"You can just title it 'this is how i know soph has a crush on me, cuz she wrote for my blog...voluntarily'"

Guest post, courtesy of Sophia Sopuch:

After the Blackhawks were eliminated from the Stanley cup playoffs this season, I have yet to watch another play off game in its entirety. So, sticking to territory I am familiar with, I would like to reflect back on the seven game series, which ultimately ended the Blackhawks season. Technically the Blackhawks couldn’t even say they made the playoffs this season, because they relied on Minnesota beating Dallas in order to advance into the first round. However, the state of Minnesota made friends with Blackhawks fans around the nation when the Wild sent Chicago to the playoffs and the Stars packing, with a 5-3 win.

The Canucks-Blachawks series started as expected, Vancouver lead 3 games to 0. Luongo had his second career playoff shutout in the first game of the series, showing the Blackhawks they would have to step up in order to have a chance against the number one seed. Many also feared that without the help of Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg, and Dustin Byfuglien, who helped lead Chicago to its Stanley Cup win last year, the Blackhawks would have no chance of beating a tgeam like Vancouver in the first round. However, no one would have predicted that Chicago would win three straight games and take game 7 into a nail-biting OT. One of the low-lights of the series for me was when Brent Seabrook took a hard hit from Raffi Torres in game 3 and had to sit out of game 4, putting a hole in the defensive lineup. However, clearly it did not affect the team dynamic, it may have even helped the Blackhawks, because they ended up winning their first game of the series, 7-2. The highlight of the series for me was when Vigneault sat Roberto Luongo, arguably the best goalie in the NHL, after he let in 10 goals in two games. 

Game seven “was a game filled with drama and playoff ghosts for a Canucks team that had been knocked out of the last two playoffs by the Blackhawks.” The game went into overtime after Blackhawks Captain, Jonathan Toews, scored a short-handed goal with 1:56 left to go. A few minutes into OT, Burrows ended the game with a slapshot over the shoulder of rookie goalier, Corey Crawford. However, this was not a representation of Crawford’s goal-tending throughout the series. If there was one reason the Blackhawks made it as far as they did, it was Corey Crawford. Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks it is an injustice that Crawford wasn’t nominated for rookie of the year, who had a .930 GAA. If I were the Canucks, I would have been rattled by the Blackhawks series, which I am sure they were. The series made me question whether or not the Canucks really deserve the hype they get at all.