After last night's 4-3 win over the Blackhawks in what can only be described as a playoff-style game, the Canucks might be feeling pretty good about themselves.

Stop the parade.

They were outshot 45-32 and outhit (by their own scorers' count) 21-17. More importantly, they received the benefit of having a clean Chicago goal wrongly taken off the board and a couple of other highly questionable calls leading to their own goals.

Granted, the Blackhawks had the chance to win the game in spite of the wretched officiating— were it not for the artistry of the Sedin twins. Credit given where its due.

And Roberto Luongo made some huge saves— because he had to.

All else aside, including a blatantly missed offside call on a Christian Ehrhoff goal, Dave Bolland's first period goal should have stood. In fact, it never should have been questioned. Even though the referee was facing the play not ten feet away.

The fair and balanced staff at TSN showed that a square millimeter of Troy Brouwer's skate might have grazed Luongo's pad, thus "proving" that the referee was technically correct— and underscoring over and over again what a ridiculous call it was to anyone who watches hockey more than once a decade.

Bravo.

That alone, in addition to the balance of play throughout the game, would indicate a different outcome. At least a road point for a Blackhawk team desperately in need of them.

Horrible call. And, bear in mind, I hate NHL officiating 82 games a year, regardless of the outcome.

And some Hawk fans might be calling last night's game a moral victory. You can, but it's worth even less spit than it usually is for a team that essentially frittered away the first 50 games of the season.

I'd file this one under "What Might Have Been." The Hawks looked every bit the defending Stanley Cup Champion last night against the presumptive (for much of the hockey media anyway) new champions.

Funny, at about this time the last couple of years, the Capitals and the Sharks respectively had won the Presumptive Cup. But that's why they play the rest of the season. And the playoffs.

As fate might have it, the Hawks are rounding in to form when every point is desperate. And that's fine, until you run into things you can't control— like a couple of NHL officials having a horrible night in someone else's tough building. Which, as we know, happens all too often in this "major" professional sport.

You do make your own luck. And the Hawks really put themselves in this desperate position.

This morning, the hole is a little deeper.


Thanks for reading,


JJ

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