And Boom Goes the Dynamite (Now with more Mancari)

Mystery of the Week:

As many of you know, I start every day off watching Alex Burrows beat Chicago in overtime of game 7. Nothing gets my day started better than watching Ryan Johnson screw up, Johnny Toews duck his head in fear of a puck that never arrives, and Chris Campoli thinking about how much money he is going to cash in on after he makes this sick play off the boards, all before Alex Burrows double taps the puck past a saddened Cory Crawford. 

It was during the 7838th viewing of this goal that I saw something kind of funny. At first I was amused by how the second Burrows got that puck, the entire crowd jumped to it's feet in anticipation. "How very Canadian of us" I thought to myself, "our fans are good, we recognize a great scoring chance." But then I noticed something else. I noticed a fan stand up almost before everyone else. He stood up before Burrows dropped the puck. And he held up his arm in celebration. One arm. Lofted up in the air. In celebration.

Now the question begs, was this man so certain of a goal that he lifted his arm in pre-celebration to get a nice head start on his buddies? Was he holding a cell phone to try and record a potential famous moment in Canucks history? Maybe he was saluting his friends in the upper bowl? 

It could be any of those things, but like all good conspiracy theories, I want to believe he knew the Canucks were going to score. Which scares me, because no Canuck fan should be that certain of a goal being scored. All of us are trained to assume we will lose. The Canucks win game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals after being up 3-0 in the series? I assume the NHL will discover a hidden rule about the NHL Finals actually being a best of 9 series. They sent out a DVD, don't you know?

But nope. Not this guy. This guy seems so certain they will score, he just leaves the arm hanging the moment Burrows grabs that puck. I want to know who you are good sir. I need to know. WHO ARE YOU?? HOW DID YOU KNOW BURROWS WAS GOING TO SCORE?? Do we really need 88mph to travel back through time?? TELL ME!

Alex Burrows 2-1 OT Goal - Chicago Blackhawks @ Vancouver Canucks 2011 Quarterfinals Game 7 (CBC) (via playnetvideos)

Seriously, watch the video. Look for this guy. I wish I knew what he knew.

News after the jump!

Vancouver Canuck News:

• Those fabulous Danes that brought us Jannik Hansen are also doing their best to import another hockey player with a hidden beast mode (assuming you unlock it by clearing the level of all goblets), as Nicklas Jensen attempts to have an impact at the Young Stars tourney. Nicklas Jensen, or as I like to think of him, the next guy we'll trade away to become a 30 goal scorer elsewhere, talks of his love of his homeland, but also of his love of playing hockey and embracing North America as the place to learn it best. I don't know if it means anything, but Lawrence Gilman was holding what looked to be a gun, and anytime Jensen talked too glowingly about Denmark, Gilman would nod his head slightly and Jensen would hurriedly switch topics.  [Vancouver Sun]
• It's Tuesday. Which means you got past Monday. That's pretty good, right? Hockey is starting soon, and the Canucks look like they still have a pretty strong team, right? WELL YOU'RE WRONG. David Shoalts takes a giant dump in your cornflakes as he tells us why history suggest the Canucks won't make it back to the finals.My favorite part of the article was him describing Raymond as a 3rd liner. Which he is. I am glad people are accepting this instead of pretending he is a 2nd liner. Also, little does David know that odds mean nothing to us in Vancouver, as there aren't too many teams that go up 2-0 in the finals, than 3-2 in the finals, and end up losing game 7 on home ice. Stats were made to be broken, beaten, kicked in the face, and eventually stabbed 47 times by Vancouver.  KILL THE BIRD. [Globe and Mail]
• K-Conn. Conn Man. Kay 2008. That guy you keep trying use as a throw in for a trade in NHL 11 for Steve Stamkos. Kevin Connauton.  Whatever you want to call him, NHL.COM made a mistake and actually did a story about the Canucks, so if you want to read about the Canucks being patient with K-Conn (Read: We have too much depth, so he can sit his ass down for a while) please go read it at [NHL.COM] 
• Did anybody watch the Young Stars game last night? If you did, you must have noticed the great performance shown by Longpre, as he was visible all over the ice last night. Longpre, at the age of 23, is running out of time to get a contract with a team, so last night went a long way towards him securing an AHL deal. He has shown the ability to beat up a crippled child in the form of Flames prospects, hell, he even Ryan Keslered the Flames with 15 seconds left, leaving me excited to see what else he can do at the tourney. Read about that, and the fact Polasek broke Teuberts nose (Which means 837 articles about banning fighting in hockey just got created) at the [Vancouver Sun]