MacGregor's logic, we should all be cheering for the Boston Bruins because of their Canadian content. Can't believe that Mike Gillis has never figured out that he should simply draft and trade for Canadian players to secure the long term support of a Vancouver and Canadian fanbase. Duh. Trade the Sedins, buy out Kesler and Ehrhoff, bury Edler and Samuelsson in the minors. Then we'll have a winner, right? I think Don Cherry tried that in the OHL and it didn't go so well.

No doubt licking his chops at the chance to rebut the notion that the Canucks are not "Canada's team", Pete McMartin of the Vancouver Sun - whose credentials as a sportswriter are not boosted by the fact that his next article was was a local interest piece headlined "Baking ovens and fruit trees" - wades in to the fray defend British Columbian honour. By comparing the Canucks to the pretty girl at school and the rest of Canada to an ugly, existential hipster. Or something like that. FACEPALM. Really? Is that the best defence you could muster? No wonder some Canadians hate the Canucks if this is the kind of crap that gets published by the Vancouver press (if only they read Nucks Misconduct instead, they might realize that we're not all arrogant idiots). To be fair, McMartin does make some good points in response to the deluge of anti-Canucks journalism that has recently spawned. I just wish he'd chosen a more tactful and intelligent approach to doing so.

All of this makes me wonder: why do we have to have this "Canada's team" discussion every time a Canadian NHL team has a decent shot at winning the Stanley Cup? And when can we drop this tired debate? After the jump, I explore these questions.

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Dear Canucks,

I know the voice of one fan doesn't matter. Particularly one who can barely afford to attend a game at GM Place, let alone sit close enough to the ice for any of you to hear my voice when I yell. Thankfully, that's what the New York Islanders are for. So yeah, I know I'm one out of hundreds of thousands of supporters whose emotions have been on a ridiculous rollercoaster these playoffs. But I have a request for you, one that is shared by Canucks fans across the globe:

Just. Fucking. Win.

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