It's been 17 years since the last time a Vancouver Canucks team went on a memorable playoff run to the Stanley Cup. But Burnaby's own Cliff Ronning finds the memories flooding back to him as if it all happened yesterday.

"Yeah absolutely. What I remembered was the excitement in the city," Ronning said in a phone interview. "The fans and the city have waited a long time for this."

Ronning, who retired from the National Hockey League in 2006, played 18 years in the bigs on seven separate teams, including six seasons with the hometown Canucks.

Despite his long pro career and 14 appearances in the playoffs, Ronning got past the second round just twice.

He made it to a conference final with the Minnesota Wild in his last full season in 2003.

But the most memorable run of all was Vancouver's fabled Stanley Cup run of 1994 that ended with the New York Rangers erasing a 54-year championship drought following a 3-2 victory over the Canucks in Game 7.

"We were going up against Goliath," said Ronning of the Cinderella Canucks that entered the playoffs as the seventh seeded team in the Western Conference.

With just four players - defenceman Dana Murzyn, and forwards Tim Hunter, Murray Craven and Martin Gélinas in their lineup who had ever been to a cup final before - Vancouver skated into Madison Square Gardens against a Rangers team that boasted 10 players with a collective total of 47 years of Stanley Cup experience.

"We weren't supposed to get past the first round. But we were a team that was easy to like," said Ronning, who opened the scoring in Vancouver's first-round game against the Calgary Flames.

Overtime goals by Geoff Courtnall, Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure, in Game 7, led Vancouver to three straight overtime wins to douse the Flames.

Vancouver then dodged a meeting with the upset Detroit Red Wings and eclipsed the Dallas Stars in a five-game series in round 2.

The Canucks swept the Toronto Maple Leafs in the conference final in another five-game series. Ronning scored the game-winner in Game 4, setting the stage for Gus Adams' series-winner in the following game that beat Felix Potvin in double overtime.

Recent changes to the league's salary cap structure has brought more parity to the NHL.

In fact, in the past 10 season just one club, the Red Wings in 2002 and again in 2008, has lifted Lord Stanley's mug more than once.

Now it's Vancouver's chance. But the expectations are much different, Ronning said.

"The city has really embraced this team. It takes a lot of work to get to that level," he said.

But being Vancouver's first-ever President's Cup winner as the league's top team carries far more expectations with it.

"But I really think after watching (Roberto) Luongo play in (Tuesday's Game 5), he's the last piece in the puzzle. Either way, it's going to be exciting," Ronning added.

After getting by the always difficult first round, the pressure is diminished somewhat for general managers, coaches and players," Ronning said. "I felt it."

At 5-7, Ronning said he could not afford to take a shift off in the playoffs.

"I had to make sure I played every playoff game like it was my last. I was playing to stay next year," he said.

For this season's Vancouver Canucks, it's perhaps the club's best chance ever, and Luongo's in particular, to prove all the naysayers wrong once and for all.

"I hate to say it, but (he has to) win the cup. (Luongo) doesn't have to say anything after that. That's the pressure of being a No. 1 guy," Ronning said.

As for whether Tampa Bay's offence or Boston's grit is a better matchup for the Canucks, Ronning said, it's all up to them.

"It doesn't matter who they play. It's theirs to lose," he said.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final begins Wednesday, June 1 in Vancouver. Game time is 5 p.m.