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Who is the biggest villain on the Canucks? You be the judge 06.12.11 at 12:19 am ET
By WEEI

You’re going to find this hard to believe, but there are about five area codes full of people in New England who don’t like certain members of the Canucks these days. Some of it stems from the fact the Bruins are in a 3-2 Stanley Cup finals hole. But it stretches beyond just the issues that face Claude Julien‘s team as it sits on the brink of elimination.

It has gotten personal.

Which Canucks player is the biggest villain?

  • Alexandre Burrows (63.0%, 239 Votes)
  • Maxim Lapierre (20.0%, 76 Votes)
  • Aaron Rome (9.0%, 36 Votes)
  • Daniel and Henrik Sedin (4.0%, 15 Votes)
  • Roberto Luongo (3.0%, 13 Votes)

Total Voters: 379

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So the question is this: Which member of the Canucks has raised your ire the most? The choices are …

ALEX BURROWS

Age: 30

Position: Wing

Reason for ire: Burrows got the animosity kicked into high gear in Game 1 when he (allegedly) chomped down on Patrice Bergeron‘s finger. Making matters worse was when the NHL offered no disciplinary action, leading to Burrows scoring two goals in Game 2, including the game-winner in overtime. Milan Lucic eased the pain of Bruins fans a bit in Game 3 by first pounding the forward’s head during a scrum, and then taunting him by offering his own finger. Yet, still, Burrows has already ingrained himself in Boston sports lore with his dastardly actions.

ROBERTO LUONGO

Age: 32

Position: Goalie

Reason for ire: Luongo was cruising along through the finals, simply serving as the other team’s goalie who had some good games, and (much to the delight of Bruins fans) some really bad ones. But then came the press conference following Game 5, when he uttered the following phrase regarding Max Lapierre‘s goal against Tim Thomas: “It’s not hard if you’re playing in the paint,” Luongo said of the difficulty of the play. “It’s an easy save for me, but if you’re wandering out and aggressive like he does, that’s going to happen. He might make some saves that I won’t, but in a case like that, we want to take advantage of a bounce like that and make sure we’re in a good position to bury those.” Matters were only made worse Saturday when Luongo not only didn’t back off the statement, but commented about how Thomas hadn’t complimented him (see video below).

MAX LAPIERRE

Age: 26

Position: Center

Reason for ire: Lapierre first entered Bruins’ fans radar in Game 2 when he took “Bite-Gate” to another level, taunting Bergeron by holding out his finger as an offering to pull a “Burrows.” Boston’s Mark Recchi enacted some revenge by executing the same sort of shenanigans in Game 3, presenting his own finger to Lapierre for a sampling. Then came the ultimate disgrace in the eyes of Bruins fans: Lapierre scored the game-winner in Game 5. In the eyes of Boston fans, simply unacceptable.

AARON ROME

Age: 27

Position: Defenseman

Reason for ire: He left his feet to deliver the crushing open-ice hit on Nathan Horton that resulted in a concussion and the Bruins losing one of their top scorers for the rest of the playoffs. Sure, Rome tried to reach out to Horton to express his concern for the winger, and the NHL suspended Rome for four games, a period that will cover the rest of the Stanley Cup finals.

None of that is of any consolation to the Bruins, who lost one of their top offensive players while the Canucks go without a third-pairing defenseman. Most New Englanders viewed the play as dirty, and with the B’s offense sputtering in Game 5, it certainly could have been a difference-maker in the series.

HENRIK AND DANIEL SEDIN

Ages: 31

Position: Forward

Reason for ire: The were supposed to represent the reason Bruins fans should be wary of going up against the Canucks, but have done little live up to their reputation. They have been pushed around, with nary a sign of fighting back with what can be a boatload of hockey wizardry. But besides the fact that the twins are being viewed as posers by many who follow the B’s, also not helping their reputation was the pregame introduction the pair executed prior to Game 2, in which they called Burrows a vegetarian.

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  • Steve

    None of them are villans. They need only 1 more for the cup. After which as Jack Edwards would say ” All the bruins and their fans can go off into the summer sunset that is hockey’s offseason. QUIET!!! ” GO CANUCKS GO!!!

  • goarmy

    Are you kidding me!They dont even do a good job of pretending to be a real hockey team. This isn’t just a complaint because the Bruins are down. The Canucks are a bunch of frauds and it will be embarassing to see such a lame ass bunch take the cup.

  • Steve_in_MA

    Look, all of this garbage is in the past. The media keeps trying to resuscitate this crap because they have nothing else to write about. Its all even in terms of scores to settle and they are all just players. The job is in front of us, not behind us. What matters is us, not them. Our discipline, desperation, skill and toughness are forthcoming. Then we board a plane and must carry all that over onto their home ice. Its a big, tough mountain to climb, but we are up to the task. B’s.

  • Steve

    I agree that Burrows should not have bitten Bergeron, and that was a cheapshot hit by Rome,and Luongo did not need to say what he did. However I am still pulling for Vancouver because I know a couple of bruin fans who are very arrogant. Nothing really against the players themselves, I just do’t want to hear a couple of their fans.

  • Canuckistanian

    If Bergeron doesn’t like getting his fingers bitten
    maybe he shouldn’t stick them in peoples mouths. Go Canucks Go
    .. and even Canucks fans agree Romes hit was cheap shot
    . Lu is the man.. Tim Thomas is good too.. But we all
    know Canucks are gonna win it all BABY !!! WEEEEOOOO!!!!
    GO CANUCKS GOO!!!!!!

  • Philip Levine

    The style of play by the Vancouver Canucks is unusual, bitting a player’s finger, hooking the neck of Tim Thomas, blind-siding the highest goal scorer Horton, seems to reflect on the style of play demanded by the Canucks head coach, Alain Vigneault.
    This style of play by the Canucks is not normal, and the NHL would do well
    to test the Vancouver Canuck players for drugs, probably stimulants. If the head coach Vigneault is responsible for encouraging drug use, he should not only be banned for life from the NHL, he should be brought up on criminal charges.
    How could the Canucks cheapen the Stanely Cup any more than they already have?

  • escapetheflames

    You guys cry about the ‘late hit’ and say nothing about Chara’s intentional taking of the hand and driving Paccioretti’s head into a stanchion. They both got interference calls. Deal with it. It wasn’t a head shot, Mike Murphy said so. If he evaluated it and decided it wasn’t a head shot, we have to go with that. The video shows it as well. Not a head snot. It was, in fact, interference…because it was late. If it was something else, they would have said so and meted out more discipline. It wasn’t a head shot already! Mike Murphy made it clear that he gave the discipline based on the injury and not the rules of hockey. Read the quotes on his ruling. It’s a problem infesting the NHL lately.

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