There's a little black spot on the sun today-

At least, that's how Canucks fans are feeling this week.

The 'Nucks kicked butt through the regular season - they won the President's Cup.

Twice.

Fer cryin' out loud!

But in typical Vancouver pro-sport fashion, they choked.

It's like they're allergic to winning - success sends them into anaphylactic shock.

Last year, they took it to the limit before their throats closed up - until they were saved from having stand in that horrible limelight by the more histamine resistant Boston Bruins.

The close proximity of victory must have sensitized our Canucks to the Stanley Cup, however, and without their adrenalin shots handy, this year they made sure to keep a good and healthy distance.

The first round.

That was the first round!

Fer cryin' out loud!

For the three people in Canada who don't understand what that means: the first round of the playoffs is structured so that the "best" team in league squares off against one of the teams that was barely good enough to stave off the ignominy of early golf.

To put that all into perspective, the Canucks not only choked on a team of almost-golfers- they did it in just five games.

Heck. You'd think they could have at least stretched it out to seven games.

The only saving grace is that they pushed their last game - the fifth - into overtime.

The fifth game of a seven-game series.

Fer cryin' out loud!

But it's not just Canucks fans who are depressed at their favourite team's lacklustre performance.

The rest of us aren't happy either. I was looking forward to shopping on game nights.

When Our Team is in the playoffs, grocery stores provide quiet waters for those of us willing to brave the cold, dismal stares of clerks and check-out tellers who would rather be home, plunked in front of a television set- eagerly hoping to capture the historic moment when the Canucks wheeze out their last gasp.

You could fire a slap-shot past the meat counter without hitting anyone. Kinda like shooting at the Vancouver goal-mouth.

Other stores, shops, and (ironically) golf clubs, too, are nearly empty of patrons on playoff game nights.

And that isn't very happy-making for the owners of those shops and stores and golf clubs.

A local family-style restaurant owner off-handedly estimated the other day (just before that fateful Game 5) that if the Canucks were to make it all the way to the end of the playoffs, it would put a $10,000 dent in his bottom line.

Every night that families are glued to their television sets instead of going out for dinner can cost him up to a cool grand, depending on which night the 'Nucks are battling for the puck- or at least, skating around and watching the other guys battling for it.

Still, he was rooting for the Canucks to get off their duffs and make a stunning, historically unlikely comeback from their 3-0 deficit.

But he wasn't as enthusiastic as you might expect from, say, a pub owner, who along with the pizza joints and various other takeouts could expect to pick up the slack and then some, so the overall economic impact is heavily into the black side of the ledger.

And another silver lining to the 'Nucks cloud: they were kind enough to keep expectations low this time, preventing a recurrence of last year's rioting.

editor@langleyadvance.com

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