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Here's a first for me �I'm blogging from the airplane, while I fly across the Canadian prairies.
I'm on my way back to Vancouver -- quietly thankful that the WHL Giants were able to sweep their way past yet another series and advance to the Memorial Cup -- thus avoiding two extra days in the metropolis of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Not that I have anything against Moose Jaw � please don't put me make the same claim while hooked up to a lie detector � but once it became apparent that those 34,000 people who make up that town's population didn't have a chance to celebrate a championship, well you can finish the sentence....
The Moose Jaw fans did have a very good team to cheer for this year, with the Warriors improving from 14 to 43 wins in one season, and their first ever appearance in the finals. But like every other team that faced Vancouver, they were simply overwhelmed.
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As regular readers are aware I had the pleasure of calling games on SHAW TV for yet another season � and having called WHL games off-and-on for over 20 years, I can tell you this was one of the most dominating playoff performances ever.
What made it so unbelievable is how they steamrolled over every team they played.
Since the WHL went to four best-of-seven rounds in 1999 no team has rolled through quicker. All toll Vancouver went 16-2 against Prince George, Portland, Everett and Moose Jaw.
They won their last 12 games to tie a WHL playoff record for consecutive wins. They won all eight of their playoff road games. They were out shot only once in 18 games, and only six times in 90 regular season and playoff games.
Their goalie Dustin Slade posted six playoff shutouts, including three in a row to set a new WHL playoff record. At one stage they killed off 63 penalties consecutively.
The only two losses they suffered were games that they out shot their opponents by a combined margin of 80-33!
There were only a couple of nailbiters � both finished in OT by the great Gilbert Brule, who was named the playoff MVP after he scored 16 goals and 30 points in the 18 playoff games, including five goals and 12 points in the four game final.
It's the first WHL championship for Vancouver � and really it was the ultimate "five year plan", as they capture the title after capturing 13 wins in their 2001/02 expansion season.
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I've said this before on this blog, but I will repeat for those fans in Ohio who will soon be treated to a steady Brule diet.
Get ready to embrace one of the most competitive young hockey players ever turned out.
Over the years I've seen plenty of players returned to junior hockey after a short stint in the NHL and many of them appear (perhaps unintentionally) to be passing time until their next pro camp.
Not Brule.
When Gilbert came back to the WHL, it was really the complete opposite � with no player working harder on or off the ice.
His hell-bent fearless play sent a clear message to all who observed. If he wasn't going to get a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, then he'd go through a wall to win a trophy that's arguably more difficult to win � the Memorial Cup.
During his six point performance in game two of the series last Saturday at the Pacific Coliseum, I had a chance to talk with Florida GM Mike Keenan in one of the intermissions. Keenan was here to see his first round pick Kenndal McArdle, but he couldn't help but marvel at the offensive and physical show Brule was putting on in front of nearly 14,000 fans.
Pat Quinn was at the same game, and told Giants majority owner Ron Toigo that he knew Brule was good � but didn't know he was that good.
Keenan did wonder if Brule would be able to get away with the same kind of physical play at the NHL level? At the end of our conversation he said, "but Brule appears to be enjoying that physical play while he can at this level".
I'm not so sure Brule won't enjoy more of it at the NHL level. In fact he once wondered out loud a few months ago what it'd be like to try and knock down Todd Bertuzzi.
If you're asking me for a comparison, my impression of Brule is that he is a hybrid between Pat Lafontaine and Mike Peca.
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After finishing SPORTSTALK from the arena I returned late to my wonderful Moose Jaw digs � the multi story, sorry that should read two-story (with stairs only) Heritage Inn -- I stumbled upon a victory celebration going on in one of the ball rooms.
Invited in, I saw 20 young hockey players celebrating � each taking pictures with the big trophy they had won.
When I looked at one side of the ball room I saw Brule clutching his MVP trophy, which had been presented to him on the ice four hours earlier. I watched for a few minutes as he walked around the room chatting with teammates � and every where he went the trophy was in his hands.
One of his teammates told me that Brule wouldn't even put the trophy on a table -- that he had to have it in his hands at all times.
I spoke with Brule privately for a few minutes and he made it clear to me that this was the sweetest thing that had happened to him in the game so far, and that he absolutely loved playing with this team.
The reality is most of Brule's teammates won't realize the same dream of one day playing in the NHL � yet Brule spoke of them as a "hockey brother", and he was glad when I remarked as to his willingness to go through a wall for them.
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The Giants are the first team to represent Vancouver in the Memorial Cup since the old New Westminster Bruins, who went to four straight national championships, most recently in 1978.
Two original Giants -- Mark Fistric and Mitch Bartley -- came up to my broadcast location during SPORTSTALK on Tuesday night, and they lugged the heavy WHL championship trophy to the booth.
I've now had the pleasure of holding both the Stanley Cup � when the NY Islanders won in 1982 at the Pacific Coliseum (Billy Smith asked me to hold it while he poured three or four cans of beer in it) � and the WHL trophy.
From what I can remember, I'd say the Stanley Cup is lighter.
Fistric, the captain and a first round Dallas pick, said he was "honored" to win the trophy especially because his father Boris had won it with the old New Westminster Bruins -- and of course he grew up hearing how special it was to win the league championship.
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Now as for the arena where the Giants won their first championship in, well that's quite another story as well. Pretty much the opposite of their home rink.
Its actually one of the things that makes the WHL so special. You can have a game in the Portland Rose Garden with 20,000 fans � and you can have a game in Moose Jaw with the community owned Warriors with 2900 fans shoe-horned in.
(For games in the finals fans came an hour early just to guard their standing room position)
The Moose Jaw Civic Centre, built in 1958, is perhaps the most unusual rink ever built. One of my callers last night said it was "funky". I think if Brian Burke saw the designers he may have called them "drug induced".
The rink is nicknamed the "Crushed Can", because it literally looks like someone stepped on a pop can.
Outside, where you park, the roof seems to be about 10 feet from the ground at its lowest point. Because the ice bowl is built a little under ground, its not quite like that inside � but it is only 34 feet from the ice to the lowest part of the roof.
No overhanging scoreboard in this place.
Unaware rookies are often warned while traveling on the bus for their first trip into Moose Jaw to be careful not to lift their stick to celebrate a goal, as they might hit the roof.
Seriously, it's a bizarre place. Upstairs where we broadcast you can only see the first three rows on the other side.
One fan told me the best thing about it is he's able to bring both his wife and girlfriend to the same game � and they wouldn't see each other.
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