It's been awhile since I've seen so much emotion from a game in early February, and not just on the ice but from fans as well. It shouldn't be that hard to imagine it as such when looking at the recent history between the two teams. However circumstances this season seem to have lifted the emotional level of both teams and fans.

One could argue that that Blackhawks are a shell of their previous selves but I will always agree that a group of Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook, and Campbell as a core are good enough to be a top 8 team. Our great Blackhawks writer, John Jaeckel has argued this point convincingly. Yet this team is not nearly the force it was last season despite the same core group.

The emotion which surrounds last night's game certainly has much to do with the Hawks' struggles as much as it does the opposition. I have argued this on Twitter and will now again the Blackhawks did not lose that game because of the officials. A wrong call on the opening goal certainly had an effect but that was not the deciding factor. Should Hawks' fans be mad? Yes but calls that are phantom, wrong and mistaken happen all the time, it averages out for teams through most of the season. I'll gladly concede the Hawks got ripped on that.

The Ehrhoff goal too had controversy, because of a non call this time, offside. If the you look at the replay the linesman is watching that puck like a Hawk (pun intended) and he made the best call he could as a player came in and ripped a slapshot. The unfortunate thing is the speed of the play is unusual for an offside call-particularly in that circumstance. He was wrong by a quarter of an inch. It's like a too many men call- a bit of the 'eye of the beholder' and in this case the error favored Vancouver again. Cue the tinfoil hats. I've been the guy who has had two bad calls go against my team and said, 'the fix is in'. In this case it's a call of fractions at high speed. The real issue is the play of Turco- no goalie has any business letting in that shot. It's only exaggerated because of the goal.

Finally the holding call on Raymond. Yes it was a penalty. Yes Seabrook should be upset. Why? Because he decided to take it 12 feet in front of the ref when he had lost possession of the puck. That's a call which isn't made enough anymore and sure Seabrook probably gets away with those more often than not, like most defenders in the league, but he didn't this time when he took the risk. High risk, high cost.

So what does the outcome of this game mean? Well one thing no one can argue about is these two teams showed us a great game in the dog days of the season. They also showed us why we should hope for a post season match-up, it will be that good.

Last night was a game where two good teams played to battle and win for more reasons than most teams will ever have in February. It was a battle between the best team and a team coming out and playing at it's best. In the end the better team won but not the team who played the best. For the Canucks this should sit in the memory banks for the post season, as playing your best will get you a lot farther than riding your title as the best.

It's a lesson the Capitals and Sharks know all to well. For Vancouver we can only hope the learning evolution for this team has had this course in the curriculum. The final exams start in 8 weeks. I'd rather they be prepared than start cramming.

Enjoy the day.

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