As some of you may have noticed, WAACH's pronouncement of death to our season a week before the playoffs begin (and while the Canucks are ranked 5th in the league) pissed the fucking shit out of me.   So Sean suggested I write the counterpoint.  As I mentioned, I don't know if I'm the best qualified to do so, since I'm not really the rosiest of optimists and I too have concerns, but I'll do it anyway because WE ARE ALL CANUCKS motherfuckers.  So here's my list of reasons why this season we have a legitimate shot of the glory long sought:

1.  Luongo is still a very good goalie, so bite me, haters.  Yes he's in a rough patch since the Olympics. (Remember the Olympics? Where he won the damn tournament despite all your hate, haters?)  Anyway, despite the recent slide, HE'S STILL A VERY GOOD GOALIE.  He is tied for 5th in the league with Quick with 39 wins.  And he's played less games than Quick and less games than ALL THE GOALIES WITH MORE WINS.  Is he in a slump?  Yes.  Has he been in slumps before?  Yes.  What has happened after all those previous slumps?  He's gone on long stretches of ass-kicking awesomeness.  Does that mean he'll get back in form by round 1 game 1?  Who knows.  But there's certainly a legitimate reason to think it can happen.  And if it does happen, he's the motherfucking LuonGod, folks.  Fear his wrath.

2. We've scored the third most goals of any team in the league.  And we have the third best goals for/against ratio. And we play in the West, where you actually have to face good opposition most nights.

3. We have six different players who've scored over 20 goals.  If Kesler gets one tonight, that makes six with at least 25.  We've got more hat tricks than any other team.  We've got contributions coming from all over the place.

4. Sedinery.

5. We've BEATEN EVERY SINGLE TEAM IN THE PLAYOFFS AT LEAST ONCE THIS SEASON.  Every single one.  Doesn't matter if the Habs or the Rangers or the Flyers win the last spots in the east.  All 15 of the other teams entering the playoffs have lost at least one game to our Canucks this season.  I'm confident that we can beat any of them again.

6. We've won games when being behind entering the 3rd period more times than any other team this season by a mile.  There's no quit in these Canucks.  They will fight.  They will claw and they will scratch their way to get to that Cup.

Now, in full honesty, I'm very nervous about the playoffs, and I share the common concerns about goaltending and about our D, but nonetheless I think we really have a chance, so let's cheer the boys on!  GO CANUCKS GO!