In Search Of Stanley.

Folks this post has nothing to do with Livingstone or Stanley in Africa, Stanley tools or Laurel and Hardy!  Rather, I have some sad news for anyone in the rest of the world who cares at all (hockey fans), as our beloved Vancouver Canucks bit the dust in the first round of the play-offs for the Stanley Cup, professional hockey in N. America’s  holy grail. The first round is now complete.

The Stanley Cup

If you clicked the above link, you may have read the long and very interesting history of the cup.  I won’t go into all the items about the cup, but just mention it was presented to the league by Lord Stanley of Preston, who was appointed as the Governor General of Canada by Queen Victoria. He purchased the cup for 10 guineas which was then about $48 and is now worth over $1200.

Lord Stanley of Preston

I believe that the Stanley Cup is possibly the third oldest trophy in professional sports after the America’s Cup and the F.A Cup of football in Britain, but I could be wrong on that.

Anyway, the first round is over, only one of the top seeds remains and the cup is literally up for grabs.  The current cup holders, the Boston Bruins were eliminated like the Vancouver Canucks, and one of the other hot favourites, the Pittsburgh Penguins also fell by the wayside.  The National Hockey League wanted there to be parity in the league and boy, is it happening.  We look forward to seeing the finalists sometime in June.  ’Til then, goodbye for now and God bless.

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• Stanley Cup Playoffs: Round 1 Wrap-up: Cory Schneider is only winner in Vancouver Canucks elimination (ballhyped.com)

The Party’s Over

Well folks, in the words of the great song made famous by the late, great, Nat “King” Cole  and adjusted by yours truly,

“The party’s over
It’s time to call it a day
Chicago’s beaten you up
And taken your hopes away
It’s time to clean out the lockers now,
Just make your exit and take your final bow

The party’s over….”

Last night our beloved Vancouver Canucks bowed out of the race for the Stanley Cup. Oddly enough, it was exactly a year ago, May 11th, and the same game, game six, that the Blackhawks took out the Canucks.  They were beaten 5-1 by a very good Chicago Blackhawks team.  The Canucks put up a good fight, but sheer superior fire-power eventually saw them off. In fairness it must be said the Canucks were sadly depleted on defence by injuries to key players.  However, adversity comes to all teams, and the truly great ones seem to find a way to battle through it and on to the prize.  Diehard Canuck fan that I am, I still believe in this team and what general manager Mike Gillis is trying to do with it.  Slowly but surely, he is building a fine team with the right mentality.  He is working from the bottom up, bringing in lots of gifted youngsters who are not great stars but truly talented. In the next year or so, I believe the Canucks will go even deeper into the play-offs, if not win the cup outright. (Damn it’s hard to see my keyboard.  I will have to visit my optometrist and get these rose-coloured glasses adjusted!)

So, at Pridy Rd., we will now continue to watch the other teams fight it out for the cup. However, we will not be wearing our Canucks shirts.  They will be washed, (well I don’t know about Ben’s!) dried, and hung in the closet until the playoffs next year, (note the optimism there folks) when the Canucks team will once again try to overcome all odds and win the fabled Stanley Cup.

Best wishes to all.

The Canucks Move On

You may or may not know our family loves to watch hockey. We follow the fortunes of the Vancouver Canucks, who just made it through to the second round of the Stanley Cup final. For those of you who know nothing about this brilliant game played at high speed on ice, thirty teams spread over the U.S. and Canada vie for the coveted Stanley Cup, which, to hockey fans has the same standing as the F.A. Cup used to have to Brit soccer fans.

Last night the Canucks beat Los Angeles to take the best of seven series by four games to two.  As usual, Ben and Josée joined us to watch the game, to holler and scream at all the right moments.  This year we have a new fan added to the ranks…Cynthia!  After many years of not being part of the hockey scene around here, she has finally joined the ranks.  She decided it’s better to join ‘em and be part of the action rather than wonder what all the racket is about!  Cynthia is rapidly becoming a Number One Fan.  We just have to get her to work on developing her chants at a higher decibel level and she’ll be in there like a dirty shirt!  Go Canucks go!