Thoughts on fan emotion/loyalty.

Well, over the past 96 hours the mood in Vancouver has gone from "We are finally going to win a Stanley Cup" to "We will probably never win a Stanley Cup". So what changed. Four days ago we had a 2-0 lead on Boston in the finals. The way both teams were playing it seemed like Boston would be lucky to win one at home, forcing a game five in Vancouver on Friday. The the wheels fell off the Canuck train and they lost two games by a total score of 12-1. It was an epic team collapse. Now the announcers are criticizing fans and wondering how they could be so negative when the series is tied 2-2. Theoretically the Canucks are still the better team and just have to win a three game series in which they have home advantage. Those are the facts.

Here's my take on the mood of fans. It isn't that we lost, it's how we lost. If we had gone to Boston and lost two games the way we won two in Vancouver, I'd still be feeling pretty good. We would have played a decent game, got a few bad breaks, their goaltender would have outplayed ours (slightly), and we would still be feeling good about our chances. The problem is the epic collapse. So far the Canucks have played 23 playoff games this year. We have won 14/23. Only one game have we won by more than two goals. Four of our losses have been by four goals or more and two of them were by six or more. Even understanding that we still came back to win those series, I feel like the team is living on the edge. One goal by Chicago in overtime of Game 7 and we aren't in the Stanley Cup. A couple bounces Boston's way in Games 1 & 2 and they swept us for the Cup. It almost seems like the best team in the regular season has had to be somewhat lucky to advance as far as they have in the playoffs this year. Add to that the lack of production by the best offensive players in hockey (the Sedins have a combined 11 goals and 39 points in 23 games) and the future doesn't look promising.

That being said, I still think they can win the first cup in Canucks history but I'm not as confident as I was four days ago. Of course, there's always the 1915 Vancouver Millionaires. It's not like we've never won.