Well then.

It's begun.

And thank God for that.

The Stanley Cup playoffs mean different things to different people.

And to each person the playoffs and what they mean changes continually.

For instance, I recall lacing up my rollerblades and shooting the tennis ball against the wooden fence at the end of my parents' driveway.

This was back in the '94 playoffs during those delicious hours between school and when the Toronto Maple Leafs took on the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round.

Our town like many towns in this country had just been beaten by the winter, which left the remaining snow browned and crusted with the dirt used on the icy January streets.

I can't remember what I was thinking as I broke a sweat in the driveway, the sun becoming warmer and warmer as the Leafs slowly melted away (in the semis) and the Vancouver Canucks got hot, but it probably had something to do with being great on the ice, moving like Pavel Bure or shooting like Wendel Clark.

There were many years like that, when it's easy to romanticize the sun and the way it remained bright even in the third period of those later games.

I got that similar feeling last night while watching Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarter-finals between the Canucks and those dreaded Blackhawks.

It's happened just about every year recently, when I'd become excited about the NHL again in the spring.

I haven't really had a team since the Leafs in '94.

Though like most fair weathered fans I hope to see a Canadian club bring the Cup home.

Even while broadening my parameters – cheating a little, as it were – my heart, which begins in April with an indifferent beat and which thumps wildly in June, somehow gets broken.

Funny, I never thought I cared that much.

Last night my heart began to patter a little more quickly when I watched Canuck forward Chris Higgins tip defenseman Kevin Bieksa's point shot in past Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford in the first period.

Then came my heart again flushed with excitement watching Canuck Ryan Kesler block a shot that led to Jannik Hansen take off on a breakaway.

Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, contrary to his past playoff games against Chicago, was sharp when he needed to be sharp, making highlight reel stops, especially the toe save against Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell late in the first.

The Canucks are good, great even, no question.

Their regular-season stats are all over the TV right now. "They've led the league in everything this season,” one sportscaster noted.

As are the stats alluding to Vancouver's poor performances against Chicago in the past two playoffs, when the Hawks eliminated the Canucks in the second round – twice – winning the previous five playoff games in B.C. and outscoring them 27-12.

But this year's different, seems to be the consensus of those guys in suits on CBC and TSN.

This year is different, true. The Canucks have never looked so sharp, and I can't recall the last time a Canadian club went into the playoffs as heavy favourites.

It feels good.

But the Hawks, reigning Stanley Cup champions – who finished eighth in the regular season, barely squeaking past Dallas to make the post season – still looked sharp last night.

They hit, what, four posts?

They picked up their game in the second.

Before then, while watching the first, I thought, ‘Oh yeah – the Canucks look like a Stanley Cup winning team,' and they did; but in the second the game opened up.

Do you think the Hawks are going to start the first period of Friday's Game 2 so slowly?

Major adjustments will be made. These guys are professionals. They don't get down mentally like you or I get down.

Luckily for Canucks fans – or fare weathered Canucks fans like myself – they don't get up mentally like you or I get up.

The Canucks will probably go on to win the series – I'm going to say because I believe Luongo will finally show up, if last night's game is any indication – but then there's another, and another, and another.

And with each series Luongo will see fewer and fewer pucks.

The Sedin twins will be marked by more deft and determined players.

This is true of the series against the Blackhawks, and it will grow if the Canucks can manage them.

The point is, with all the stats on their side, the Canucks will still need a bit of luck to win this thing.

Hard work, skill, goaltending, etc., are all mandatory.

I feel guilty or stupid for suggesting that all that, even performed at the highest level, is not enough to get through to the second, and third, and fourth round.

But it's sure going to be fun watching them try while sitting in a Whitehorse pub, so far from the dirty driveway in Labrador City in '94.

Lets hope the Canucks' luck changes only by a single degree.