[kristianhay]

One game could define a franchise

Right now, Vancouver knows where it stands, and it knows the only thing that can change it. They had a basketball team and they lost it, but that was a blip, really. But the hockey team — that's the sun in Vancouver, whether it's raining or not. And with a Game 7 looming against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night — a Game 7 that could simply devastate the franchise — Vancouver is on the edge of a very deep municipal depression. The 3-0 lead and all the redemption it promised is gone, now; all that's left is one game. One game, and handshakes.

So is Vancouver panicking? Some people are, and some people are probably pretending not to. TEAM 1040 morning host Scott Rintoul said he thought the defining mood was one of forced and willful optimism — that people were taking solace in the way the Canucks competed while losing Game 6 in overtime, rather than collapsing — because, as he put it, "I get the sense people have been disappointed so many times they can't bear to imagine being that disappointed again."

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/...e-a-franchise/

Full article is there, interesting. Looking forward to tomorrow, albeit a little nervously!