from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

- The NHL semifinals have yet to be resolved but, after a decade in which the forces of speed and skill battled the game's dark side, hockey fans should be encouraged by what they've seen thus far.

Three of the teams still alive in the Stanley Cup tournament are built largely around hockey's more enlightened pursuits. Even St. Louis has those elements in its game. Pittsburgh, Tampa and San Jose, meanwhile, all play an uptempo, attacking style and that's significant because the NHL is a copycat league which enthusiastically mimics any team that has success.

In 2011 and 2012, that was the bigger, heavier Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings. This year speed and skill is the prevailing trend.

- On a related note, in 2011 the Canucks beat a Sharks' team in the Western final which featured Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Five seasons later, the Sharks are back in the final four with the same core group and Brent Burns while the Canucks haven't won a playoff series since.

What happened?

Well, the emergence of Burns as a Norris Trophy-calibre defenceman at age 30 was the key development for the Fish, but their success has also been the result of small improvements throughout their lineup. Few outside San Jose had heard of Joonas Donskoi, Melker Karlsson or Chris Tierney before these playoffs, but they've made a huge impact in the bottom six. North Van's Marty Jones was brought in to replace Antti Niemi in goal and he's been an upgrade. New West's Brenden Dillon was acquired for Jason Demers and he's added snarl to the back end.

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