SCOTT JACOBS

Staring down the barrel of a humiliating offseason and a summer of endless questions, the Vancouver Canucks finally got the final goal to bury the pesky Chicago Blackhawks, their past demons, and a North American media ready to pounce on them for what would have been one of the great choke jobs in sports history.

Disaster averted.  Dream alive.

For the number one seed Canucks, the NHL’s President Cup winner with 115 points, celebrating a first round series victory like they just won the Stanley Cup was merited, and given all the grief Chicago has given them the last two post-seasons, redemption tastes so sweet.

In front of a raucous home crowd that lived and died with every line change and every shot, the Canucks won a wild game 7, 2-1 in overtime to slither past the defending champs and into the second round.  Their franchise goalie locked up for another decade still kicking.  Their dreams of delivering Canada Lord Stanley’s Cup very much alive.

Yet it was Alexander Burrows who netted both Vancouver goals, the second an absolute rocket, that sent a delirious white towel waving crowd into pure bedlam.

It didn’t come easy.  It never does for these Canucks, who sported a 1-0 lead with under 2 minutes to play when Jonathan Toews stormed in with the equalizer, short-handed nonetheless.  And you couldn’t help but think, “here we go again.”

And merely seconds into overtime, Chicago was awarded a powerplay, and had some golden opportunities.  But they couldn’t convert, as Luongo made some beautiful saves to preserve what has been a sensational season for Vancouver.  The 40 year old franchise wasn’t going to go down tonight.  Not in front of their crowd.  Not after this season.  Not after being up 3 games to none.  Not after one Vancouver Sun columnist remarked that a loss in this one would be something Canuck players would take with them to their graves.

Burrows refused to let that happen, saving his best for last: his 2 goal night culminating a 3 goal series.

The last one emptied Vancouver’s bench and ended Chicago’s bid for a repeat (their roster, gutted in the offseason because of the salary cap, coming just short of an epic comeback). Net-miner  Corey Crawford was awesome and the Hawks fought valiantly till the bitter end, but for the first time in three years against the Blue and Green it wasn’t quite enough.

What does this game mean to Canada? Well, put it this way: Prime Minister Stephen Harper was watching the game from his private campaign plane.  And I’m guessing he wasn’t rooting for Chicago.

For a hockey crazed nation and a city that treated winning the gold medal in the sport like winning the World Cup, this was a big deal.

The number one seed is moving on.  Vancouver, you can breathe again.  For now.

Photo: Reuters

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