HockeySedins refuse to make excuses after crushing loss

Beginning of Story Content

Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin, left, shakes hands with Boston's Dennis Seidenberg after Game 7. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Moments after their Game 7 failure of the Stanley Cup Final, Vancouver's Henrik and Daniel Sedin took the disappointment like men, and not like "Thelma and Louise" as they were described by analyst Mike Milbury on NBC earlier in the series.

Along with a few teammates, the twins stood near their stalls in the Vancouver Canucks dressing room and answered questions about the frustrating 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins, and the dream of winning the Stanley Cup gone for another season.

Some of their teammates retired to the players' lounge to shave off their playoff beards and deal with the loss, but the Sedins took the heat and blamed themselves.

Even when captain Henrik was asked what injury may or may not have troubled him in the final, he remarked, "Scoring slump."

"We're not going to make any excuses," he said. "Every team has injuries and we battled though a lot of injuries this year.

"We scored eight goals. Daniel and I are the team's leading scorers. If we don't do that, we're not going to win."

Was this a matter of a great regular-season team that went cold and a good team in the Bruins that got hot? Or was this a matter of a good team simply beaten by one of the best performances from a goaltender ever, in Boston's Tim Thomas?

Probably, both reasons.

Nothing came easy for the Canucks when the Stanley Cup playoffs began two months ago. At first, when they jumped out to a 3-0 lead over their nemesis Chicago Blackhawks, it appeared that the post-season was simply going to be a continuation of the regular season for the Presidents' Trophy winners.

But the 2009-10 Stanley Cup champs battled back to tie the series, only to see the Canucks prevail in overtime in Game 7.

The Canucks' struggles continued in the second round, but snuck by the Nashville Predators. Then they put their act together in a five-game thumping against the San Jose Sharks in the West final.

Goals hard to come by

In the Cup final, the Canucks continued to pile up wins with two at home to start the series. But goals were hard to come by, and when the Bruins found their scoring touch at home the series turned in their favour, even though they did lose a 1-0 contest in Game 5 at Rogers Arena.

"Eight goals in seven games wasn't good enough," Daniel said. "It was good enough to get us to a seventh game, but not good enough to win.

"It's our job to score and we didn't get the job done. It's extremely disappointing."

It's too simple to blame Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo. Of course, he was outplayed by Thomas, but his teammates' lack of production put too much pressure on Luongo.

"I'm disappointed and we're devastated as a team," said Luongo, who gave up 18 goals in the four games he lost in the series.

"The playoffs, the last couple of months, is the hardest thing I've had to deal with mentally."

Some of his teammates must have felt the heat, too. Henrik and Daniel have won back-to-back scoring championships, but scored only one goal apiece in the final. Ryan Kesler, a 41-goal scorer in the regular season, had only one assist.

Kesler had six shots on goal in the finale, but refused to divulge if he played hurt. He suffered a groin injury in the last game of the series against the Sharks, but did return to finish that outing.

"I did everything I possibly could today," said Kesler, on the verge of tears. "I can hold my head up high, but it hurts. It definitely hurts right now."

End of Story Content

Back to accessibility links