Tonight marks the beginning of a defining moment, to be played out over two weeks, in the history of the Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks stand on the doorstep of the first championship in the history of the franchise. Fitting that now, in the 40th year of the team's existence, the Canucks will take one of two paths.

The first is that of a franchise, and a city, coming of age.  The Olympics last spring were a real coming out party for Vancouver on the world stage.  They were a culmination of both the economic and cultural maturation that has occurred here on the Wet Coast.  The athletes, the organizers, and the city all performed admirably.  Yes, Vancouver has grown up a lot in the past 40 years.

So, too, have the Vancouver Canucks. They have gone from a perennial loser with a few sporadic finals runs and spells of success to one of the league's model franchises.  The Canucks, while often failing in the playoffs, have been a consistent contender in the West for the past ten years.  As an organization they have excelled as well.  Operated by private, local ownership the Canucks are leaders in ticket sales, corporate sponsorship, and in the oh-so-coveted Social Media frontier.

If the Canucks were to win the Stanley Cup it would be the feather in a city's already enviously-stylish cap (purchased on Robson for $300).

However, if they don't, the picture isn't quite as rosy.

While 40 years without a Cup is by no means unheard of (ah-hem, Leafs) it certainly isn't anything to write home about.  The longest Cup drought ever was 53 years by the New York Rangers which ended in 1994 at the hands of, oh right, the Canucks.  The second longest was that of the Chicago Blackhawks who went home winless in 47 straight years until last year when they too lifted the Cup - making sure to beat the Canucks along the way in the second round, for the second straight year.  Currently there are two longer cup droughts (St Louis and Los Angeles) and another that stands at 40 years also (Buffalo too entered the league in 1970).  That's not exactly impressive company.

Canucks fans can only take so much heartbreak.  The die-hards will always be there but there is a certain fickle element of the fan base (the "bandwagoners" that Toronto ex-pats love to point out as they walk the Seawall in February in a t-shirt) that might be reaching it's breaking point.  I went to a game in the '94 run against Dallas.  I remember the end of game 7 against New York.  There is a good portion of the Canucks nation that remembers being swept by the Islanders in '82 as well.  Losing in 2011 to an inferior (on paper!) Boston team with home-ice advantage and after taking home the Presidents Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy (Daniel Sedin), and nominations in 6 of 10 NHL Awards might just be the last straw for a lot of people.

No matter what the fans end up thinking, 40 years is a long time for a team to be around and some conclusions can be drawn from the observed patterns.  After this season the Canucks will either be a team with a championship in the bag, sound management, and key players locked up for the long term or a mature franchise with a resume of losing.

Should be a fun two weeks.