Music: {allcanada} 1993 winner Demers predicts Canucks will end Canada drought

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

{allcanada} 1993 winner Demers predicts Canucks will end Canada drought

For 18 years, Jacques Demers has held the distinction of being the coach of the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup.

He predicts that will end this year.

"I think the (Vancouver) Canucks have a great chance," said Demers, who won with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. "I think it will be Canucks in seven."

At the time of Demers' Cup, the Canadiens hadn't gone more than seven years without a championship. The Canucks pushed the New York Rangers to seven games the following year, then Canada went without a representative in the Final until the Calgary Flames lost Games 6 and 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.

"I thought with Jarome Iginla (FSY) that Calgary would have a shot," Demers said.

The Canucks are the third Canadian team to reach the Final in the salary-cap era and Demers said the cap helps because building a winner is even more about solid management rather than spending a lot of money.

Demers likes the job that Canucks general manager Mike Gillis did bringing in Dan Hamhuis (FSY) and Manny Malhotra (FSY) during the offseason and adding Maxim Lapierre (FSY) and Chris Higgins at the trade deadline.

The mix has gelled as Vancouver led the league in points and has reached the Final for the first time since 1994.

"Roberto Luongo (FSY) has stepped his game up to a different level," Demers said. "They've done extremely well getting help for the Sedins. They have some guys who have come forward for them in the playoffs. Ryan Kesler (FSY) is playing like a superstar. That's what the Sedins needed."

Demers says the series will be hard-fought, especially given the play of Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (FSY).

"But it's going to be very difficult for the Boston Bruins to win this Final if their special teams don't come forward, and they've just not been there for them," he said.

Demers, who spent close to three weeks in Vancouver last year as an analyst at the Olympics, says he'd be fine with losing his coaching distinction to the Canucks' Alain Vigneault.

"It would be great if Vancouver could raise the Stanley Cup. It's been a long time coming (for Canadian teams). And if it's going to happen — I'm not selling Boston short and automatically giving the Cup to Vancouver — I'm going to be very excited.

"I saw what happened the afternoon that (Canada) won the gold medal when I was walking the streets of Vancouver. I can just imagine what it will be like if Vancouver wins the Cup."