“It’s a terrible terrible feeling right now.”
Probably the feelings of every single Canucks fan right now — these words were actually spoken by Kevin Bieksa after Vancouver’s 7-4 loss to the Islanders.
It wasn’t just any loss, either. Vancouver had a 3-0 lead after the second period.
They gave it up and lost 7-4, and it turned into the worst loss of the Canucks season. And with the season this team has had, that is one hell of a statement.
1. The players’ reactions
Kesler:
You ever experienced anything like that, Ryan?
“No.”
More Kes:
“I can’t even wrap my head around it right now. It’s embarrassing.”
Bieksa:
“Never seen anything like that before. It feels terrible and I honestly don’t know what happened.”
“It’s a terrible terrible feeling right now.”
These two guys pretty much said it all already, but Kesler did add:
“I’m not done. I want to make playoffs.”
Scary thing is they all felt like this before playing New York, and before playing Phoenix and Dallas a week ago. They do want to win… but they can’t even come close.
2. Torts’ reactions
John Tortorella said a lot after the debacle. He said this:
“What could happen happened. And it’s been going on for a little while here, since the turn of the new year.”
And he said this:
“We really put ourselves in a jam with some bad penalties.”
But the most revealing thing he said was this:
“This is a kick in the teeth.”
So what now, Torts?
“We need to be men. We need to be men, and try to find our way.”
Come to learn Torts is really great at saying the right thing to the microphones. In the room? Well, his team just blew a three-goal lead to the Islanders…
3. YOUR reactions
Perfect summary of the Canucks right now:
— Patrick Johnston (@risingaction) March 11, 2014
I’ll get to Gillis’ letter in a bit, but here’s a great reaction to my tweet about it:
@omarcanuck @VancityBuzz did he mean the THIRD period?!
— Grant Lawrence (@GrantLawrence) March 11, 2014
And the Tweet of the Night award goes to:
Torts calling a timeout to say his goodbyes
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) March 11, 2014
4. A reaction to Torts’ reaction and me being scared
One Twitter follower caught me off guard:
@omarcanuck I have had a kick in the teeth god damn it’s so painful about as bad as this
— pheonix2450 (@prithvi03728823) March 11, 2014
He went on:
@omarcanuck (surprise I won all three bruised and tattered but I was good enough to win)
— pheonix2450 (@prithvi03728823) March 11, 2014
Not knowing what to say, I went with:
@omarcanuck yeah I later found out I was missing 3 front teeth and had a broken hand and arm lol
— pheonix2450 (@prithvi03728823) March 11, 2014
Then I started to worry…
@omarcanuck oh HAHAHAH
— pheonix2450 (@prithvi03728823) March 11, 2014
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved to see him laughing.
5. Gillis’ letter
By now you’ve all heard about the letter Mike Gillis wrote to Canucks season ticket holders today.
Some highlights:
Our mission remains the same: to win the Stanley Cup.
We need to get younger, faster and stronger to succeed. That process is happening now.
We are now younger and we are getting deeper.
We are enduring a challenging period, but your passion makes it possible for us to put our team in a position to compete.
I don’t know if the fans appreciated a letter so thickly coated in crap (actually I know they didn’t), but I do know the hockey gods didn’t. This loss to the Islanders was a lesson in exposing a fraud, if ever there was one.
6. Early vacations looking good
I’ve been holding off on booking a holiday in April, not wanting to miss a Canucks playoff run, knowing it would likely end quickly if there was one…
Guess I’ll go ahead and book that flight tomorrow.
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