[Editor’s note: John Horn and Mark Atkinson were friends at Bishop’s University. But then Mark went to Nova Scotia and John moved to Vancouver. Sporadically, they kept in touch over the years, but – fortunately for you, the noble readers of the The Potentiality – their friendship has re-discovered itself thanks to hockey. More specifically thanks to the fact that Mark loves the Boston Bruins and John loves the Vancouver Canucks. Sure, after this series they can never be friends again. But the point is that you will benefit from their being nemesises nemeses nemesoulmates nemesi each others’ worst enemy! GO SPORTS!]

Re-Cap of Before

John: What do you need to know? Oh, how the Vancouver Canucks qualify as Stanley Cup Finalists? Right. Here are a few bullet points:

• President’s Trophy Winners? Check.
• Scoring champion? Check.
• Equally good twin of said scoring champion? Check.
• Vezina Trophy-candidate goalie? Check.
• Slaying hybrid dragon-monkey in epic first round battle? Check.
• Badass second line centre who will skate through the boards if he thinks it will help his team win? Check.
• Domination in the Western Conference Finals? Check.
• Pending return of gritty “team guy” who does nothing but kill penalties, win face-offs and drive the other team’s best players crazy? Check.
• Healthy defense and the ability to roll five-and-a-half lines? Check.
• Hilarious coach who makes press conferences fun? Check.
• Rabid fans who are ready to explode? Double check!

That is all.

Mark: I know that my beloved Boston Bruins knocked off their arch rivals, the Montreal Canadians in 7 games, I know that they stomped on the team with the second best record in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers, and I know that they knocked off the Tampa Bay Lightening in 7 games in the conference finals.  You beat your arch rivals, the guys who embarrassed you last year, and win a game 7 that was tied 0-0 without one single penalty called and you know that you have the drive to do it. Who did the Canucks beat to get here? With the exception of Chicago, Vancouver was tested in such hockey hotbeds as Nashville and San Jose. Nashville and San Jose!!! Be forewarned there ‘nucks fans, The Garden is not a friendly place for visiting teams. You ain’t in California or Tennessee anymore bub. And if this series goes to game 7, make sure you keep your eyes on Nathan Horton. He’s scored the game 7 winner against both Montreal and Tampa Bay.

Predictions: Game 1

Mark: The great unknown. It’s the unknown that has both worried and intrigued mankind for eternity. Western  Conference, you are the great unknown to us East coasters. All I know about the Vancouver Canucks is that they won the President’s Cup and they have some latex love freaks who wear full body suits to their hockey games. Best record in hockey? That’s a nice hat to hang in your locker, but since I don’t really follow the teams in the west, maybe you had it easy. Maybe you played all of your games against such perennial powerhouses as the Columbus Blue Jackets. I’m still of the belief that Colorado has a decent team. And who the hell is Manny Maholtra? All this fuss about whether he’ll return or not and I’ve never even heard his name before he tried to put his eyeball through a pane of glass. That’s his claim to fame, getting injured. I do, however, follow the Eastern Conference with unparallelled vigour.

The puck drops at 8pm eastern tonight. Both teams have been kicked back spinning their wheels for a while, so I’m not anticipating a real wide open, fast paced first period. Thomas and Luongo will both make stupid decisions that ALMOST cost their team the first goal. I’m thinking 1-0 Boston after one period. Those Sedin fellas seem to have some skill, but once Chara runs Kesler in to the stanchion and puts him out, we can focus on those red headed hamburgers, and if you shut one down you shut them both down. I’ll give you a goal or two in the second, but Boston will be leading after all three periods.

John: After overcoming some early jitters because the corporate, texty and too-cool-to-cheer Rogers Arena crowd actually gets excited, the Canucks settle down and draw some early penalties. I think that Luongo will let in at least one so-so goal, but not a soft goal. Zdeno Chara will continue to be tall. He – as will the rest of the Boston defense – will turn the puck over the the neutral zone like Kurt Heinrich turns over a satay chicken stacker. A lot. Finally, the Campbell-conspiracy will make my dad yell about how the NHL, Don Cherry, the rest of Canada, and the International Monetary Fund are vehemently anti-Canucks. Final score: 4-2 Vancity.

[INSERT TRASH TALK HERE]

John: Mark Atkinson, you ski like the Boston Bruins play hockey: slow, grinding, and possibly with a concussion. Also, your Bridgewater-dialect makes you sound like a drunken compilation of all the worst Adam Sandler characters. Finally, it takes a special man/probable-bear-in-disguise to love a team like Boston. I mean, I know that Nova Scotians have no regional team to call their own, but why didn’t you just do what everyone else does and pick the Montreal Canadians? You know, the Original Six team that sucks now but used to be pretty good. Not like Boston. I mean, Vancouver was in the Cup Finals more recently than B-Money was. Oh, as an addendum, I stole money and things from you after you passed out before going to the bar during university. I’ll use the money/things for our bet on the series, which is $6,093. Yeah, I’m a terrible person, too.

Mark: For those of you who are not aware of my pedigree, I spend a significant amount of time with my rear-end parked on a bar stool. For tonight’s game, I will have it parked at the local Boston Pizza in downtown Halifax. I have heard that the Boston Pizza’s in Vancouver have been advertised as Vancouver Pizza as of late. That’s fine. They did the same thing in Montreal and look where that got them. During the first round, I was surrounded by Habs fans, second round was pretty much 50/50 Boston/Philly, last round I had real, live Bostonian chicks next to me. You’d think that since Vancouver happens to be in Canada, that they would have the majority of the fans all across the country. That might be true in most provinces, but not in Atlantic Canada. We basically like three teams: The Habs, The Leafs, and The Bruins, and I can’t wait to be surrounded by Bruins fans tonight when that final horn blows and we take the first game in your own rink. As a final note, it just so happens that my lovely girlfriend is heading to BC for the summer on Saturday. She’ll tell you that it’s to spend time with her family, etc. but the real story is that ever since my Pittsburgh Steelers beat her Baltimore Ravens, she’s been dreading this Bruins/Canucks match up, and just wouldn’t be able to deal with me after the Bruins win the cup.

[Editor’s note: here is a video that is making the rounds on the Internets – the character in the video is very similar to John’s friend Mark; Mark’s better looking, though].

PS. Care to wager a picture in the opposing teams garb when all is said and done there Horn? Bruins win, you don a bruins t-shirt, and if the Canucks win, I’ll take a pic with a stupid orca on my chest?

John: Done. Shirt-wearing embarrassment it is!