Farhan Lalji wrote:Hockey Widow wrote:It wasn't the flu from what I recall but a virus from they suspect food. Some sort of food poising or food sickness. It was something that started on the road from what they believe was contaminated food that was eaten in the dressing room.
Hey HW,
Thanks for sharing that. That would actually make a lot more sense in my opinion....given our fairly quick recovery time. If that truly was the case, then I do take back my comments (i.e. Canucks taking it easy in Games 4 and 5). However - After Game 7, if I recall correctly, guys like Bieksa and the Sedin twins were talking about how they shouldn't have let up and let Chicago get up from the map (which implied to me that the Canucks had in fact, relaxed).
Interesting nonetheless.
Yes, it was actually after game 3 in Chicago that the players started getting ill. They suspected the food right away because of how it impacted players. If you recall there were also serious concerns about unauthorized people being allowed to enter the Canucks dressing room after games. It started a little conspiracy theory at the time but was quickly quashed by the Canucks. In any event there was definitely something that happened after game 3.
A friend of mine was with the team during the playoffs, as a fan, and he had some inside dope. He was texting me about the players just barfing all over the place. Which was more why the Canucks were concerned about unauthorized people being in the dressing room than any conspiracy. My friend predicted that games 4 and 5 would be bad games for the Canucks as some of the players could not hold anything down for 2-3 days and were literally puking and shitting all day.
These things happen and yes some of the players talked about letting up after being up 3-0 and it may have been part of it. But that some of the players were quick sick is also a reality.
When we beat St. Louis 4-0 their entire team was sick. As with the Canucks no one on the Blues used that as an excuse. Lets face it, no one wants excuses. We expect our athletes to be super human. But we also have to give credit to Chicago for making a series out of it and taking it to Ot a game 7. I think a number of factors were in play at once but if the players don't get sick I doubt it goes 7 games. We may not have swept the Hawks but I doubt it goes 7.
And I still think if relatively healthy, or conversely if the Bruins had to deal with the extent of injuries we had, we win the cup. Not an excuse just a reality IMHO. We were devastated with serious injuries and the Bruins were relatively healthy, in comparison. So thems is the breaks in the playoffs. Things happen. Some you overcome, sone you don't and some you can't. Could we have still beat the Bruins with all the injuries? I think we had a decent chance at it but in the end they were healthier and got great goaltending when they needed it. They also scored timely goals and our PP dried up. But give me that series over again with a healthy team and I like our chances.
It's so easy to look at the final outcome and say we choked, or we don't have the players to get it done when I think the reality is that we do have the players to get it done and the outcome cannot be looked at in isolation. You have to ask why? And part of the why is health and injuries. They are not being offered up as excuses. But as part of the why. There are other reasons too. AV IMHO, made some bad line up choices in the finals given the extent of injuries. As well, Boston played a great series and had the better goaltending. But this is a Bruins team that almost got knocked off round one, beat up on a decimated Philly team and gave up a lot of goals to Tampa. They were beatable.
Officiating was part of it but not as much as we might want to think. Everyone knows the finals get called differently and when we did get PP we didn't score. We were not intimidated as some might like to think. Boston won and deserved it given all the variables. But give me that series again and give me a relatively healthy team and I say we win. No sour grapes. I'm so over it. I was when people started to riot. It put the game into perspective for me.
My point in this long ramble is that we don't need a significant make over or a major change. Tweaks are all we need. We are close, so close and I would rather be the Canucks than most other teams. I like our chances any given night and I like our chances come the playoffs. If we get beat again this year then I start to question if we have the right mix. This year anything but a Cup will be a failure and I start to look at dumping a Ballard, retiring a Salo and making some moves.
