Vancouver Canucks proud of winning Presidents’ Trophy yet again –NHL Update
Winning the Presidents’ Trophy has become a norm for Vancouver Canucks as the top Canadian and Western Conference team won the award for the second straight season after defeating Edmonton Oilers, 3-0, on Saturday, April 7, 2012, in their 2011-2012 National
Hockey League (NHL) regular season finale.
Vancouver was tied going into their last matchup with St. Louis Blues, a team that led by as many as 10 points at one moment in the top Western Conference spot, but a late recovery helped Canucks get back into position.
"Our guys really came out and showed that they wanted to play well," Vancouver coach, Alain Vigneault, said. "We pushed the pace, took the momentum, and showed we wanted this."
Finishing off with 111 points, Vancouver led St. Louis Blues and top Eastern Conference team, New York Rangers, by two points to take the award for yet another season. The achievement might not be citied as anything big for Canucks now as they failed to
take the Stanley Cup from Boston Bruins last year, but for Vancouver, it is another step towards their ultimate goal.
“Winning the Presidents' Trophy means that we've had a good year,” Vigneault added. “This group has played some real solid hockey. We've been consistent and to win it again says a lot about the quality of the people we have playing the games night in and
night out. Obviously I think everybody could tell by the way we came out in this game our guys really wanted to have a good game tonight and that's what we did.”
Going up against Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the 2012 NHL playoffs will certainly be exciting for Vancouver as both teams hold great goaltending capabilities along with a number of strong forwards to score some goals.
Los Angeles termed it to be a huge start to playoffs since if they manage to take down Vancouver in the opening round, things will eventually get easier for them down the road. Vancouver Canucks on the other hand, have faced some tough competition these
past few postseasons and consider Kings to be competitive but not as much to lose the series to.
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