Poor Kes, he was torn on his post game interview

http://video.canucks.nhl.com/videoce...18197&catid=-6

Good season boys, didn't stop believing all season

looking forward to the 2011 Draft, the off season and training camp in the fall.

Go Canucks Go

Well the thing is he has no NMC. Meaning if the Canucks send him to minors they can and if he doesn't report. Contract is void.

Won't happen though. Would give us a horrible reputation.

We just got out-played in almost every department. We were out hustled in our own end. We took weak shots that most goalies can stop with their eyes closed. Think about the 2nd & third goals, those r just pure effort displayed by Boston. Can't really blame everything on Lu.

Damn, looked like he was about to cry mid way through.

You just answered your own question 2 posts above... The Sedins were stymied by Chara and Seidenberg. Not sure why you have to be such a dick about it though...

Oh wait, nobody can say anything bad about Luongo without the nut lickers coming to his defense with inflammatory troll retorts. Thanks for keeping the tradition alive even in the post season! :thumbsup:

I really wish we could hear another "SEE I TOLD YOU LU WOULD BRING THE CUP HOME FOR US" from all you fuckers, I really do :(

If the Nucks won game 6. do you think the same thing would have happened to Nucks fans in Boston?

Kess really played with heart in game 7.

So close boys. It was an amazing run.

Im thinking this was Salo last game not only as a canuck but as an nhl player. I do see some roster moves coming. We need a big winger to play with kes. I also see Ballard being moved as he was used sparingly in the season and playoffs. Looks like Tanev will have a great shot to make the team next year.

Don't worry guys we have a good future ahead of us. The better team won. Which is always what you want.

just got back from downtown, it's fucking crazy down there

Oh well...it's just an empty cup...

good to know you got home safe. :thumbsup:

I rlly thought a Canuck would cry today tho
KES rlly played his heart out today.
He did his best
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Yea, he even tried to "hero" it a few times and just dash in and score a goal like in the Nashville series... just couldn't get it done either.
He really tried everything.

yeah man, thanks. didn't wanna get hit by someone throwing a beer bottle at the crowd, lot of shit like that was happening

Yeah..... He even admitted that he "just couldn't do it".
I respect that.
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I guess I'm the only one that thinks Ballard will be staying and become a steady member of the d-corps. I think he'll bounce back from this awful year in preseason and establish himself.

i really feel bad for kes. he really tried his hardest to put the team on his back tonight. his effort was consistent through the whole game :(

Vigneault's choices left lines ragged

By Tony Gallagher, The ProvinceJune 15, 2011 11:30 PM


When you get to game seven of the Stanley Cup final you've probably had a pretty good year and just as that's the case with the players, you'd probably have to say the same for Alain Vigneault and the coaching staff.

The call of putting Jeff Tambellini on the second line with Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins given their varying states of health certainly didn't work Wednesday night and he didn't give Jannik Hansen a shot up there until after the game was over in the third period.

But one clear case where things could have been handled better over the whole season was in the case of Keith Ballard and Cody Hodgson.

While the Bruins got pretty good mileage out of Tyler Seguin in the playoffs off and on in their run, Hodgson was marginalized to the point where despite the fact the Canucks got just eight goals in seven games they didn't want to use their young, gifted centre. His confidence had been eroded to the point where they felt they couldn't use him.

Who knows what he might have been able to contribute in this series had he been worked into the mix earlier. Perhaps he could have played with Kesler and Higgins in that final game or shown a little spark in Boston. But never all year was he given a realistic opportunity to show if he was ready to function at this level, playing mostly on the fourth line when he did get in.

The case of Ballard is pretty much the same. The coaching staff soured on him so early they began cutting his minutes consistently when he was healthy and he's just not a 10-12 minute guy. He has played closer to 20 minutes a night most of his career and even when they had all kinds of injuries on the back end most notably to Alex Edler in February and March, they preferred using Aaron Rome or others. And that hammered his confidence into oblivion, and when they finally threw him into an emergency game four in Boston with Kevin Bieksa as his partner and Rome suspended, it was a gong show of the highest order.

So when the crucial game seven arrived, they ended up using a 21-year-old kid—albeit a promising one in Chris Tanev—instead of a veteran whose forte was moving the puck and getting into the offence when he was at his peak as a player in Phoenix. And that was the season's plan, to get him playing as he once did for the Coyotes.

In Vigneault's defence any coach would have had difficulty giving him more minutes with the depth they did have most of the season on the back end, but in the end the man he chose over Ballard—a player making more than $3 million U.S. less—was not available.
© Copyright (c) The Province

Canucks played despite brutal injuries

By Ben Kuzma, The ProvinceJune 15, 2011 11:30 PM

Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks is knocked to the ice by Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins during the third period of game seven in the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup final in Vancouver, B.C. on June 16, 2011 .
Photograph by: Mark Van Manen, PNG

Alex Edler admitted he played with two broken fingers. Christian Ehrhoff admitted that he had to get a troublesome shoulder shot up and it will need addressing in the offseason. Chris Higgins admitted that his foot was never quite right after blocking a shot in the second-round series with Nashville and will need further attention. And Dan Hamhuis wasn't around to admit that he was probably sidelined in the Stanley Cup final series opener by a torn groin muscle.

Ryan Kesler? He wouldn't admit to anything.

Despite playing on one leg and having his teammates marvel at his resolve to take shots to endure the pain of a suspected groin tear and hip labrum tear, the Vancouver Canucks bit his tongue when he could have leaned on a crutch of convenience following a bitter 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 at Rogers Arena.

"I'm not going to sit here and complain about injuries," said Kesler, who had a game-high six shots but just one assist in the series despite 18 shots. "I gave it everything I had tonight and I'm proud of that. I can walk out saying that it didn't happen and it's emotional to talk about right now.

"For me and for a lot of guys in this room, we can hold our heads high."

What Kesler won't talk about is how he was held together — or how he was shot up to dull the pain — to continue to play. It often didn't look like it because at various points that strong stride and his strength on the puck would appear. But not often and not long enough. The guy who dominated the Nashville series by figuring in 11 of the last 14 goals and was gaining Conn Smythe consideration, suffered a groin strain in Game 5 of the conference final but returned to force overtime with 13.2 seconds remaining. It would be his last goal of the postseason. Against the Bruins, he lacked strength to hold off Brad Marchand on a Game 3 shorthanded goal and couldn't corral Rich Peverley on a Game 4 charge to the net for a rebound goal.

Jeff Tambellini was summoned to join Kesler on the second line of the Stanley Cup finale in place of the injured Mason Raymond. He has been around the team long enough to appreciate the centre's drive. But being shot up and playing and then enduring the pain when those shots wore off?

"I think every stride hurt him," said Tambellini. "He never showed it. He never talked about it. We never heard about it all day and this guy is at true warrior. The fact he even came back is mind-blowing. To skate with the puck as much as he did. He took his game to a different level this year and should be rewarded by the rest of the league. Everybody appreciates what he brings and playing as hurt as he was outstanding.

"He put himself on a superstar level and it's going to be great to watch the rest of his career."

Edler suffered two broken fingers early in the third period of Game 6 in Boston and didn't return that night. He had trouble handling the puck in Game 7 had often dropped his stick. He also seemed to be skating straight up and had trouble turning and winning puck battles. Marchand easily walked around Edler and one point and rang a second-period shot off the post.

"Everyone is feeling a little sore at this time of year, but I'm not going to use any excuses," said Edler who had mid-season surgery on his lower back. "I have two broken fingers had I wasn't that strong on my stick. I had a little problem in the first round with my back, but nothing that kept me from playing.

"We just didn't play good enough in this series. They [Bruins] played hard and nobody said it was going to be easy. I don't really know what to say. It's just really tough right now.

"We played hard. We have a great group giving 100 per cent the whole season. It's too bad we came all this way and lost."

Added Ehrhoff of his ailment: "It [shoulder] was actually getting better. I don't know what's wrong with it. I had it shot up every day. I wasn't able to play any kind of physical game with it."

In the end, there was frustration all around. Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini tried to find a silver lining in a series that looked so good at the outset when the Canucks held a 2-0 advantage. But not winning the franchise's first NHL championship weighed on Aquilini.

"I'm very proud of the guys," he said. "They are outstanding individuals and I love that they played their hearts out tonight. They'll be back."

But that didn't make it any easier. Tambellini walked into a dressing room Wednesday that looked more like a hospital ward.

"There were probably shooting six guys up today," said Tambellini. "We dealt with a lot of adversity this year and to do that and come up one game short is a real credit to this group."

bkuzma@theprovince.com

twitter.com/benkuzma
© Copyright (c) The Province

disappointed, but still love the canucks.

Keep the riot shit out of this thread pls

Good articles above.

honestly, i still have a lot of faith in our core group. i also have tons of faith in the aquilinis and mike gillis to steer this ship back into the right direction for next season. this year seemed like it would be the one, but in the end we fell short.

The fact that we lost hasn't really settled with me, though I'm sure it will hit me tomorrow or later tonight. I'm still kind of in shock after what so many, myself included, thought might be the year to bring home the cup.

Despite everything, I think there's a lot of things to be proud of this year. Winning the President's Trophy, winning the WCF, having another Art Ross winner and potentially, Hart Trophy winner on our team, and making a very serious push at winning the ultimate prize. The triple crown wasn't mean to be this year, though I still am and always will be a Canucks fan.

Obviously losing key players like Hamhuis and Raymond played a huge part in our loss, as the lines were completely altered and throwing players who haven't played much at all into the line of fire is a pretty risky move. I think AV got out coached, as he did have opportunities to make changes but in the end - the necessary changes weren't made. I thought the fourth line was played entirely too much today when they did nothing at all, and when one's offence is lacking, I don't see the logic in playing fourth line grinders. I wouldn't be surprised to see AV gone next season, maybe it's just time for a new voice and face in the dressing room.

I'm sure there will be injuries revealed, but I also know that the boys in the dressing room aren't using this as their scapegoat and take full responsibility for the loss, not producing when they needed to, etc.

The silver-lining through all of this was Tanev in my eyes, who looked calm, cool and collected out there and I am excited to see how he will develop in upcoming years.

Anyways, the Canucks had a great season and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was full of ups and downs, excitement, tension, disappointment - everything you could really ask for as a hockey fan. Y'know what the good thing is? Next year we'll have another shot at this, and I know I'll be there wearing my blue, green and white. I hope you'll all do the same!

Looking forward to the draft, training camp and next season.

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lc...g82lo1_500.jpg