A Wisely Sacrifice

Today, I woke up at 8 am in the morning, because I was going to have my driving test at 11:45 am. I ended up waking at 8:30, got dressed, ate breakfast and head out to practice some pulling over parking.

I came home in 30 minutes because my parents had to go out. Therefore I was home alone until 10:30 before my driving instructor came to pick me up. We spend 1 hour practicing, before my driving test at 11:45 am. I surely was on top of my game during practice. However, everything changed during my exam.

We went inside the ICBC building to get prepared for the driving test. I ended up paying 35 dollars for the exam fee. Was it expensive? No, not at all! Was it worth it? Not really.

My driving examiner was named, Miranda. A pretty nice lady I have to say. So first thing we did was checking to see if the car's wiper, low beam, high beam, turning signal lights and the break light was working or not.

After that, I pulled out and started my exam. To be honest, my performance today would just be like a young and inexperience hockey team going into the first game of the playoffs.

I was nervous when I was driving, therefore I made some minor mistakes and that would eventually cost my chance of passing. Yes, I failed my road test today, because of several factors : Driving Speed Limit, Car positioning, and shoulder check inconsistency.

At first I was pretty upset, because I was hoping I would pass, considered that I was on top of my game during practice. However, the thing that hurts the most was that my examiner was severely easy on me, and yet I still couldn't manage to pass. If I was to think of this in a positive way, it would be paying 35 dollars to learn my mistake, so that I don't repeat it next time!

I was pretty disappointed when I got home, but ironically my parents weren't. They kept mentioning how it's alright, because I get more experienced each time I fail. However, in my mind, each time I fail, I would be surrendering 35 dollars and I would consider that to be a waste of money.

After my mom left, my dad took me to a cafe in Vancouver for lunch. After that, he went to see a doctor while I patiently waited for him to be done.

We went home right after that. He went out for a run while I stayed home, to contact my friends, whether or not they wanted to come over to my place to watch the playoff game. One of my friend didn't have a car, therefore we canceled the whole thing.

To be honest, I didn't want to watch the game myself, because Vancouver hardly wins nowadays when I'm watching the game by myself.

My family was going out for dinner, and I lied to them that I will be having friends over, because I do not want to miss the game. They left me home alone while they went out to eat.

The game started at seven and that's when I started watching.

In the first period, Vancouver wasn't really playing well, surrendering a powerplay goal, on their only penalty of the period. Drew Doughty of the L.A Kings scored the goal when Roberto Luongo couldn't cover the puck steadily.

Vancouver's biggest weakness so far in this series was penalties. In game 3, they allowed three powerplay goals in all three penalties taken. Make this 4/4 on the powerplay for the kings. They lead 1-0 after one period.

In the second period, Vancouver was given a powerplay and Christian Ehrhoff scored on a slapshot from the slot, in which Jonathan Quick had no chance of stopping it. Finally Vancouver scored on the powerplay, something they also haven't had much success in. The game then was tied 1-1. Minutes later, Vancouver took another penalty. I was getting pretty frustrated seeing them take penalties. The Kings as usual would score on the powerplay and leads the game 2-1. Vancouver once again, took another penalty. However, THEY FINALLY KILLED IT OFF!! Wow, I cannot believe it, they actually killed a penalty!! Pavol Demitra later scored on a L.A turnover and tied the game 2-2. Minutes later, L.A scored again to make it 3-2, right after Luongo told one of his teammate, Shane O'Brien to calm down.

3-2 would be the score after 2 periods of the game.

In the 3rd period, Vancouver totally dominated the Kings. First off, they took a penalty, however the Kings did not score with the man advantage, and this gave Vancouver some momentum. I still didn't believe that they actually killed off 2 penalties in a row! Roberto Luongo made of the biggest save in the series, but stopping Alexander Frolov on the breakaway. My heart was panicking when Frolov had the breakaway chance, but Luongo stopped him! I kept saying to myself that this would be the turning point of the game, perhaps even the series too, but who knows.



7:29 into the 3rd period, Mikael Samuelsson scored on a perfect deflection when fellow linemate Henrik Sedin gave him a slap pass, tieing the game 3-3. Later on, Vancouver was given a powerplay and it gave them the chance to take the lead in the game. Sami Salo blasted a one timer slapshot from Henrik Sedin past Jonathan Quick, and Vancouver took its' first lead in the game, 4-3! Two powerplay goals by the Canucks! Wow, I did not believe this also, but it's about time the Kings learn who the Canucks really are. Right after the goal, the Kings pressed again, and Wayne Simmonds would tie the game 4-4, because the Canucks failed to get the puck out of their own zone. The goal gave me the nightmare of game 6 last year against Chicago, when the Blackhawks would score, seconds after Vancouver has taken the lead, because they didn't get the puck out of the zone. Thank goodness this wasn't the case in this game. With just over two minutes to go, HENRIK SEDIN SCORED!!!!! OUR MVP SCORED!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? I CAN!!!!! VANCOUVER LEADS 5-4!!! AMAZING!!!!! I totally loved the way he reacted to the goal, and it made my day! Though the celebration reminded me of game 5 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers, when Tim Duncan scored a fade-away basket with 0.4 seconds left to give the Spurs a 1 point lead. The whole team were hugging and jumping like they already won the game. However Derek Fisher of the Lakers would score the game winning basket and the Lakers beat the spurs by 1, in which everybody was like, "wtf just happened."





However, I reminded myself not to celebrate just yet. The Kings can still tie the game, like they did on their fourth goal. Henrik Sedin did great in killing as much time as possible, and the Kings could not score. Ryan Kesler would add an empty net and Vancouver won the game 6-4. The series is now tied at 2!!

I guess sacrificing 35 dollars and my family dinner wasn't too bad after all. I was able to learn from my mistake and enjoyed an entertaining game in which Vancouver prevailed.

Vancouver won today, because they were able to make good use of what they were better at and that was the 5 on 5. They totally dominated the Kings at 5 on 5s. 4/6 goals scored were 5 on 5s vs the kings' 2/4. Another factor that contributed to their victory was that, they were able to match what L.A was better at. That was the powerplay. L.A scored 2 powerplay goals, so did Vancouver. Unfortunately, Vancouver's 5 on 5 efficiency outperformed L.A's. That was why Vancouver prevailed!! Now they must continue with this for the rest of the series!

Game 5 on friday! Let's take the lead in this series!!!! Lets go Canucks!!!!!!