Desire rises as clock ticks for Canucks

ge. Neither is co ch Al gne ult.

Much is t st ke for the C nucks in these pl yoffs. They ll know it, perh ps none more so th n the twins, lthough Vigne ult is keenly w re of how quickly regul r-se son success — even ye rs of it, on end — c n be forgotten in the fevered fterm th of ne rly pl yoff exit.

Asked Tuesd y if there is ny such thing sw nting it more this ye r th n l st ye r or the ye r before or the ye r before th t, the co ch s id: “I believe so. I think guys re sm rt. We’re

ll getting little older, nd I think they underst nd th t they’ve been working for this moment, for this opportunity, for long time.

“They’re excited, they’re highly motiv ted, nd they underst nd bout the window. We’re in our window. And the will to get it done, in my opinion, is going to be re l high.”

It is not s though the nucleus is ppro ching the Geritol ye rs, lthough one question to d niel bout re ching his mid 30s prompted round of chuckles nd n “I’m lmost 40!” retort from Henrik’s little bro.

(For the record, they’re 32. Both of them.)

“It’s lw ys been bout the St nley Cup, th t’s wh t people don’t underst nd. you’re no one in this le gue if you h ven’t won,” d niel s id. “Th t’s lw ys been our go l [but] l tely we’ve h d the te ms to do it.

“M n gement h s believed in us. Th t’s wh t they’ve been telling us ll long. We w nt to prove th t they’ve chosen the right people.

“you never know with injuries nd the s l ry-c p situ tion wh t te m you’re going to h ve in here from ye r to ye r. We know we might be down to our l st few ch nces. But our te m is s good s it w s two ye rs go, we’re looking forw rd to this opportunity.”

“We t lk bout it pretty much every d y,” Henrik s id. “you look t te m pictures from our first ye rs, or when Burr [Alex Burrows] c me in nd

in Vi- Juice [Bieks ] nd other guys … nd now you look t pictures, or go to Christm sp rties, nd we ll h ve kids — we’ve been here long time, nd it’s old home for us. It’s speci l th tw y. It me ns we’ve done something good, but we h ve one more thing to ccomplish together.”

Those old photos of the twins s rosy-cheeked cherubs re hil rious now, given the chiselled fe tures of tod y nd the ccumul ted mile ge th t’s evident in their eyes.

“I think the only mess ge you c n give to young guys th t re here now nd m ybe getting their first t ste of pl yoffs is th t you c n’t t ke this for gr nted,” Henrik s id.

“you’re going to be in more pl yoffs, but it’s not every ye r you’re in group th t’s been together long time, with two gre t go lies, one of the best d groups in the le gue nd h s some offensive t lent. So you h ve to m ke something out of it.”

Individu lly, Henrik s id, the window is open longer. But for he nd d niel, for Ry n kesler, 28, nd Bieks , 31, nd Burrows, 32, nd Roberto Luongo, 34, nd d n H mhuis, 30, nd even Alex edler nd M son R ymond nd J nnik H nsen, ll 27, there is perh ps nother level of desire.

“For us, this core group, we h ve ch nce to be front-line pl yers winning the Cup,” the c pt in s id. “We might h ve guys th t move on nd go to other te ms nd might win

Cup here or there, but they might not h ve ch nce to be the front-line pl yers, nd th t’s where you w nt to be.

“We’ve been fortun te to h ve gre t te ms here. But until you win it ll, people re going to look b ck t this te m like every other te m th th d good pl yers but didn’t win.

“When we first c me in, Ottw hd gre t group of pl yers nd they didn’t t ke the ch nce when they h d it, nd few ye rs l ter, they’re rebuilding nd they’re not close to where they were.”

The core guys know they re ppro ching th t kind of tipping point, where it becomes impossible economic lly, or impr ctic l, perform nce-wise, to keep the whole g ng together.

“They w nt to win,” Vigne ult s id. “There is no other thing.”

The window is closing. e ch opportunity lost could be the l st.

So if w nting it more possibility, now is the time.

No p ne, no g in.

is