Only two Canucks head coaches have won the coach of the year trophy.

Pat Quinn took the Jack Adams Award in 1991-92 for Vancouver. Alain Vigneault won this honour in 2006-07.

This year, it's looking like there's another strong candidate from our town: Willie Desjardins.

Tonight, the Canucks beat the league-leading Ducks 2-1 in Anaheim, thanks to a wrist shot from Zack Kassian with less than four minutes left in the third period.

Eddie Lack played another strong game in goal, blocking 29 of 30 shots.

The Canucks are solidly in second place in their division with a 38-24-4 record, three points ahead of the third-place Flames.

Vancouver's 80 points are still far behind the 91 piled up by Anaheim and Nasvhille or the 90 posted by Montreal and the New York Islanders.

But it's still mightily impressive when you consider how little hope Canucks fans had at the start of the season.

Under new head coach Willie Desjardins, the team continued to shine even as much of the defence corps was riddled with injuries.

With starting goalie Ryan Miller suffering on the sidelines, the team still hasn't missed a beat.

It's a credit to the coaching staff that Vancouver players haven't lost their confidence. Desjardins' use of four lines has helped the Sedins rebound from their worst season in years.

When scoring on the other lines became a problem, Desjardins separated sniper Radim Vrbata from the Sedins. Zack Kassian was brought back from purgatory to score several clutch goals on the first line, including the game winner tonight. It takes guts for a rookie head coach to take someone who was a healthy scratch and play him with the Sedins.

Outstanding coaches understand what makes players tick. Judging from the performance of Kassian, Bo Horvat, Shawn Matthias, and Alex Edler, Desjardins seems to be making the most of his squad.

The long-time skipper of the Medicine Hat Tigers hasn't created a lot of fanfare in his first season in Vancouver. As a result, he might be overlooked by the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association, whose members vote for the coach of the year.

But if Vancouver maintains its current momentum for the rest of the year, don't be surprised if we hear more talk of Desjardins as a contender for the Jack Adams Award.

That's because Canucks fans who suffered through the misery of Torts can only see this year as a miracle.

The way the team is playing, they just might make it into the second round of the playoffs. Seven months ago, that was as improbable as having a five-point lead on the Kings in March.