"Canucks, Vancouver. Is kind of embarrassed that the team is basically a different way of saying Canadiens. Thinks Steve Moore had it coming. Owns every one of the teams 27 different jerseys."
Okay, "had it coming" might be a tad strong, though I was quite upset by Moore's previous hit on Naslund. And, personally, I'm not at all embarrassed that Canuck means Canadian! It means we don't have to resort to putting the Canada flag on our jerseys like a certain Alberta team I can think of (anyone else think the Flames come off as a bunch of college kids travelling around Europe who try to be "cool" by rocking the maple leaf on their backpacks?).
Unfortunately the entry on the Canucks appears to be the second smallest after the Maple Leafs ("Cherishes the team’s most recent Stanley Cup win in “The Love Guru”"). Surely there is more that makes up the identity of Canucks fans? Here are my suggestions for further entries (some serious, some humorous):
Still has mixed feelings about the Orca.
Still talks about the '94 Stanley Cup run like we actually won the Cup.
Will always hate Mike Keenan for coaching the Rangers in '94, for the way he treated Trevor Linden, and for recently coaching the Calgary Flames. And for just being Mike Keenan.
Conveniently forgets that Linden is actually from Alberta and grew up a Flames fan.
When speaking with Leafs fans will counter the "Well the Canucks have never won a Stanley Cup" argument by noting that Toronto has not won one since before the Canucks existed as an NHL franchise.
Has thought "we have a chance this year!" every season since 2001, only to be bitterly disappointed come April/May.
Loves Stan Smyl even if he/she never saw him play.
Regularly contemplates what could have been in the 2003-04 season if Todd Bertuzzi hadn't, well, you know...
Knows that the 7th Man banner at GM Place was really, really lame and avoids talking about it all costs.
Is happy that Matt Cooke won a Cup, even if it wasn't with the Canucks.
When complaining about Roberto Luongo having an off game, forgets that his predecessors included Felix Potvin, Dan Cloutier, Bob Essensa, Peter Skudra, Garth Snow, Arturs Irbe and Alex Auld. Upon remembering this fact, kisses the ground and thanks his/her lucky stars.
Do you have suggestions for the list? Any defining Canucks' fan characteristics you care to share? use the comments section to add suggestions to the list.
Unconfirmed news came today that current NY Ranger, and all-time awesome Canuck, Markus Naslund may be hanging up the skates for good. You can read the TSN report for more details, or check out Puck Daddy for a detailed explanation of how Nazzy, in his usually classy way, put the team ahead of his own interests.
In short, the Rangers would have had to pay him $2 million if they bought out his contract, which was a likely scenario given the team's cap-crunch. By retiring Naslund forgoes the $2 million but saves the Rangers valuable cap space for next season and the one after. How many pro athletes would forego that kind of cash to avoid screwing over a team with which they had only spent one season?
It is sad that Naslund did not retire a Canuck, but no doubt he expected more from himself in his new start in New York. His numbers this season were decent, but not Naslund-like: 24 goals and 22 assists for 46 points in 82 games. This continues the downward trend since his brilliant 104-point campaign in 2002-03.
Naslund will go down as one of the greatest Canucks of all-time. He holds club records for goals and points, and was peer-voted to win the Lester B. Pearson Trophy in 2003. While he wasn't the same heart-and-soul type of player as Trevor Linden and Stan Smyl, he was nonetheless an excellent captain in his own quiet way - though the burden of the 'C' did seem to be wearing on him as the seasons dragged on.
I hope, and expect, that Naslund's number will one day be hanging alongside Smyl and Linden in the rafters of GM Place. We will have to wait for the official announcement before reflecting too much further on Naslund and his impact on the Canucks organization, but here's wishing Markus all the best with his future plans.
And I can't help but wonder, if he chooses to play a season in Sweden next year, if we might see Nazzy back on GM Place ice for one last hurrah with Team Sweden at the 2010 Olympics. I have a feeling that the applause would bring down the house.
It was quite the year for the Vancouver Canucks, a year that ran the emotional gamut. Hopefulness, tragedy, bafflement, bemusement, resignation, excitement, nostalgia, disbelief - these, and more, were the feelings to which Canucks fans were subjected in 2008. With that, let's count down the Top 5 Canucks Stories of 2008:
5. Canucks Give Roberto Luongo the 'C' (But He's Not Allowed to Wear It) Just over a week before the start of the 2008-09 season, Coach Vigneault announces that the Canucks' keeper will also be their captain. To call this move unorthodox is an understatement - no goalie had captained his team in over 60 years, and the NHL has a rule that forbids a goaltender from acting as the captain during a game. Luongo, therefore, does not wear the 'C' on his jersey (though his new helmet features the letter prominently) or speak to officials during the game. Luongo justified his selection by reeling of five shutouts and an 11-5-2 record in 19 games before suffering a groin injury in a late-November game.
4. Naslund, Morrison Depart as UFAs It was the end of an era. At one time Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison and Todd Bertuzzi were the most feared line in hockey. With the now-nomadic Bertuzzi already long gone, the final 2/3rds of the West Coast Express played their final season with the Canucks. Former captain Naslund left for the New York Rangers, while Morrison signed with Anaheim where he was (briefly) reunited with GM Brian Burke. Naslund left as one of the best all-time Canucks, holding the club record for goals and points.
3. RIP Luc Bourdon Tragedy struck the Canucks community on May 29 when 21-year old prospect Luc Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident in New Brunswick. Bourdon's career had been on the upswing, as he played 27 games with the Canucks during the 07-08 season. He was honoured in a moving pre-game ceremony before the Canucks home opener this season.
2. Mats Sundin (Finally!) Signs With the Canucks The Swedish all-star managed to please not only Canucks fans, who are ecstatic, but also countless hockey fans who had grown sick of his 6-month saga as an unrestricted free agent. The Canucks originally offered Sundin a 2-year, $20 million contract in July. Sundin eventually signed with the team in December. In the meantime many deadlines were set and missed, teams dropped from the Sundin derby like flies, and the field was whittled down to the Rangers or Canucks. In the end Vancouver won what was essentially a war of attrition, leveraging its cap space and relatively strong start to the season over other teams which were forced to abandon the Sundin chase. Sundin's impact on the club remains to be seen - his signing, however, was certainly one of the huge storylines of 2008.
1. Canucks Miss Playoffs, Fire Nonis, Hire Gillis Okay, so I'm cheating here by rolling three stories into one. Nonetheless, they are interlinked and as such I'm going with it anyway. The Canucks stumbled to the finish line in 07-08, sliding all the way to 11th in the Western Conference. This represented a huge step backward for the club, which had hoped to build on it promising 06-07 campaign in which they made the second round of the playoffs. Firing Dave Nonis, who, y'know, was only responsible for fleecing the Florida Panthers out of Roberto Luongo, was a surprising and seemingly knee-jerk reaction from the team's owners and drew some criticism from fans. Hiring a player agent with no GM experience had fans sweating bullets.
Gillis has had a wacky but effective start to his tenure. He made his monstrous pitch to Sundin, and then stuck to his guns in his dogged pursuit of the Big Swede. He made a goalie the captain. And he introduced a wide range of unusual measures to the club, including monitoring players' sleep patterns and hiring a dietician to assess their individual nutritional needs (I think they put Kyle Wellwood on the celery diet). Gillis stopped short of group meditation and burning incense in the locker room, and so far his moves are looking pretty shrewd. The Sundin and Luongo cases have already been discussed in this post. His other player-friendly moves, which also included upgrading the players' lounge at GM Place, have apparently been well received by players and helped build a sense of trust between players and the organization.
Finally, Gillis made some other sound hockey moves. He plucked Kyle Wellwood from waivers, and the reclamation project has 14 goals in 36 games (insert me blowing my own horn here). He signed Pavol Demitra, who has been solid thus far in 08-09. And, in what may turn out to be the Canucks' best draft pick in a decade, he drafted Cody Hodgson with the 10th overall pick in the 2008 draft. Based on his excellent NHL training camp, stellar OHL season and brilliant World Junior Championships, Canucks fans have every reason to be optimistic about the up-and-coming prospect. There is, then, silver-lining to the disastrous conclusion to the 07-08 season. Even Don Cherry agrees!
Honourable Mention: Trevor Linden Retires, Canucks Retire His #16 I know it seems shocking that this story did not make the Top 5, but like I said the Canucks had a momentous 2008 for both good and bad reasons. No story has occupied 'Nucks and Pucks more than the retirement of Captain Canuck. Linden was the subject of this blog's first ever post, and of a two-part Top 10 list of his greatest moments upon his the retirement of his #16 jersey in December. Nonetheless, it does not rank as one of the top five most important stories of the year - though symbolically for the history of the franchise it would likely rank as number one. The fact that I am attempting to justify its exclusion from this list speaks to the huge impact that Linden has had on the Canucks organization and its fans - but his retirement had a lesser role in defining the Canucks' fortunes in 2008 than did the five events on this list.
The ceremony yesterday looked amazing, even if I was only able to watch it via YouTube as it was not broadcast in Ontario. Before I move on to the top 5 Linden moments, here is the video tribute they played in the building. It almost brings a tear to my eye, it is moving stuff:
Number 5
February 20, 1998 – Czech Republic vs. Canada Nagano Winter Olympics, Men’s Ice Hockey Semi-final
Fresh off his controversial and tumultuous departure from the Canucks, Linden headed to Nagano to represent his country at the Winter Olympics (the man who helped drive him from Vancouver, Mark Messier, was not selected to the squad). With just over a minute remaining in the third period, Linden buried a centering pass from Eric Lindros to tie the game 1-1 and force overtime. The Czech Republic eventually defeated Canada in a shootout, advancing to the finals where it claimed the Gold Medal with a victory over Russia. Wayne Gretzky sitting on the bench after the shootout, having watched his teammates fail to get a puck past Dominik Hasek, is the defining image of the tournament for most Canadian hockey fans. Sadly Linden’s heroic goal therefore never achieved much notoriety, yet had Canada solved Hasek and won the game, the goal would have undoubtedly been widely celebrated. Unfortunately for Linden and Canada, he was the only Canadian player to put a puck behind the Dominator in the entire tournament.
Number 4
June 14, 1994 – Vancouver Canucks at New York Rangers Stanley Cup Finals, Game 7
Linden does everything in his power to bring Vancouver its first Stanley Cup, scoring two goals in Game 7 of the Finals versus the Rangers. Unfortunately it was not enough as the Canucks fell 3-2, the closest they’ve ever come to winning Lord Stanley’s mug.
Number 3
November 10, 2001 – Linden returns to Canucks
Brian Burke undoes the most heartbreaking trade in Canucks history be reacquiring Captain Canuck, then on the Washington Capitals. Linden, of course, would finish his career where it started, playing six more seasons with the Canucks before retiring this past offseason.
Number 2
April 5, 2008 – Calgary Flames vs. Vancouver Canucks Linden’s Last NHL Game
As much as I hate the Flames, I have a world of respect for Jarome Iginla. He proved what a class act he is following the Canucks last game of the 07-08 season – and, as it would turn out, Linden’s last game of his great career. Following a massive Flames blowout, Iginla assembled his teammates and led them to shake Trevor’s hand. Pretty amazing stuff.
Number 1
June 11, 1994 – New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6
With the clock ticking down in the final minute of what then-owner Arthur Griffiths called “the greatest game ever played at the Pacific Coliseum,” Linden went down with an apparent injury. Hobbling to the bench so his team could get fresh legs on the ice to defend the lead, Linden was accosted by Rangers captain Mark Messier. Legendary broadcaster Jim Robson’s now famous call in the game’s final seconds summed up the toughness and dedication of Linden: “He will play, you know he’ll play, he ‘ll play on crutches, he will play, and he will play at Madison Square Garden!”
I had thought about starting this blog for a number of months, but the impetus for me actually doing so came from my desire to express my appreciation of the greatest Vancouver Canuck, Trevor Linden. The first ever post on 'Nucks and Pucks came last June, on the occasion of Trevor's retirement - and now, on the day that his jersey is raised to the rafters of GM Place, I present my Top 10 Trevor Linden Moments. This first part presents moments 10-6.
Number 10 St. Louis Blues vs. Vancouver Canucks
Linden hits Jeff Norton through the glass
Unfortunately I couldn’t track down the date for this massive hit, but I believe it was during the 1995 playoffs, when Vancouver defeated St. Louis in their opening round series. No need for a description here, the video speaks for itself. Simply awesome.
Number 9
January 21, 1998 – Phoenix Coyotes vs. Vancouver Canucks Linden fights for his Captain
In what looked at the time to be his last game ever as a Canuck, Trevor Linden valiantly defended Mark Messier after a Coyote player took liberties with him. This, despite the fact that Messier had taken over the captaincy from Linden and been the reason for bringing in Mike Keenan as coach. Keenan verbally assaulted Linden in the dressing room, and was eventually responsible for trading the Canucks icon to the New York Islanders. That Linden would defend Messier despite these circumstances speaks volumes about his character and his dedication to the Canucks.
Number 8
1988-89 Season – Trevor Linden’s Rookie Season
Linden Makes NHL All-Rookie Team
Linden finished his rookie season with 30 goals and 29 assists, good enough to earn him a spot on the NHL All-Rookie Team. Check out this vintage of clip of TL in his rookie year. I have a serious love/hate for those canary duds!
Number 7
April 23, 2007 – Dallas Stars vs. Vancouver Canucks
Western Conference Quarter-Finals, Game 7
Linden nets the game winner as the Canucks advance to the second round. The Canucks lost in the second round to the Anaheim Ducks, who would go on to win the Cup that season. Linden finished the 2007 playoffs, the last of his career, with seven points to tie for the team lead.
Number 6
May 24, 1994 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Vancouver Canucks
Western Conference Final, Game 5
After Greg Adams’ dramatic double-overtime goal sent the Canucks to the Finals, Linden skated forward to accept the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, which the Canucks earned for winning the Western (formerly Campbell) Conference. Accompanying Linden was the widow of Arthur Griffiths, the former owner of the Canucks. After hugging Mrs. Griffiths, Linden picked up the trophy only to have the lid fall off. This memorable moment of levity only enhanced the importance of this historic moment, which marked only the Canucks’ second trip to a Stanley Cup Final.
I started 'Nucks and Pucks in June 2008 as a forum to air my views about the Canucks and hockey in general. I hope you enjoy the site, and if you have any comments, questions or feedback please email me at nucksandpucks@gmail.com.
I grew up in Vancouver and have been a hockey fan since I was a baby. I love the Canucks and have stuck with them through good times and bad, which has entailed a considerable amount of heartbreak. My passion for the 'Nucks only increased when I moved to Toronto for university in 2001, as living in Leaf Country made me even prouder of my team. I am currently doing my PhD at University of Toronto.
Puck the Media has posted a quite hilarious NHL Fan Glossary (H/T Puck Daddy for the link). Here is what they have to say about Canucks fans:
