Canucks carry hopes of Canada into Cup finals
Vancouver seeking nation's first Stanley Cup since 1993
BEN NELMS / ReutersCanucks fans celebrate on the streets of Vancouver after advancing to the Stanley Cup finals. The Canucks are seeking the nation's first Cup since 1993.
OPINION
By Bob Duff
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 7:43 p.m. ET May 28, 2011
 | Bob Duff |
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To understand what the Stanley Cup means to Canadians, first you need to travel to the other side of the world, to a barren, war-torn, desert nation.
To Kandahar, Afghanistan, to be precise.
Ed Staniowski is a lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces. Staniowski is also a former National Hockey League goalie who played 219 games with the St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers.
A couple of years ago, Staniowski arranged to bring the Stanley Cup to visit Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan. “First, I had to assure (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman that the Cup would be taken care of,” Staniowski said. “That the Taliban would not take the Cup that year.”
Lord Stanley's mug was joined on its visit by several NHL luminaries, including past Cup winners Lanny McDonald, Mark Napier and Rejean Houle. “The soldiers and the hockey players had very much in common,” Staniowski said. “Dedication, teamwork, focus, desire and sacrifice, things Canadians identify with.”
Yet the character that Canadians most identified with was the guest of honor. When the Stanley Cup arrived, everything stopped.
Literally.
Even the war was postponed for a time.
“When the Stanley Cup was at that airfield in Kandahar, it arrived in a secured box,” Staniowski said.
“What's in the box?” one solider asked Staniowski. Told it was the Stanley Cup, the fellow nearly fell over. Quickly, a buzz spread through the camp as one solider after another arrived to have their picture taken with Canada's cultural icon.
“For the first time in the war, they shut the airfield down,” Staniowski said. “Nothing could compete with the Cup.”
A British officer completely unfamiliar with hockey's greatest prize wandered over to see what all the fuss was about.
“It is a rather handsome cup,” he said.
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Handsome. And legendary.
An inanimate object with a distinct personality, the Stanley Cup is the perfect symbol of what it means to be a Canadian.
It is royalty, on one hand, and yet it is also a commoner. Few get their name inscribed upon it, but anyone may touch and hold the silver chalice. Grown men have teared up at the very sight of the battered mug.
To win it is to take a truly Canadian journey. The route to the Stanley Cup is much like the difficult Canadian winter during which the season is contested to earn the right to play for the trophy. It's harsh, unforgiving, and for the majority who embark on trek, ends in utter frustration.
“We've developed a passion for a sport that involves harsh body contact, fleet skating, the skills of passing, stickhandling, shooting and scoring,” said former "Hockey Night In Canada" broadcaster Brian McFarlane, who has written numerous books about the lore of the Stanley Cup. “And if you ever played the game, you'll know the thrill that comes from scoring a goal or winning a championship.”
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Canadians certainly know the thrill of winning the Stanley Cup, and they know it's a thrill that has been gone from Canadian soil since the Montreal Canadiens won the title in 1993.
They want it back. Desperately.
That's why an entire nation will throw its support behind the Vancouver Canucks as they begin the 2011 Stanley Cup finals against the Boston Bruins.
No matter what Canadians might think about the city of Vancouver, for the next two weeks, the Canucks will be Canada's team, poised to live out in reality the ultimate dream of Canadiana.
From the first time they pick up a stick and play hockey on the driveway, every Canadian youngster is playing for the Stanley Cup. As a boy in west Toronto, Ont., Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey — later a four-time Stanley Cup winner — and his friends carved a crude Stanley Cup out of plywood, and the team that won their road hockey tournament would proudly hold it aloft and carry it around the neighborhood.
“Growing up as a kid, this is where you want to be,” Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo said. “I mean, I worked my whole life to be in this situation right now. We work all our lives for this.”
Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis, who calls Smithers, B.C., home, is already hearing stories from the locals about how Stanley Cup fever is gripping their every breath. “Talking with some friends the last couple days, they actually showed me a couple of clips on YouTube of some mini parades they've been having in some of the small towns up there,” Hamhuis said.
Even those who aren't from Canada recognize the grip Lord Stanley's mug holds on the hearts and minds of Canadians. “I mean, it's an unbelievable feeling the way they speak about it,” Canucks captain Henrik Sedin, who is from Sweden, said. “To win here in Canada in a market like this, that's something you dream about in the summertime when you spend your hours in the gym and everything.
“Being here for a long time, you realize how important this is for people and for the fans.”
To acknowledge that passion is to also accept the challenge that accompanies a spot on the roster of a Canadian-based club. “You either embrace it, or you choose not to play in a Canadian city in the NHL,” Canucks forward Daniel Sedin said. “You have to like playing under pressure. That's the No. 1 thing.”
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