Farhan's $0.05: Does this Canuck core simply lack character?

[Potatoe1]

GM where do you come up with this stuff...

A team with enough "heart and character" to get to game 7 of the final has enough to win the cup.

There isn't a lot else to say.

And for the record I still think the whole "heart" aspect of hockey is vastly over played. Sure there are some guys like Radulov who dont give a fuck and drink till 3 am before a playoff game, but for the most part NHL players desperately want to win a cup.

It wan't a lack of desire or professionalism that cost the Canucks last year, it was fatigue, injuries, and a very good Boston team.

[Topper]

I had a paarden rookvlees sandwich for lunch and maybe I'll have another.

Sometimes you eat the horse and sometimes... errrr....

I smell horseshit Topper.

Picked up 100g in Salmon Arm on Tuesday.

[Farhan Lalji]

GM where do you come up with this stuff...

A team with enough "heart and character" to get to game 7 of the final has enough to win the cup.

There isn't a lot else to say.

And for the record I still think the whole "heart" aspect of hockey is vastly over played. Sure there are some guys like Radulov who dont give a fuck and drink till 3 am before a playoff game, but for the most part NHL players desperately want to win a cup.

It wan't a lack of desire or professionalism that cost the Canucks last year, it was fatigue, injuries, and a very good Boston team.

Good points, but my analysis goes well beyond the Boston series (spanning from late 2008 to present). During that time, I've just seen way too many last minute goals, illogical blow-outs against teams that have "crawled into their heads", fixation on past errors leading to more errors (i.e. 2010 series against the Kings where they couldn't kill a penalty for the life of them), and blown series' leads. Once or twice, you're forgiven. If it's happening on regular occasion however, then I think there's a problem.

As far as the "fatigue" factor against Boston goes, fair enough...........but Boston sure as hell didn't look fatigued. Think our fatigue factor might have been slightly less had we not pissed around with Chicago? (instead of finishing them off in a similar manner to what LA did to St. Louis this year).

Regarding fatigue - can you honestly say that those 8-1 and 5-2 losses to Boston in Games 3 and 6 respectively was PURELY related to fatigue?...........or, can part of Game 3 of that series be attributed to the fact that the Canucks thought they had it in the bag.........and that Boston was just going to roll over and die. What about Game 6 where the Canucks completely collapsed in that 5 minute time span and let in 4 goals. Is that "fatigue" and "injuries" coming into play? Or - is that a serious lack of character?

I "get" the whole argument of, "Any team that gets to Game 7 of a SCF has to have character and heart", but lets not kid ourselves: This Canuck team was head over heels better than every single team in the league that year. They didn't need the heart of a Rocky Balboa to win the cup. All they needed was to stay levelheaded.........like the LA Kings have done this year so far.

Look at how many close games the Kings have had in these playoffs. They could easily be 11-7 or 10-8.........but instead, they are 15-3.

Anyway - just my opinion. Since late 2008, I don't think talent has ever been an obstacle for this team in terms of winning. I think it's just been heart. They fucked up against Chicago in 2009, gave up against Chicago in 2010, made things more difficult than it should have been in 2011, and took dumb penalties/gave up stupid last minute goals in this past series against LA.

Is it any coincidence that we are the only team to NOT win a Stanley Cup despite winning back-to-back Presidents' Trophies?

[Listercat]

"stay levelheaded" Farhan or GM where do you come up with this stuff?

To win the Cup a team has to stay healthy as well as being talented and having heart. There wasn't a Dman other than Salo or the rookie Tanev who was not suspended or injured. Skating wounded were Bieksa(leg), Edler (wrist & back) Erhoff (shoulder) and Hammer who was out with a concussion.

Amongst the forwards Kesler and Hank were both playing in pain and Raymond got drilled in Game 6.Manny was only there to take faceoffs.

With the BS officiating in the SCF finals its amazing to me that the team stayed as "levelheaded" as they did.

[Farhan Lalji]

"stay levelheaded" Farhan or GM where do you come up with this stuff?

To win the Cup a team has to stay healthy as well as being talented and having heart. There wasn't a Dman other than Salo or the rookie Tanev who was not suspended or injured. Skating wounded were Bieksa(leg), Edler (wrist & back) Erhoff (shoulder) and Hammer who was out with a concussion.

Amongst the forwards Kesler and Hank were both playing in pain and Raymond got drilled in Game 6.Manny was only there to take faceoffs.

With the BS officiating in the SCF finals its amazing to me that the team stayed as "levelheaded" as they did.

Congratulations on being the 2nd person to tell me, "where do I come up with this stuff?" in this thread. I guess I should answer that question.

Game 3: 8-1 loss (3 goals of which were scored in a 2:30 minute time spam)
Game 6: 5-2 loss (4 goals of which were scored in a 5 minute time span)

Injuries - we had plenty............but are you going to tell me with a straight face that our loss in Game 3 had NOTHING to do with the fact that the Canuck players thought they had it in the bag?.........and that giving up 3 goals in the final 2:30 of that game had NOTHING to do with a "fuck this - this game is done anyways" type mindset?

How do you explain the 4 goals in 5 minutes in Game 6? Injuries?

[Strangelove]

I had a paarden rookvlees sandwich for lunch and maybe I'll have another.

Sometimes you eat the horse and sometimes... errrr....

I smell horseshit Topper.

Picked up 100g in Salmon Arm on Tuesday.

No no, I meant 'I smell horseshit' as in you're turning that horse into poo!

[Topper]

I believe questioning the character is valid. The problem I see is the team becomes too cocky. go on a winning streak and the attitude suddenly lightens, Kesler is doing his drive bys, Bieksa clowns with the media, next thing you know, the wheels are off the rails.

They have down a good job of ironing out the lows, but they need to raise the median and flatten out the highs.

[Farhan Lalji]

I believe questioning the character is valid. The problem I see is the team becomes too cocky. go on a winning streak and the attitude suddenly lightens, Kesler is doing his drive bys, Bieksa clowns with the media, next thing you know, the wheels are off the rails.

They have down a good job of ironing out the lows, but they need to raise the median and flatten out the highs.

Good point about the cockiness. Although I do remember heading into Game 3, the Canucks were saying all the right stuff, but it was obvious that they were getting caught up in the hoopla.

Here is another thing about character:

When Nathan Horton got injured by Rome..............look how Boston reacted. In the first round against Chicago when Torres almost killed Seabrook (lol)..........look how the Hawks reacted.

In Game 6 when Raymond got taken out..............look how the Canucks reacted. Nothing. Zilch. Nadda.

I had the luxury of being a Detroit Redwings fan during the mid/late 90's (they were a very close 2nd favorite team of mine), and I know what true heart is. When Darren McCarty beat the leaving shit out of Claude Lemieux, that one single moment may have made Detroit climb over Colorado in terms of being the next dynasty. The Wings really came together as a team, and ended up defeating the superior Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs that year. HEART.

Look at Pitsburgh this year. Even though they lost to Philadelphia in a series they shouldn't have lost, I was really impressed with how they stuck up for each other and didn't tolerate crap. They went a little too far in 'sticking up', but fuck.............that's a 100x better than doing nothing.

That 1994 Canucks team had a shitload of heart, grit, and character.

I'm just not so sure that this current core has much in the way of that. In many respects, we might simply be a more talented version of the WCE era core.