NO WAY JOSE

I wore my lucky underwear tonight, and it paid off.

The Vancouver Canucks have advanced to the STANLEY CUP FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh man. Intense night. My throat is sore from all the yelling and cheering! 7 friends and I went just south of downtown (across the water from Granville Island) to watch the game tonight. The pub was right by the water.

We watched the game at The Pirate Pub. Between the 2nd and 3rd period the entire pub sang happy birthday to "Katie" ...whoever that was. 

That is Granville Island across the water (looking south)

SO ONTO THE GAME!! The game was intense. I think I've said that about every game, but this one was definitely the best so far!!! "Best" meaning I think all my friends and I were emotional wrecks by the end of it. Close game. LOTS of close goals. LOTS of good saves from both teams. LOTS of drama. LOTS of action!!

Game started off with Vancouver scoring the first goal. 2nd period San Jose scored 1 to tie it up at 1-1. About 2 minutes into the 3rd period San Jose scored another goal to make it 2-1. There were lots of really close calls. Both teams were fighting hard. It was do or die for San Jose. 

With about 2 minutes left in the 3rd period, with San Jose winning 2-1 the Vancouver Canucks pulled their goalie, Luongo, and with 14 SECONDS left, Kesler scored!!!!!!! EVERYONE in the pub went wild!!!! It was insane!! 

Onto overtime #1 - my friends and I made predictions as to how long they'd be in overtime for. I guessed 4 minutes. I figured both teams were pretty fired up, and it wouldn't be long before we had a goal. The 20 minutes of the first overtime went by incredibly fast. Before we knew it, overtime #1 was over.

Onto overtime #2. It was stressful. Overtime is always nail biting because it's sudden death. First goal wins. These guys must be tired. Playing in their 5th period of the nights, and being near the end of the series, having been playing every 2-3 days, and with lots of travel, these guys are tough. I was tired just sitting there, and I wasn't even doing anything!!! The Canucks pull through... About 10 minutes into the period Bieksa scored!! And the pub went wild. Everybody was hugging each other, giving people high fives, whether or not they knew each other. It was such a cool atmosphere.

After everything settled down, David, Emily and I headed downtown to catch a bus/skytrain to go home. Everyone in the streets were going nuts. People were yelling, cheering, singing, hanging out of their cars, honking their horns - one person was spraying water from his watergun out of a car window. This video was taken about an hour after the game had ended and people were still going crazy!!!

Vancouver Canucks - 2011 Western Conference Champions!

Because Tampa Bay and Boston are still playing (3-2 for Boston in the series) the Canucks get to rest a bit before the Stanley Cup final begins. I'm so excited to watch it unfold :)