10 Observations from the Stanley Cup Finals

1. Alain Vigneault loves Aaron Rome. He’s played an average of 18:44 in the Finals so far. In game one, Rome actually played more than Alexander Edler.
2. Claude Julien hates Tyler Seguin. Over two games he’s played 15:07, which is less than Mark Recchi, MD, plays per game. Funny, since the Bruins’ powerplay is 13.8% (4/29) since Julien threw Seguin on the powerplay in Game 2 vs. Tampa Bay after going 4.9% (2/41) beforehand. His talent is also wasted playing with Chris Kelly, who was playing with Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu before becoming a Bruin.
3. Claude Julien also hates Tomas Kaberle. The fewest number of shifts Kaberle took in a regular season game this season: 22. Number of times Kabrle has taken under 22 shifts during the playoffs: 12 out of 20 games.
4. Every defenceman is higher on the Canucks’ depth chart than Keith Ballard. Well, almost every one. I’m pretty sure he’s still ahead of Lee Sweatt. There are ten defencemen on the roster right now, and I’d say at best it’s a tossup between Ballard and Chris Tanev for 8th.
5. Trevor Linden is a god in Vancouver. The pub I was at for game two erupted in cheers when Linden appeared on the TV. That’s some serious worship.
6. Roberto Luongo will never get any respect. So far he has made one more save than Tim Thomas while allowing half as many goals. Yet everyone’s giving Thomas kudos (except for that overtime fumble), while Luongo is basically an also-ran. Now, I’m as far from a Luongo-backer as you’ll find, but it’s ridiculous that Thomas is getting all the attention.
7. In Vancouver, the Bruins don’t exist. There was virtually zero written about the Bruins prior to the series. Everything was Canucks, Canucks, Canucks. CBC ran a promo about an hour before game two that featured a whopping zero footage of Bruins or people in Bruins gear. None. Nada. Zilch.
8. Even a blind hockey player wins a face-off once in awhile, a.k.a. Manny Malhotra is better at hockey than you. In his incredible return to the lineup, Malhotra went 6-1 in the faceoff circle (86%). No other Canuck even hit 50%. He’s a pretty incredible story.
9. Christian Ehrhoff can’t hit the broad side of a barn. It seems like every time Ehrhoff winds up to fire a shot from the point, he inevitably hits the glass, or the boards, or a defenceman. Basically anything besides the net.
10. I am the only person in this city who does not own a Canucks jersey. The number of jerseys seen around town is ridiculous, way up from the number seen during the Olympics (and that was an awful lot of jerseys). Every jersey the Canucks have ever worn is on display in crowds. Every jerseys except that third jersey with the skate logo that had a black and salmon gradient. I’ve yet to see someone wearing it. I want one.

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