Only four teams remain in the NHL playoffs and it is about time to pick a team's bandwagon and go with to the end since my Maple Leafs have had more golf practice than Tiger Woods in the last month. The Oilers players are in the same situation. I can't forget to mention them.
Players from those two teams being better than Tiger isn't a far stretch, I might even have more pars than Tiger in the last month. Anyone who has witnessed my golfing in the last couple weeks knows that getting a par is something real special to me.
Between the golfing and other sports going on, NHL fans are still finding time to watch most of the hockey games. I now have a bit of a heated rivalry going with my roommate Derek, who is a Vancouver fan. It would make it easy to be the guy to simply root against him, for the sake of argument and aggravation, but that isn't like me.
There is no way Kyle Wellwood and Joe Thornton will score 10 points each in this round and the championship series while every other player is shutout, so it isn't for my draft that I don't cheer for Vancouver.
Why not jump on their bandwagon?
Deep down I was hoping the Oilers would win the cup during their run against Carolina. The same can be said when Ottawa went on a run and Calgary a few years ago. Due to my loyalty to the Maple Leafs and extreme dislike of 20 Montreal players I will admit it was painful to watch their success last season. I never did get behind the Habs. This year it is Vancouver's turn to try to take over Canada, but there is something about the Canucks that just doesn't work for me. I know for a fact I'm not the only one not ready to make them Canada's team.
Not one non-Canuck fan can tell the Sedin twins apart, which I can understand a bit because my dad still can't tell the difference between my best friends, who are twins. The only way he and some others can make the differentiation is when they are wearing their uniforms or with their girlfriends. The publicity of the Green Men is starting to get old. Go to any regular season Roughrider game and you will see a dozen fans looking and acting like those two. They just don't have prime seats down by the action. Also, the Canucks' ability to bend - let's change that - flail instead of break when the going gets tough is sickening at times. But they sure do know how to perform at times. They have changed their logo and uniforms more times than Don Cherry changes his suits.
Perhaps the biggest reason Vancouver hasn't won over the masses as Canada's team is they have the least Canadians on their playoff roster. Vancouver has dressed 12 Canadians in the playoffs so far, while San Jose leads the way with 17, Boston has 16 and Tampa Bay has dressed 15 true Canucks.
Sure it would be nice to have the Stanley Cup back on Canadian soil, but if Vancouver wins the trophy, the traditional day with the cup tours will be in Canada for 12 days, USA five, Sweden four and Germany, Denmark and Finland one each.
Alex Burrows, Raffi Torres and Maxim Lapierre are among some of the most disliked players in the league. They are to hockey fans what Darcy Tucker was to the Eastern Conference when he was in Toronto - hated. Mikael Samuelsson gets on my nerves as well and for some reason he reminds me of Kermit the Frog.
I have never been a huge Roberto Luongo fan with the exception of the Olympics and I don't think it is time to change sides now. Vancouver has the pressure and are still maybe the favourite to win the Stanley Cup. All I can say to Vancouver fans is - good for you guys. You hung in there and didn't abandon your team and every fan deserves an exciting championship run once in awhile.
I do wish Kesler and Bieksa would be traded to another team so I could enjoy those two players without hiding it when Vancouver is playing.
My hats goes off to the true Vancouver fans - I remember a response I heard last year when a hockey fan was getting lipped off by his friends for the team he cheers for. He said, "Well it must be nice to pick your favourite team at 25."
That comment hit home for me and is true for many others as well. Sometime there is no reason a fan cheers for a certain team, it just happens and you can't flip flop back and forth. Just understand, no one really wants Vancouver to win except those people who have wanted them to win ever since they became hockey fans. The bandwagon has plenty of seats left.
