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Dear Messrs Burrows and LaPierre |
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Dear Messrs Burrows and LaPierre,
You have both become pivotal pieces for the Canucks this post season. You both bring certain skill sets this team needs to succeed but you also bring something else at the same time- an unquenchable thirst to win at all costs. It's this thirst which drives you to do things most other players would not normally do on the ice.
As a life long supporter of the Canucks, 40 years going, now witnessing the club's second chance to win a Stanley Cup I hope you both understand the situation as well as anyone. There is no more time for games, for acts and other shenanigans.
Alex, you have risen to the top of the NHL by sheer will, skill and intelligence. Your story is one every hockey playing child should remember, but you are in danger of tarnishing it. Tonight is not about drawing penalties, it's not about taking the other team 'off their game'. Tonight you have to win the most important game of your career and you will have to do it with skill, desire and honest effort. Wasting time in the hopes the referees will call a penalty because of your reactions/actions will not work. It did not work in game five and you have to leave that act behind.
It's hard to change for anyone at the best of times- tonight you have to change your focus, you have play to win by battling, skating, and scoring. You have the skill but you have to focus on it and the task at hand. These Bruins, they are good and they want to win too, you must know their hunger is as deep. They know your game too, they know how to take you out of it and have since game 2. Show us your skill and intelligence and win this game like you won game 2.
Mr. LaPierre I understand your role for this team and every other team you have played on. You are the kind of player who is a necessary evil at times. It's what makes you effective. However, like your team mate that effectiveness is now questionable and you have to change. You have to play with utter abandon between the whistles and give the Bruins nothing after. As the immortal Lord Humungous said in the Road Warrior "All you have to do is walk away".
If you play with desire and 'empty the proverbial tank' you can help the Canucks and the city overcome 39 season of futility. You have the skill to be effective and make life hard for the Bruins with your style of play. Don't give them the emotional edge in their building. Don't add fuel to the fires burning all around this series. This team needs your physical and tenacious play. You can get inside the Bruins heads by leaving them yapping at the boards and not you. It's a difficult change but know you won't be looked down upon. It is because of you and your play that this team and city sit on the precipice of their first championship. I thank you but I want to thank you even more. Remember, the past so that you do not make the same mistakes.
To both of you, thanks for going into battle for our city. This series has shown that to win it requires more than antics and acts- it requires heart and desire just like every other time two teams have fought for the Cup. Show us what you have, we know it is there.
Thanks.
GO CANUCKS GO!
www.twitter.com/teddier
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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