BOSTON - The Vancouver Canucks have been using a motivational tool behind closed doors while trying to complete their journey to the summit of the Stanley Cup.
A picture of the trophy on top of a mountain gets a carabiner added to the chain with each successive victory. Heading into Game 6 on Monday night, they were one win away from completing the link on a picture that reads "No Shortcuts To The Top."
The picture was seen sitting in the dressing room after Monday's morning skate, but the Canucks weren't too eager to discuss it.
"You're not supposed to know about that my friend," said defenceman Kevin Bieksa. "You've got privileged information. That's something we don't talk about, that's our own personal thing. That's our jacket."
The Boston Bruins have drawn motivation throughout the playoffs by handing out a vintage-style team jacket to the player that contributed the most to each victory. When Nathan Horton was knocked out of Game 3 by a big hit from Aaron Rome, the jacket hung in his locker. He made an emotional return to the dressing room after Game 4 to hand it off to Rich Peverley.
When asked about the jacket earlier in the series, Bieksa cracked that it was something a peewee team might do.
The origin of the picture used by the Canucks is tied to world-class climber Ed Viesturs, who has reached the summit of Mount Everest seven times. He's given motivational speeches to the NHL team.
"He spoke to us at the beginning of the season and spoke to us before the playoffs," said Bieksa. "So he's been our guy."
There were plenty of lessons to be taken from Viesturs.
"The challenges and teamwork obviously," said Bieksa. "He summits a lot of the peaks but it takes a whole team just to get up there. It's months and months of climbing and it's years and years of training, too.
"There's a lot of parallels there."
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