Dear Vancouver

To the city of Vancouver,

Tonight, is the most important night in 17yrs for the Canucks. Pressure? You bet.

For one man, that pressure is unlike anything ever seen in sports. Roberto Luongo.

Imagine Bill Buckner having to play game 7 against the Mets, except every single ball is hit at him. He has to make all the plays. Everyone is watching him. Everyone is waiting for him to make a mistake. For 60 minutes. I can't ever recall one person being on the hotseat like this in my entire time watching sports. The sheer weight of it seems crushing. A lot for one player to bear more than anyone else on the team.

Vancouver, some would say, is a cursed hockey club. The Skate of God (Joel Otto 89), TWO 3rd period posts from a Cup in 1994, Lidstrom's goal from centre on Cloutier, losing the Minnesota series up 3-1, the Bertuzzi incident, the 2 straight exits versus the Blackhawks. It doesn't seem fair.

Now, we have a 3-0 collapse looming. It's almost getting to the level of Steve Bartman/Gonzalez for the Cubs. When you watched that game, you could feel the tension at Wrigley after the Bartman play; and 5 outs away from the series, they blew it.

Why? Well, maybe it's luck. Maybe it's bad calls. Maybe it's just not meant to be. Or maybe, just maybe, the negative feeling, the tension, the sense of foreboding, the feeling of "oh no! we might lose" is palpable enough to be felt by the home players, and then, they DO make that key mistake. The fans fear the worst, and they get the worst. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Game 5 in Vancouver, and all the home losses in last year's series had that "Oh no!" feeling. I can feel it burning through my TV set here in Montreal. There is a distinct sound. It's almost the sound of a home goal in reverse. If you close your eyes you can almost see a Michael Bay explosion on rewind, sucking back in upon itself. It's a Cubs sound. It's a losers sound.

The RedSox, well, they used to have the same problem. You could FEEL it coming when Wakefield gave up the homer to Bret Boone. You could FEEL Pedro's wheels coming off. Everyone was powerless to stop it.

But the RedSox are not that team anymore. In game 4, against Rivera, when it seemed like all hope was lost. Roberts stole 2nd, and Ortiz knocked him in. But because it was Ortiz, because it seemed all hope was lost, because it was so dire, people cheered. They dared to hope that maybe they could get one win. Maybe the sports gods would throw them a bone. They believed. they made some noise. You could FEEL it. The exact opposite feeling; and they won.

Game 5, 2011. The timeout. The sound? Horrified silence. In Montreal, you'd hear a "Go Habs Go". They'd try to rally the team. In Vancouver, we might as well be Nosferatu, feasting on the player's hope and energy with our sickened sound of silence and dissapointment.

For once, just once, if Luongo lets in a bad goal, or even just the first goal, stand up and scream "Go Canucks Go!" Get off your ass and cheer. Let him know that the city is behind him, that the city is behind all of them. Try to give them a boost. Believe that they will score next. Then  sit back, and watch the bounces go OUR way, the ice tilt in OUR favour and watch Luongo stand tall in the Vancouver net. Show Luuuu some love if the start isn't ideal. Try to help him. He is one man, dealing with one of the most pressure packed moments in sports history.

In English Football circles they aren't called 'fans', they call themselves 'supporters'. Fans SUPPORT their team. Or at least good fans do. In Vancouver, we have not helped since the Lidstrom Goal from centre ice. Tonight, that changes. Tonight, it's different. Tonight, Vancouver exorcises the demons of the past. Tonight, Vancouver WINS! So, for the love of God and Trevor Linden, stand up and cheer on the Canucks and use your POSITIVE energy to propel them to victory. Don't be an anxious fan, waiting for something bad to happen. Be a SUPPORTER of the Vancouver Canucks.

Go Canucks Go!
Go Luuuuu Go!
Go FANS Go!

Bill Enos