If there’s something we can recall about Vancouver teams from the recent past in their playoff losses to Chicago it’s how they always seemed to fall apart mentally against the Blackhawks. While Chicago found ways to frustrate them with their play on the ice and doing lots of chirping to get the Canucks to respond with dumb penalties or poor play, this year’s Canucks team has had a brand of cool about them that gives them a sort of Zen feel to their game, especially after their comeback win in Game 2 against Boston to take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals.
No more do we see Roberto Luongo throwing his defensemen to the wolves after a bad loss nor do we see the harsh acting out from Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler. These Canucks are calm, cool, and collected and there’s a good reason for that. Vancouver’s getting the assistance of a Boston University professor and sports psychologist to help them better prepare.
Amalie Benjamin of The Boston Globe tells us about Len Zaichkowsky and the magic he’s been working on the Canucks to help them better prepare for games.“We try to quantify everything, measure stuff as well as we can,’’ Zaichkowsky said. “There are some things that are hard to measure, but it’s hard to argue with the success of the team. You can’t make attributions to any one thing. I think it’s a lot of things, starting with getting good players and good coaches and then we try to add value in everything that we do, in preparation and in their playing.’’
Much of the work Zaichkowsky does is making sure players know “the importance of total preparation in both mind and body.’’ It’s something, he said, that is always talked about, but is not always done. It’s his job to change that.This kind of in depth attention to detail can be key and Zaichkowsky’s work has clearly paid off this year for Vancouver. The Canucks aren’t as distracted by things these days and it’s obvious. Even the Alex Burrows biting situation didn’t force the Canucks to change their demeanor or how they’ve prepared for the series. With that sort of circus surrounding the team, it’d be easy to lose your focus but the Canucks have stayed strong no matter what. Should the Canucks go on to win the Stanley Cup giving Zaichkowsky a Stanley Cup ring would be more than worth it.