Two mornings in his life, Alex Burrows woke up confident that he would be the Stanley Cup champion by nightfall. Winning three to two in the 2011 Finals, he and his Canucks teammates had every right to dream.
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“But that didn’t happen. History has decided otherwise,” said the Canadiens’ current assistant coach, who was added by Le Journal as part of the report series on 30 years without a Stanley Cup in Canada.
Led by Claude Julien and assisted by goaltender Tim Thomas, who has been described as impenetrable in this playoff run, the Bruins have won their last two games, including Game 7 at Rogers Arena, home of the Canucks.
“It was an afternoon game. [à 17 h], recalls Burrows. The league wanted it that way so that the game would be televised in the East at a reasonable time. »
“We hadn’t played a single afternoon game all year. I’m not sure if it was ideal for our team”, he analyzes and thinks back to this 0:4 defeat.
A broken team
One wonders if time had any real impact on the outcome of the meeting.
What can’t be denied, however, is that the Canucks have been decimated by injuries. The Canucks, the regular-season champions, had their lives complicated in the spring.
They had played 25 games, including seven in the first round against the Blackhawks, who Burrows sent on vacation with an overtime goal.
In addition, the number 14 had experienced the playoffs of his career with a harvest of 17 points, including nine goals. He also scored the decisive goal in extra time in the second game of the final.
In short, the Canucks had lost many soldiers along the way.
“We ran out of gas, we were smoking. The team that looked so promising at the beginning of the series wasn’t the same at the end with all the injuries, the Pincourt athlete believes. We even had Black Aces to play the most important game in franchise history. »
Among other things, the Canucks had lost the services of Mason Raymond, who suffered a fractured vertebra in the sixth game. An event that had greatly influenced the Quebecer.
“He broke his back after a dubious check [de Johnny Boychuk]. He had spent the night in the hospital. He was my roommate on the street, so it shook me a little to see him badly injured. »
A little revenge
The image of his friend stretched out on the rink affected Burrows deeply, as did the thought that he was just a hair’s breadth from fulfilling a childhood dream.
“It haunts you forever. Especially since we thought we could continue the following year. But we were knocked out by the kings in the first round, he recalls. A few seasons later, when I was with the Senators, we eliminated the Bruins. Beating them in the first round, six home games, when they were favorites was like revenge. »
“I thought about that too when we reached the finals with the Canadiens two years ago. It was magical to see the support we had outside of the Bell Centre. We knew the world was watching and cheering for our team. »
Only this time the chance to win the cup never presented itself.