This is from the link:
By Gene Principe
June 15, 2011
It started as a simple answer to a question that was put forward to Ryan Kesler on Tuesday.
'What will be different about Game 7 on Wednesday night of the Stanley Cup final compared with when you played the 2010 Olympic gold-medal game in Vancouver?'
The Vancouver Canucks forward responded by saying, "It's tough to compare the two, but I think one difference is I've got 18,000 on my side this time and an entire city and country. It's going to be a little different that way."
Well Kesler wouldn't be laughing after I tweeted his quote with the response I received from Canadians. It was pretty surprising. In fact, I was shocked at what people had to say. Here are some of the responses:
"B.S. Canada's not pulling for them I hope they get pummelled."
"Who in this country is on his side?"
"Entire country on his side? Who's he kidding?"
"About 80 percent of the people I've talked to hate the Canucks and want the Bruins to win."
"I wouldn't say the entire country. Half the people I know don't want Canucks to win."
"I'm from Canada but I'm not rooting for a bunch of divers and embellishers"
"Kesler thinks entire country is behind him. He better think again and again and again."
"Entire country on his side? Please"
There's just a sample of the responses I received from Alberta to Manitoba and from Ontario all the way to Nova Scotia.
Yes, the Canucks aren't choirboys with the biting and other antics but the Bruins aren't exactly a group of angels. It's the Stanley Cup final -- no time to make friends but why so many enemies for Vancouver?
I think part of the response is due to who it came from. Kesler was the man who said he hated Canada -- that was country versus country. However, in the battle of city versus city, Kesler figured the rest of the nation has his back. Apparently that's not the case.
There is also the perception that you can't like the Canucks because … well … they're the Canucks. They don't carry themselves the way an elite team should. Not sure I buy that argument.
I use the pre-game antics of Game 6 and Bruins forward Shawn Thornton shooting the puck at Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo during warm-up. It was looked upon as one team-mate standing up for another as in Thornton standing up for Bruins netminder Tim Thomas who had been critiqued by Luongo. Imagine if Canucks winger Alex Burrows had done that. Do you think the response would be nearly the same? My guess is no.
Sometimes people don't like a winner, and while they haven't won the Cup, they have developed into a winning organization with one more step to go.
And then there are the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel. Even though they may soon be back-to-back Hart trophy winners, there seems to be an underlying resentment because the Sedins either play together or not at all.
The vitriol could stem from the fact that Kesler doesn't smile much or because Burrows and Maxim Lapierre are the both annoying to play against. Could it be Roberto Luongo's good looks, slick hair and $10 million a year deal?
I'm not sure any of the above reasons are enough to hate the Canucks but something has done it and made Boston more of the sentimental favourite.
Ryan Kesler was two-thirds right: 18,000 and an entire city will be cheering on the Canucks but it doesn't sound like the rest of the country will, although, I'm still not quite sure why.
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