I wouldn’t expect you to know that Vancouver HAS won a Stanley Cup but not in the 40 years since the Canucks have been in business. It was back in 1915 that the Vancouver Millionaires (for what that’s worth?) won Lord Stanley’s Cup and the city has been waiting for another ever since.

Well today, they are 2 wins from reaching the pinnacle in hockey after another classic finals finish-this time a 3-2 overtime win over the Boston Bruins. And the game winner came from who else, but that guy Alex Burrows (2 goals/1 assist in game 2) who many had felt deserved a suspension for biting the hand that didn’t feed him in game one (Boston’s Patrice Bergeron’s finger through his glove). Burrows scored on a wrap-around into an empty and unprotected net just 11 seconds into the extra period and VanCity (as they call it up there) has gone even more berzerk ever since! You can’t go anywhere (and I mean it literally) where someone isn’t wearing a Canucks sweater, hat, t-shirt or some kind of paraphernalia that shows how much they love their team and are begging for the first Cup that they can call their own. There was a great picture in ‘The Province’ one of Vancouver’s several newspapers (which is a rarity in itself these days) of a very attractive buxom blond woman who was wearing a verrrry tight and revealing low-cut Canucks top while holding up a sign that read “Burrows, you can bite me anytime!”. (see below) And folks, that’s only one of several side stories to this series…but to me it’s mostly about a city with passion for the sport of hockey that only a Canadian ‘entire’ city can truly appreciate with the game so deeply in their blood that even Dracula would end up a total ‘Puckhead’ there!

As usual, I tried in a few different ways to get the Canucks players themselves to admit how much fun they are having and they continue to keep their boring game faces on and give me very little to give to you in any form of a celebration. And for those of you not paying attention to my previous interviews, I continue to use my favorite attempt…”what is that little kid inside of you feeling right now?” and you’ll hear some of the lame responses in a few that are posted below. (but hey, I’m trying!!!)

It was also a special night for the locals due to the return of Canucks forward Manny Malhotra, who suffered a career-threatening eye injury a few months back. And the enormously loud chants of MANNY, MANNY started during his pregame skate and then again every shift he took during the action. And for the most part Manny did his job, winning face-offs and making his 4th line mean something in this game after they had been a ghost in game one. I had the opportunity to give Manny a congratulatory fist pump after his post-game newsconference and he was beaming from ear to ear.

After interviewing most of the principles in game 2, I left Rogers Arena for likely my final time in the Finals and it was all Canucks all the time. I had to take 2 trains to get back to my hotel and even miles away from downtown they were partying on the Sky Train, in the station, down the street from the station, and everywhere I looked and it really was like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before. And if you hadn’t heard, an estimated 100,000 plus fanatics were on Granville Street (not far from the arena) partying it up all night. First watching the game on a huge screen and then screaming their lungs empty the rest of the night and it seemed like most of them ended-up around ME as I was barely able to get on the trains (they kept the public transit system much more crowded for much later than they are used to there). And I won’t be shocked if in the next few weeks that I might wake up in the middle of the night screaming ‘GO CANUCKS GO’ after having it embedded into my brain this past week about a million times!!!!…

Daniel Sedin, Roberto Luongo, and Manny Malhotra with Ted Sobel:

Alex Burrows with Ted Sobel:

Ryan Kessler with Ted Sobel:

Jannik Hansen with Ted Sobel:

Boston coach Claude Julien with Ted Sobel:

Tim Thomas with Ted Sobel:

Mark Recchi with Ted Sobel:

So the series shifts to Boston for the next 2 games and the Bruins better win Monday night’s game 3 or else Beantown will be runner-up town in the chase for the Stanley Cup (which many Bruins fans weren’t even alive to see when they won their last one in 1972). Whichever teams wins, you might want to jump on their bandwagon as the partying will go on and on and on and on…until all the kegs are emptied or the earth runs out of alcohol!

Finally, here’s an historically telling stat to chew on: team’s with a 2-0 Stanley Cup finals lead since the expansion year 1968 are 25-2 to complete the job and 42-4 all-time! So good luck Bruins fans, and to you Canuckleheads…you were already the fairly heavy favorites going into this series so your guys better get the job done this time or else your only cup will be the ones that runneth over with embarrassment to last a lifetime!

{Alex Burrows photos courtesy of The Province}

(more pictures soon to follow asap)