Defending A Dream

After the Dreaming and the Accomplishment of the Dream - there is the Defence of the Dream!

And during said defence, one will have to face off with all the same opponents we defeated the first time around in order to capture the title: let's see now, first there was "that Original Six team in Canada" as Kevin Dupont would say... Then there was the brotherly lovers from Pennsylvania... Next it was the lightning rods from Florida... And, last but not least, there was the Cannots. Er, Canucks.



Just to put things in further and proper perspective, though, let us go back and watch (again) the intro for the seventh and decisive game of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals:



In this video, we see why the Bruins were going to win the Cup: the determination of guys like Marchand and Kelly, the inspiration that Horton became, the legacy of Orr and Bucyk (not to mention Neely, the Man, the man who should have won it at least twice himself) - and then there is Recchi, the man who had won it twice and won it for a third time, giving him a chance to retire as a champion.

The Bruins are much more than a simple team either: they act like a family.

In the above video we also see all the reasons why the Canucks were to be denied and are doomed to lose: Luongo's sad demeanor, their dismal coaching staff led by Frenchie Alain V, and a line-up that is closer to a rag-tag collection of spare parts rather than one cohesive whole...

And then there is their late defenseman, Luc Bourdon, who died so young and prematurely, a life of expectations, aspirations and raw potential that were never to be fulfilled - just as the Vancouver Canucks' dreams and delusions of grandeur.

Some deluded fans north of the border are indeed delusional enough to believe that the Canucks are going to win it all the next time around; that they learned from their trial and complete decimation at the hands of the Boston Bruins in June 2011 and will now proceed to "right this great wrong" this coming spring of 2012. The truth is that this Vancouver franchise didn't learn a thing from their loss to the NY Rangers back in 1994 - why would they learn from 2011? There are many other opponents to get through before they can possibly reach the Finals again - whereas the Bruins only have the Rangers as true competition in their conference, the Canucks have Detroit, San Jose, Chicago, up-and-coming Minnesota and Anaheim to contend with...

First and foremost, though, the Canucks have destiny firmly not on their side - their coach, the Sedins, the legacy left by the likes of their Russian Rocket, Trevor and Markus... And, yes, Luc Bourdon... They can be good, very good at times - but they cannot win.

And besides - Vigneault, Lapierre, Burrows, Bieksa and the rest of them do not deserve to win. They know not how to grind it out, how to earn it - and, quite frankly, their tactics are less than honorable as is their level of courage is, too.

They cannot even dream of making it back to the Final Dance.

While Bostonians certainly can dream of it - again.