I’ve already made mention of this before, but today it’s official. Trevor Linden[wiki] is leaving the game of hockey.
No matter how little of time I have been an avid Canucks fan, there is no way to easily say how incredible of a person Linden is. Even though the career is over, it’s not about being sad. He never won a Stanley Cup, never blew away the masses with his talent on the ice, nor did he really set any notable records that will live forever in the history of the NHL.
When it comes down to it, he’s just another guy.
That’s easier said than what he actually means to the city of Vancouver and to the legions of Canucks fans around the world. He is who he is, and if you don’t know him already, then you don’t know an amazing person.
The day job took me very close to the events as they unfolded today. Running around to help out at the press conference to having him pop in at the home base for interview with the media #131, there is something that strikes you about the guy. Deep down, he’s still the same 18 year old kid that was drafted into the NHL twenty years ago, to this exact day.
And every time I was in the same room as him, he was nothing but smiles.
It gives you some comfort to know that people like him are out there in the big dollar business of professional sports. Even though he could walk into nearly any place in Vancouver and be treated like a king, he’d still give you the time of day and directions to the nearest Tim Horton’s. Hell, today it felt like he’d even give you a lift there in his car, he’s just that awesome.
You know, when the Canucks missed the playoffs after this season, I thought my world of being involved and/or following hockey would slow down. I thought that we would all be saying our farewell to Trevor Linden, find out who wins the cup, get some new draft picks, make some off season trades, and then get ready for the preseason with that yearly glimmer of hope.
Actually, I take that back. I kept asking friends, co-workers, and Crazy Canuckers as to what they thought about Dave Nonis[wiki] and his job being in jeopardy as GM of the Vancouver Canucks. Something inside of me just felt uneasy about his role for a better part of the season, more so at the tail end.
My feeling about it all is that he was a good general manager of the organization. After that, you can’t say much more. Sure, there was the blockbuster trade for Roberto Luongo, but that isn’t a ton more to speak of after that. Willie Mitchell, yeah. After that, it’s been a lot of pickups and trades that were not the strongest or memorable. They were just… good or okay.
There’s not a lot to say about his activity in the last few years as being great or prolific, but he wasn’t half bad either.
Nonis had the passion and desire to be good at the job he held. There is no doubt about that. What works against him is what didn’t happen. An incredible goalie with a strong defense in front of him didn’t produce the goals, points, and playoff birth that could have kept his job.
However, this wasn’t my decision to make, nor can I say that I’m 100% in agreement. The only reason I say that I can’t be surprised is the fact that we have new ownership of this team, and this team is a business. The Aquilini’s are a business minded group of people. They are also lifelong fans. Nonis had those things working against his job, no matter how much the team he is in charge of spends on the disabled list or doesn’t produce on the ice.
Darren Barefoot mentioned to me on Twitter how Nonis should have been able to finish the last year on his contract, and I agree with that. The year after the lockout saw a lot of shuffling around the league, and we were a team built for a different game than what came about that season. The next season saw something different for this city: a real goalie. This year was a nightmare of injuries.
With his contract in mind, I think Nonis had a plan. One more year left, he can’t finish that vision that he had, and we’ll never know if that script would have played out for the better.
They say that a true test of a general manager is proven in five years. The contract gave him four, but he only got three. When I do those calculations in my head, combined with all the ups and downs of the days of Nonis, the one thing I keep coming back to is concern as a fan. Concern that we now have owners of this team who can prove themselves that much better in half the time than one man did in three. If they can do that, then I’ll be really impressed.
It’s really no secret, but I’ll say it again. In 1994, I was cheering for the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals[wiki].
I know that might sound hard to believe, but it was only about six or nine months prior to that when I really sank my teeth into hockey, all because of NHL ‘93 on the Sega CD. I was 15, growing up where football rules the fall, basketball is king of winter, and baseball consumes summer. That video game taught me a lot, especially about this Patrick Roy[wiki] guy that played for that Montreal team. I couldn’t score against those freaking Canadiens[wiki], so I started playing as the Habs. I was nearly unstoppable.
That June of 1994, I remember watching Pavel Bure[wiki] more than I recall Trevor Linden. However, the thing I recall more was how incredible of a battle that series was. I sat and watched the games in the kitchen, enthralled with ESPN’s coverage, wanting so badly for the Rangers to win only because of Chris Farley’s sketch on SNL where he portrayed the annoying, drunk, baseball fan in the stands of Yankee Stadium, crying out, “Go Yannnkkkeeeeess!”
I’d find that clip on YouTube, but it’s nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I sat there with my best impression, “Go Raaaannngggerrrss”. At the same time, I remember a dislike for Brian Leetch and Mark Messier that remains to this day. I was more of a Mike Richter fan, and goalies were the thing that dragged me into an interest for hockey, even if I have only played roller hockey, in the first place.
Still, the crowds in Pacific Coliseum[wiki] were insane, and it made sense to me as to why the Canucks held such an advantage over the Rangers when they played in Vancouver. The players had heart. They had support. There was a love for the game that only New York could try to buy into. It was mesmerizing. On top of that, I had no idea that I’d be working at that place nearly 13 years later.
Ten years after that cup run, I recall hearing a little bit here and there about the Canucks. Once Rebecca became apart of my life, I was taught a lot about the legacy of what came before and after that time, and that was enough for me to finally shed my years of wandering for a team to follow. The Rangers were just a one time thing, Chicago never really appealed to me, and Colorado was pretty cool during those Roy years.
But how does this all tie into Trevor Linden? I can’t really be sure, but all of that history came back to me when I watched him on the ice this past Saturday. It was in that moment at the start of the third period where you understand how amazing, beyond just being a hockey player, this guy is. He’s not the greatest to play the game as much as he is one of the best, true men among men that only comes along once and a while.
Yes, he has dazzled with the way he has played the game over the past 19 years. Some days have been better than others, and he didn’t get the brilliant send off that he deserved in a 7-1 loss for the, potentially, last game of his career. Even though I have only had the chance to really pay attention to him in the last three years, I still get it.
It’s not that he was the greatest hockey player to have ever lived. It’s simple character and class that I have a lot of respect for, and that is hard to come by these days. That was the chill that I felt when they players backed off the red line at the start of the third period on Saturday night. Trevor just wanted them to get the period started, but the crowd won out, forcing him to acknowledge the noise of 12,000+ who would stick it out to the end of the game.
And if this story plays out like the media expects it to, Trevor Linden will retire this year, and Markus Naslund will move on from Vancouver. What a huge void to fill in this city.
Zanstorm posted about this on Waiting for Stanley some time back when he saw me in the background during the Nashville game, and he asked if I knew I was on TV. I honestly didn’t know if I made it on the TV, but it didn’t surprise me. We’re all down there doing our sports coverage thing.
It was when I got an email from faithful TCC listener GZ Expat that it was kind of fun to acknowledge that yes, that’s me in the background… the really short guy with Brad Isbister, #27. That guy is huge.
If you’re wondering why it’s been so long since I’ve posted, this is apart of that. It’s been quite the month with my day job. After Northern Voice, the pace has gone nonstop, even if we did make a weekend for ourselves on Salt Spring Island. The toughest part is coming home and wanting to do much of anything except relax.
I hope to do more soon, but the season isn’t over for the Canucks just yet (which could be an entire other post for another time). One more regular season game, then, I hope, things will slow down. Hope is the key word there.
In light of the recent episode #61 of The Crazy Canucks at the 2008 Open Practice at GM Place, I thought I would post a few of my favorite photos from the event that I took. J.J. had some great, extra seats that we took turns checking out from behind the bench, and Rebecca scored some good shots here as well.
J.J. took the reigns on a 30 second shot with Scott Rintoul from TEAM 1040 on the jumbotron in GM Place. The rest of us got in on it as well in the background, including Alanah.
DaveO poses with the real MVP of the day, who was strangely missing from the event…
I have to say that it was a pretty cool day. We didn’t get to see as much of the practice as we did from press row last year, but it was a lot of fun to hang out with the guys behind the Ultimate Canucks Search, who are absolutely hilarious guys. They’re also pretty damn good at what they are trying to do.
One thing worth mentioning was the shootout competition that they had at the end of practice. Willie Mitchell pulled his jersey over his head in a headless horsemen-like fashion, skated all the way from center ice like that, and scored on Luongo. It was priceless. What a guy.
We had an amazing opportunity with The Crazy Canucks to officially be apart of the 2008 Open Practice at GM Place about a week ago. In the midst of the forced down time with strep throat, I was able to get the audio turned around pretty quickly. I think it turned out alright.
Aside from covering the usual episode topics, we hung out with and interviewed the guys from the Ultimate Canucks Search, as well as one of the Ultimate Fans, Richard Loat (of Facebook application fame).
JJ got on the microphone to interview passers-by, while we also got the chance to sit down with Kent - the voice behind the We Are All Canuckleheads podcast.
We had a blast, and it was great to have the entire gang together to record one of those rare “face to face” episodes.
Northern Voice kicks off tomorrow night with the super spectacular dinner, followed by MooseCamp and then the main event on Saturday. This week has turned out to be a lot more hectic that I imagined it to be, and it’s going to be non-stop all the way through Sunday.
The Crazy Canucks will have a fairly major part in all of this madness. I’ll be leading a session for an introduction to podcasting on Friday, our session on sports blogging and podcasting is Saturday afternoon, and then Sunday has our podcast crew front and center at GM Place for the Canucks Open Practice. We’ll be on the concourse raising a ruckus and having lots of fun with fellow Canucks fans at the event, media passes and our own location on the concourse included. All brought to you by those super cool folks at the Ultimate Canucks Search.
I hope to have more time to make more detailed posts about each of these things. In case I don’t find the time, you can’t say that I didn’t mention it.
While Rebecca was in Toronto for her major TV appearance on Quiz The Nation, Skate for a Cure 2008 was going on back here in Vancouver. As the website can tell you, “Skate for a Cure is a fundraising event providing participants of all ages the chance to skate on the home ice of the Vancouver Canucks at General Motors Place, helping raise funds to find a cure for childhood cancer.”
Basically, if you help raise money, you get to participate in the group skate on the ice at GM Place on January 20, 2008 (I know I’m late to post about it, but better late than never). Even more, you get to meet a player if you raise past a certain level. There is also a silent auction for lots of cool things like air hockey tables, memorabilia, and other assorted prizes.
Since Rebecca was out of town, I took her place for the event. I didn’t have any skates, so my plan was to just hang out with Tracey and, fellow Crazy Canucker, J.J. With my new camera, I figured I just shoot some photos, get a little free swag, and enjoy the atmosphere. Imagine my surprise, and more so Rebecca’s later on, when I was told that we’d be meeting Trevor Linden[wiki] that day.
Apparently Beck raised beyond the $250 dollars, all through her blog, to get a picture taken with her favorite, all time Canuck player. Which is amazingly great… if she wasn’t in Toronto being on a nationwide, CBC television show at the exact same time.
J.J. and Tracey on the ice. You can hear him saying, “Don’t worry, you won’t fall.” They both skated beautifully, no matter if J.J. did almost run into the motor for the big, inflatable thing when crashing into the boards to spoke me out.
Not sure who this couple was, but this is what I expected to see more of on the ice. Couples skating hand in hand, Endless Love playing on the speakers, etc. Instead, there was a creepy version of Ronald McDonald on skates with Moj from TEAM 1040 telling people on the P.A. how much time they had left on the ice. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, but just a touch on the less romantic side.
Not to rub it in, but this was a pretty cool five minutes. I almost missed the opportunity simply because we didn’t know that Rebecca raised the money for this to happen. With some slight encouragement from Tracey, J.J., and the volunteers, I ran up the stairs to see if it was too late. As I went to shake his hand, one of the umbrella light stands of the photographer’s setup crashed into me. Trevor had just put his hand out and said, “How you doing?” All I could say, falling just shy of connecting that handshake, “I’m under attack!”
As we take the photo, I tell him that my wife is going to kill me. “Aw man, she wouldn’t do that, would she?” Yeah… yeah she would. I explained how she was in Toronto and couldn’t be here today. I also said how she would be really bummed about missing out on this opportunity, and I was pretty spot on. “There’s always next year, right?” Absolutely.
You can see all the pictures that I took from the event on Flickr.
So I got ahold of some tickets for the Canucks Superskills event, and the fact that Rebecca’s birthday is coming up was going to line up perfectly. I thought I would put them in a birthday card and surprise her with them. After all, it was something that she had asked for, so I thought I was rocking the birthday.
All was going according to plan until I was listening to the radio while in the shower this morning. Apparently someone moved the event to today and not next weekend like I had planned on working out perfectly for Rebecca’s birthday. Or maybe it was actually today and I failed to really double check that date and time.
Regardless, I surprised her when I got out of the shower with second row tickets, which were actually a surprise to me as well (I really need to be better about checking these things), so we grabbed our things and rushed out the door.
The Canucks Alumni played a game before the festivities kicked off. Cliff Ronning, Dave Babych, Gary Valk, and a wide cast of others were on the ice just ahead of the Superskills getting under way.
Just minutes before the competition, Mike Weaver was taped… er, tapped with the captaincy of the white team. He wore it proudly.
Losers had to do push ups. Henrik looks a little too happy to be on the losing end of the stick, but you have to applaud his enthusiasm.
The North Island Silvertips came over from the island for the festivities. They got to participate in each of the events as well. I could only imagine what it would be for a young kid like that and having these NHL guys around you. It would definitely be a boost to work harder to get to the big time.
Mason Raymond won the fastest skater competition, beating out last year’s winner, Ryan Kesler. You can see his reward above. An extra note, Alexander Edler won hardest shot, dethroning Sami Salo from his four year reign.
Once again, you’re a young goalie and you get to share the ice with the likes of Roberto Luongo. How cool is that? Intimidating and encouraging, all at the same time.
The whole place was full with fans, and I can’t remember going to a game, which I haven’t been to a lot nor are we talking about playoffs, where there is so much enthusiasm combined with blue and green in the seats. From row one at ice level to the last row up top, I think it’s safe to say that some of the best fans in the NHL really is in Vancouver. For some, this is the cheapest way into GM Place to take the entire family, so it’s great to see a good turnout as well as a well done event, very deserving to the fans.
Willie Mitchell, a true fan’s player, gave his stick to this youngster. It’s those things that stick with you as a little kid like that. If you don’t believe me, check out The Crazy Canucks #48 where we tell you the story of one guy’s effort to get a broken stick signed that he got as a young boy from Cliff Ronning during his days with the New Westminster Bruins[wiki].
Have nothing but good things to say about the event today, especially for being such a last minute thing for us to go check out. Our seats were amazing, and I had way too much fun with my new camera. You can see all 107 pictures in my Superskills set that I put on Flickr, and most of that was learning what my camera can do. I’m far from mastering it, but it keeps surprising me with what it can do.
One topic that comes up between a lot of NHL fans is the schedule.
For the most part, it currently sucks. It’s nice to have a lot of battles going on between the divisional teams, but the fact that the current setup only allows games between certain teams once every three years, it can be annoying.
For instance, Sidney Crosby[wiki], the league’s number one guy, has been in the league for nearly three years now, and he finally made it all the way out to Vancouver for his first game ever just a week ago. It was hugely anticipated and lived up to the hype, but it took a long time before we got the chance to face the Penguins, a team that is chalk full of some amazing talent.
As fans, that’s tough, and it goes beyond Crosby. There are others that we want to see on a regular basis, and that’s going to change. It might not be the best setup, but it will be good to know that at least once a season, we’ll see every team in the league.
The NHL board of governors meeting Thursday didn’t go that far, but did decide to change the schedule so teams will play each other at least once next year.
A concession the players will welcome, for sure. New faces, new uniforms and, more importantly for fans, new battles to wage. [...]
Colorado’s Andrew Brunette, who’s played in Minnesota and Atlanta, is tired of seeing Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson - even if he’s a buddy from their Wild days.
“I’m really against eight games with teams in your division. And fans want to see players on the other side of the league every year, in their building. Not every two or three years, that’s just not right. It would be more travel for us, but that’s OK with me.” [edmonton journal]
So this is a great step in a better direction, but nothing is completely perfect yet. There are some teams that will only be played once, so it will place certain match ups in one team’s rink, then the following year will place the same teams in the other team’s arena. Not the most perfect setup that fans would like to see, but it’s better than waiting three years to see said team again.
One thing that desperately needs examination is the structure of the schedule. The Canucks have had a very strange go so far, especially at the beginning of the season where there were nearly a week between games, and that happened about twice. Now there are numerous, back to back nights on the road where the team is in one city and in another for the next night. On top of that, there are weeks with four games in seven nights. Or it’s eleven games in fifteen nights. Either way, that’s a lot of travel, bouncing around time zones in some situations.
What happens when that occurs? Playing that often on the road wears a player down, and the team is suffering from it. The flu is making its way around, and it goes beyond just players. Recycled air on the charter flights spread the illness, and I’ve heard from friends that people working at the games inside GM Place have been getting sick as well. True that it is flu season, but I find the coincidence fairly interesting.
To go even further, players want the schedule to change just a little bit more.
Paul Kelly, the new executive director of the NHL Players Association, also addressed the league’s owners during a late-afternoon session to open the board’s two-day meeting at an elite resort on the Northern California coast. [...]
Kelly even said the players would entertain the notion of an 84-game season — allowing every team to play a home-and-home series against one division in the other conference each year — if owners agreed to reduce the number of preseason games. Bettman said the owners could be open to the notion, but it hasn’t been formally proposed yet. [si]
I’m down for that. The idea calls for shaving off some pre-season games, and that wouldn’t be horrible either. As long as the players are up for it, I think it’s a good idea. Just don’t extend the season any further into the spring than it already has. As a fan, I’m always up for more hockey.
Hold on to your hats, the Canucks are coming to a big screen near you.
Forget Hockey Night in Canada, how about Hockey Night on the big screen? Cineplex Entertainment is bringing back Canucks pay-per-view games as a regular feature in select theatres across BC.
The idea was first tried out last year, and Cineplex says it’s been successful enough to warrant a sequel. The next “big screen” game is on Sunday, when the boys take on the Blue Jackets. [news1130]
As incredibly cool and nonintoxicating as that sounds, why would you want to watch a standard definition broadcast of a hockey game on a huge screen? Changes are coming to Canucks Pay-Per-View, but it’s still the same, over priced dribble that we have watched for the past two seasons. It could be longer than that, but I haven’t watched it for that long.
Come on, PPV people! I get that we don’t have to watch commercials, but what else do we get besides that? John Shorthouse and Tom Larschied? Yeah, that’s cool, but there could be a whole lot more.
Dare I say it, but TSN does some cool stuff by having their guys down on ice level, smack dab in between the benches. Or how about cameras on ice level? Give me a Fin cam or something more than just your standard Sportsnet broadcast with static cameras.
It’s not about being flashy or bells and whistles. I’m just saying that you could make a lot more money if people really got primo content from PPV. I don’t mind visiting our friends on the north shore to watch the game on their huge DLP TV, but if we couldn’t make it over, we’d live with listening to the radio.
The green graphics and the in between period set where Dan Murphy hangs out is nice, but that’s it? Should have spent more money on going HD, and that’s a whole other gripe.
Over the past week, I’ve had some really cool things happen. Besides getting onto an elevator with Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace this past Friday, the other event to blow my mind was getting the brief opportunity to meet some NHL legends at Standard Building Supplies in North Vancouver during their customer appreciation day on Saturday. I think I can still taste the free, fresh, and incredible vegetable samosas.
Gino Odjick[wiki] and Dave Babych[wiki] are famed men among long time Vancouver Canucks fans. Were they the greatest players to grace the game? That might be a stretch, but they are often referenced by my Crazy Canucks partners in crime, making them all the more legendary. Gino is notorious for his off ice scrapping as much as he was noted for his fist fights inside the rink, and Babych’s facial hair precedes everything before anyone starts mentioning his contributions to the ‘94 run for the Stanley Cup.
It wasn’t until we were driving away that I realized exactly who Bobby Baun[wiki] was. When I talked to him, I made sure to shake his hand because I noted two things. One, he was a Toronto Maple Leafs player during one point in his career, and two, the Leafs, one of the oldest teams in the NHL, haven’t won the cup in 40 years.
As Rebecca and I talked about it(and you can read her post about the day as well), we put more and more to the story. Baun played with the likes of Tim Horton[wiki], yes, the guy who started the Tim Horton’s coffee and donut chain. Still, he was apart of the power house that was the team in Toronto to win the cup in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967. That also made him apart of the last Leafs team to win the cup 40 years ago, and I shook his hand.
Even though my knowledge of hockey is growing with every passing CBC documentary, I’ve known who Bobby Hull[wiki] is for a long time. Let me just say, he is hilarious. We recorded some audio that we’ll put into a Crazy Canucks episode soon with the full story, but the banter we had with him and Richard Brodeur is something I’ll long remember.
Not to pass by “King” Richard Brodeur[wiki], he was the Roberto Luongo of his day, guiding the Canucks to, but falling short in, the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Islanders. Still, a genuine man, and the atmosphere that he generated by just sitting next to Bobby Hull in conversation made me forget that there were a ton of people waiting for two or more hours behind me in line, just like we did.
I still made the point to shake all their hands, knowing full well that opportunities like this don’t present themselves all that often. I even brought the recorder along and snagged some liners for TCC, so listen for them in the near future.
Cliff Ronning[wiki] was there as well, but the time was up for him before we got to his place at the table. Being the classy guy that he is, he autographed a bunch of photos and went all the way down the line to hand them out to people that had been standing there just to see him. He got held up by some fans right in front of us, and I asked him about seeing him on Canucks Pay-Per-View again this season. The response he gave me was a little depressed, saying someone there apparently didn’t like him enough that he didn’t even get a phone call about it either way.
“Maybe I stuttered too much, I don’t know.” Aw Cliff, I was a fan.
In times like these, I’m not one to get overly crazed about getting autographs. It’s the experience that draws me in. It sucks that there is no way that I could talk hockey like Dave or even Rebecca can, growing up with or having stories of these individuals passed down to them over the years. What I do know is that these guys worked hard to pursue a passion for a game, and there is a lot to respect for their efforts.
That and Gino was walking around the grounds a little bit after our meeting, spotted us, and gave a nice smile and wave because he remembered us coming through the line. We did the same back and had the same reaction to each other. “Gino!”
I’ve already made mention of this before, but today it’s official. Trevor Linden[wiki] is leaving the game of hockey.
The day job took me very close to the events as they unfolded today. Running around to help out at the press conference to having him pop in at the home base for interview with the media #131, there is something that strikes you about the guy. Deep down, he’s still the same 18 year old kid that was drafted into the NHL twenty years ago, to this exact day. 
