Sometimes, it's a slap shot from the point; other times, a lucky bounce wobbling past the goal line. However it goes down, there comes an instant when hockey puck hits twine - and a city knows it's bound for the big time. When Kevin Bieksa scored a double-overtime game-winner against the San Jose Sharks, the Vancouver Canucks entered that moment - and vaulted an entire city to the national spotlight. Calgary had its moment in 2004. Edmonton flicked the euphoria switch in 2006; Ottawa the very next year. Some might say Vancouver has been twice spoiled, with Stanley Cup fever following hard on the afterglow of the Olympic Winter Games. But nothing electrifies Canadians like a run for Lord Stanley's Cup.
The Huffington Post Canada asked writer Raina Delisle to document a city making hockey history.
It's 20 minutes to game time and the party is in full swing. Two thousand people have gathered outside the CBC building in downtown Vancouver to watch the Canucks sink the Sharks for the Western Conference title.
The city hasn't come out to play like this since the Olympics. Kids wait in line to have their faces painted green, blue and white. Fan after fan is having a picture taken with the three-metre-tall replica shark a young artist rigged up on his truck. Everyone is wearing Canucks regalia, even babies, dogs and cats. White towels, flags and "Go Canucks Go" posters are flying high. Canadian music is blaring. The crowd does the wave. And then a familiar voice commands attention. The game is about to begin.
"Welcome to beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia," Hockey Night in Canada's Ron MacLean booms. Vancouverites' collective heart swells. What follows on the big screen brings tears to a few fans' eyes: A montage featuring memorable moments from the series - think Jamie McGinn flying head over heels after a spectacular Keith Ballard hit - interspersed with iconic scenes of Vancouver, like a seaplane flying over the city's spectacular harbour.
"We live in the most beautiful city in the world and we have the best hockey team," says emotional teenage fan Amanda Wang.
"It's amazing, it's absolutely amazing," CBC Fan Zone organizer Lien Yeung gushes, looking out at the crowd. "Those are the only words to describe the city coming together like this. A big part of it for us is recapturing that Olympic spirit. People were yearning for it, dying for it -- that high-fiving down the street -- and I think we've been able to achieve that. You can see the sheer excitement."
The moment Yeung finishes her thought, left-winger Alexandre Burrows scores the opening goal and the crowd's cheers reverberate through the downtown condos. "This city has become all hockey, all the time, and it's fabulous," Yeung says.
Leaning up against his black Ford pickup, Michael Marcellin might be the only person at the street party not wearing 'Nucks' garb. He also quietly admits that he's not a huge Canucks fan. Still, Marcellin is planning to do it up for the finals: If the Canucks play the Boston Bruins, he'll pull out his six-foot Styrofoam cartoon bear and hang it by one foot with a bear trap.
Like many bandwagon-jumpers, Marcellin says he's getting swept up in the excitement and is enjoying the feeling of togetherness. "It's great to see all the different cultures coming together for Vancouver," he says, surveying the scene from his VIP parking spot in front of CBC.
The Canucks' playoff run has galvanized the city. When Burrows scored the overtime goal in Game 7 against Chicago -- pawing the puck, skating into the slot and slapping it past Corey Crawford -- fans were using their white towels to wipe sweaty brows and dab moist eyes.
The Game 7 goal was one of the biggest in Canuck franchise history. The day after Burrows delivered, his wife did. With her husband at her side, Nancy Burrows gave birth to the couple's first child.
Incidentally, the seventh most popular name for baby boys in hockey crazed B.C. is Mason ... as in 'Nucks forward Mason Raymond.
When the Canucks headed to San Jose for two games over the May long weekend, thousands of die-hard fans followed them there, taking over bars and belting out a boisterous O Canada in San Jose's home arena, the punishing "Shark Tank"' even before the national anthems were sung. Krzysztof Piesik drove 16 hours to take in both games with four friends, horns and an indestructible sign reading, "Can't Beat Canucks" on one side and "Canada's Best Choice" on the other.
"It was really awesome to watch our team play in another building and to see so many Canucks fans follow us along," Piesik said. "I think sports can really unite a population. You put aside any stupid differences you might have day to day and really get stoked on your team."
Piesik said the trip was well worth it. While the team lost Game 3, giving away three power-play goals, they came back to win Game 4 and become the first team in Stanley Cup playoff history to score three five-on-three power-play goals in the same game. "When we won Game 4, it was pandemonium," Piesik said.
And when defenceman Kevin Bieksa scored his double-overtime goal sending the Canucks to the Stanley Cup finals, you didn't need to be near a TV to know that history was made.
As Alexander Edler, Bieksa, Burrows and the Sedin twins piled into the arms of goalie Roberto Luongo, who stopped more than 50 shots that game, strangers embraced in the Fan Zone. As that silly confetti fell on the ice and tripped up the players, fans fell to their knees in living rooms across the city. In a scene reminiscent of Team Canada's Olympic win, the streets of Vancouver bloated with revellers as the capacity crowd of 18,860 burst out of Rogers Arena to join the celebration.
"I've been watching the Canucks not get a cup for 40 years, but this year they're going to do it," said super-fan Ward Baron, standing beside his blue Volkswagon Golf that he's transformed into a "Canuck-mobile," complete with a stuffed orca hood ornament, hockey-stick roof rack and puck-adorned hubcaps.
"This is like the Olympics," Baron said. "Wow, what a feeling, eh? What a feeling."
Having a winning team is excellent for a city's morale and it's also good for businesses that feed the frenzy. On Mainland Street in Yaletown, the games have been showing on six packed patios within two blocks. At Hub Restaurant and Lounge, fans have been closely watching Mason Raymond because when the wingers scores, so do they. Hub has been offering a round of drinks on the house in exchange for a goal by Raymond.
Why Mason? "He's an exciting player," bar owner Bill Marsh said while getting ready for Game 5. "We wanted to choose a player who there would be a lot of excitement around when he scores."
So far, Raymond has put away the puck twice in the post-season, scoring the series-winning goal in Nashville against the Predators and netting the fifth goal in the Game 2, 7-3 blowout against the Sharks. "Everyone was going crazy," Marsh recalled, adding that having a successful team is good for business.
It's a sentiment echoed by Chris Hall, owner of the Sin Bin, a sports bar in the Olympic Village. "People are getting back into that spirit they had during the Olympics and getting excited for something cool going on in their city," Hall said as he put white towels on the back of the chairs before Game 5, adding that the bar has given away 3,000 towels to date. "It's been so long since the Canucks have been to the Stanley Cup finals, I think the city is definitely ready for it."