Flashback…..2011….Boston….Game 6…myself, and a good friend of mine, sitting nervously second row from the top, behind Tim Thomas, exhausted from a cross-continent flight, Planes, Trains & Automobiles style. Yet exhilarated inside, knowing 60 minutes stood between a dream for us, and scores of thousands of Vancouver Canucks fans have dreamed of, some since 1970….a chance to salute your Stanley Cup CHAMPION Vancouver Canucks!! A raucous Beantown crowd, a broken Mason Raymond back, with subsequent back-breaker quick goals, sucked the life out of the Canucks, and their throng of brave fans before the first period was half over.
Another cross-continent flight and an extra day between games mattered not. Sitting behind Roberto Luongo watching the Bruins take a 2-0 lead that made it feel like 20, and the dream was over….much like the dream of ’94, and the loveable towel-waving team from ’82, when I became a fan of this team.
It has been almost eight years since that magical Cup run….gone are the important bit players….Lapierre, Higgins, Torres…..gone are the Ryan Keslers and Dan Hamhuis, and the all time franchise leading Sedin twins. Only Chris Tanev and Alex Edler remain from that club. But I’m still here…long suffering, like every other Canucks fan, wondering just when it will ever be their year.
We have watched a 2 time President’s Trophy winning team turn into a franchise that more resembles the sad sack club that skated in the Oilers heyday. And watched said Oilers win draft lottery after draft lottery. We have watched our owner put in charge a new GM that 5 years ago said they could quick fix this franchise and take it back to playoff relevance season after season. Yet, one appearance in season one, an ugly 6 game loss to the Calgary Flames is all this club has to show for itself in that time. On the verge of a fourth straight miss on the playoff chase for Lord Stanley, the masses appear divided on how they should ‘cheer’ for their Canucks. Through these dark days, fans have watched teams such as the Oilers,(Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov, McDavid) Maple Leafs (Matthews) and Florida (Ekblad) shoot their seasons in the foot, and tank, to secure better draft odds and acquire said talent listed above. They have also watched clubs like New Jersey and Philadelphia defy the odds and shoot up the board to draft Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick. The Canucks, as is tradition since the day one lottery wheel spin to the Buffalo Sabres in 1970, always end up with the Participant badge when it comes to the lottery. Further fueling the sting of losing, it has bred a state of needing to lose properly…be the worst of the worst to better the odds of landing the next maybe generational talent that will finally lead the Canucks to the promised land. My only rational response to this, is WHYYYYYYYY??!!
I became a fan of a scrappy, underdog Canucks team in ’82 led by an amazing goaltending performance from ‘King’ Richard Brodeur. A team that made the playoffs with a 30-33-17 record. Gradin, Snepts, Tiger…..ahhh….underdogs.
I watched a ’94 Canucks team win three straight Round 1 OT potential elimination games against the Calgary Flames, then storm on to push the New York Rangers to Game 7 before falling victim to the evil Messier, Richter and co. A team that went 41-40-3 and included the Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure, a young Trevor Linden, Kirk McLean and GREG ADAMS!!!!GREG ADAMS!!!! Ahhh…underdogs
I remember being jubilant when Harold Druken lifted a puck over Felix Pitvin in OT back in 2001, putting the Canucks back in the dance for the first time in what felt like forever.
So many amazing Canuck memories. Most of them from teams that ‘couldnt win it all’ or ‘didnt deserve to be there’ But that’s why you PLAY THE GAMES!
So, team tank, I feel your pain. I’ve invested my hard earned dollars, evenings, weekends, road trips, merchandise, and on and on to support this team. Just like many of you have. But you will NEVER see me cheer when Gaudreau rips one past Markstrom or when Fleury is a stone wall on EP40, costing this team precious points in the standings, but making it ‘better’ to increase those ‘lose for Hughes’ odds. If injuries, bad luck and the ping pong balls say Hughes comes to Vancouver come Entry Draft, I’m ALL IN! But until then, best believe if this team somehow finds a way to scrape in, I hope some young boy or girl can look back 20-40 years from now and say those ’19 underdog Canucks really pulled me in as a fan.
Raymond Kirk
