Category: Vancouver Canucks

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Trying to Raise A Reader

Yesterday morning, Rebecca and I ventured around downtown to see what Canucks players we could mug for a photo during the Raise A Reader event that the Vancouver Sun put on. For those unaware, this is an event in which you donate money to people giving away copies of that day’s edition of the Sun in hopes of helping the fight against illiteracy. A great cause for sure, and we’ve been planning on this day for about a month. Last year it caught us off guard, so we made sure to mark it down this time around.

Raise a Reader Day: Hank is going to kick your a$$!
Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

Basically, to get a picture or signature from the various players that were stationed around Metro Vancouver, you have to make a donation. A stellar idea, and we snagged a few. Hank was super nice, but a little stiff. In fact, I think he looks like a cardboard cutout here, but that’s cool. He can still play hockey better than I ever could. Also got a snap of Rebecca with Kevin “Boom Boom” Bieksa, but we bypassed Byron Ritchie and Rick Bowness. Nothing against them. We were just on the move.

Raise a Reader Day: He squeezed back
Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

Still, the best image from the morning was this one that I snapped.

Fin is insane!

When I pulled out my camera, Fin saw me and gave me this great pose. I swear he must have had a liter of coffee before suiting up for the morning. How he does it, I’ll never know.

Raise a Reader Day: Fin is nuts!
Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

When my parent’s first visited Vancouver, we took a ride on one of those exact, same trolleys. Some dude dressed in an orca outfit with smoke spewing out the top of his head never found his way on our tour, and it makes me want our money back. I could only imagine those out of town folks, namely Americans, who had no clue who or what was jumping on board with them and going straight for the driver’s seat, proceeding to lay on the horn like there was no tomorrow.

Fin is trying to work the trolley

We also walked by the Vancouver chief of police by the Hotel Vancouver. There were numerous police and fire personnel all over the place, and they are just as much as important as the hockey players around the city. They might not score as many goals, but they’re still important folks in my book. Overall, I think it was a pretty successful morning for the Raise A Reader campaign.

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The Crazy Canucks #40 – The puck drops here

Started last Wednesday, more recordings done yesterday, and posted this morning.

Hockey is back! Well, we’re almost there, but the puck is dropping in pre-season action all around the NHL, and September 17, 2007 is when it started for the Canucks.

This episode ended up being a mix of content, mostly due to technical difficulties in the recording process. Everyone gathers online to discuss more of the jersey debate, but this is probably the last we’ll really hammer this topic. Then Dave and John hang out for a brief chit chat before the first game against Anaheim, and Rebecca ends this episode with a report on going to the game.

24:38 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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The Crazy Canucks #39 – Live from the jersey unveiling at GM Place

Recorded, edited, and posted today

Rebecca, DaveO, and J.J. snagged some of the free tickets to attend the new jersey unveiling for the Vancouver Canucks. There has been a lot of talk and speculation as to what would appear today, and everyone shares their opinion of what they just witnessed.

Also jammed in the middle is audio from a video that Rebecca shot with her digital camera of the montage that ran just prior to the players skating out onto the ice in the new threads. Apologies for the quality, but you might be able to make it out if you try.

12:18 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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Finally, the new Canucks jerseys are here

The new RBK jerseys of the Vancouver Canucks
Photo credit: canucks.com

I had to work in Pitt Meadows this morning for the day job, but that wasn’t going to stop me from seeing what I could of the new Canucks jerseys. However, I still missed it by a few minutes. As much as that sucked, you kinda expect these things when it comes to driving anywhere around the lower mainland.

So let’s cover what the jersey is supposed to encompass. There is the “Vancouver” across the top that pays homage to the Vancouver Millionaires[wiki] from ions ago, the first professional hockey team here and the last team to win the Stanley Cup. The orca logo is pretty much what we’ve had for the last ten years, but with a minor tweak in terms of colors. The stick-in-rink (my preferred, overall logo concept) gets to be a patch on the shoulder, much like the last set of jerseys with the whale. And of course, the colors are a throw back to the original jerseys from when the Canucks joined the NHL in 1970[wiki].

on sale...soon
Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

That being said, I’m not in awe of what I see. I like it, but I’m not in love with it. It’s pretty cool in some respects, but Rebecca said it well when she mentioned it being a fairly busy design.

Now, it could be much, much worse. I’ve spent most of the morning hearing people complain about the amount of jerseys and logos the Canucks have. It might be true that in the history of the team, it’s changed a fair number of times. But did the organization go Buffaslug on us? No, and that makes me thankful. It’s nothing extremely new, but there is certainly nothing here that makes me say “holy crap!” like I did about Buffalo, or even Nashville for that matter.

how do YOU feel?
Photo credit: miss604 on Flickr

I can handle it, and the colors make me love the jersey more than the logo. Let’s face it, the last jersey was very red, white, and blue. These colors not only fall back on the original scheme of the team, but they give stronger roots to B.C., at least to me. The previous jerseys had a more American look to them, and what have they ever done for the good of the game?

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Putting the new Canucks jersey hoopla to rest

Canucks jersey launch The Canucks organization knows exactly what they are doing when it comes to everyone’s interest to the new jerseys for the upcoming season. Ever since the RBK design was announced, everyone knew that things were going to change. This is also combined with all the hints that coach Alain Vigneault made about going back to the old threads of the stick-in-rink. Truth be told, it’s a cash cow that makes the team some nice coin when everyone updates their wardrobe.

Still, I give them some mad props for doing an official event for fans to attend at GM Place for the unveiling of the new look.

Canucks TO UNVEIL NEW HOME AND AWAY SWEATERS AT GENERAL MOTORS PLACE

The Vancouver Canucks announced today that they will unveil their new home and away sweaters to their fans and media on Wednesday, August 29th at General Motors Place.

Canucks fans are encouraged to join their favourite team for a tailgate party prior to the sweater launch at 12:30 pm. The tailgate party which begins at 11:30 am on the South Plaza will include free hot dogs provided by Grimm’s and Save-On-Foods, Coca-Cola beverages and Canucks prizing courtesy of McDonald’s and The Beat 94.5 FM Street Squad.

Canucks mascot FIN will be taking part in all of the activities and will be available for photos following the Sweater Launch on the South Plaza. [canucks]

All of this makes me start to ask, why would you have such a big event if the change was going to be subtle? There are a lot of rumors about potential designs and simple color changes to the existing logo. Seems a bit much if you are going to give away free tickets for the event, not to mention free hot dogs and soda.

Still, go on ya, Canucks. Instead of a simple media event and press conference, you’re inviting us fans in to partake in the fun. I can dig that. Now just to see what all this hush-hush is about and if it’s worth waiting for.

Something else worth mentioning, at the bottom of the page for the event, something new is about to happen from the Canucks official site. This whole event is going to be streamed live.

Watch the jersey launch live as Canucks.com broadcast straight to you for the first time right from General Motors Place.

We’ll bring you the action right from the bowl and bring you behind the scenes at the post-event media press conference from the Canucks dressing room.

Tune in to Canucks.com on Wednesday, August 29th at 12:30 pm PST to watch the event and catch all the buzz of the new Canucks jersey with some of your favourite Canucks players and staff. [canucks]

If I were you, I’d check it out online because all the tickets are gone for the event. Well, you could always pay $10 for a ticket off Craigslist. They were on there as soon as the word got out about the event being “sold out”.

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The Canucks new logo speculation continues

Tossing even more fuel towards the flames, I thought I would chime in with the always interesting discussion about the new Canucks logo and jerseys that are going to be announced in the coming weeks. This I know based on what VP Chris Zimmerman said at the state of the franchise I attended with J.J.

canucks-bwg-logo.jpg Speaking of, J.J. posted the other day with the scoop, and Alanah chimed in with some thoughts about it today. Being that I get a lot of Google searches on this topic, Canucks fans will be interested to see and hear this one.

It was a reader who emailed this into J.J., so no one can be sure on its authenticity. However, as mentioned in his post, these colors within the logo match the current color scheme on Canucks.com. Does that mean anything? No one really knows.

My opinion, it’s not too horrible, but I’d still prefer the stick-in-rink. Otherwise, this isn’t too bad, especially if you consider what Buffalo changed to last season. At least this looks a little more menacing compare to that slug.

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Vancouver Canucks State of the Franchise 2007

J.J. had an extra ticket to the Vancouver Canucks State of the Franchise tonight, so I was more than happy to go along for the event.

Off stage right

Basically, this is intended for season ticket holders, plus a few other classifications of people who coordinate boxes and what not. GM Dave Nonis and VP Chris Zimmerman take the stage for about an hour to discuss concerns of ticket holders, give updates on where the organization is heading, and then take questions from the crowd.

Chris Zimmerman talks shop

I have to say that the most intriguing point of the event was that Zimmerman and Nonis hung around after their stage time to talk to anyone that wandered down to the floor. From what I could overhear, people were asking some good questions about the organization. The responses were diplomatic, but not so much that you couldn’t appreciate the sincerity of the answers. By the time we headed out of the building, the crowd had dwindled to about ten around each guy, and they didn’t show any signs of movement towards the door.

It was a really neat experience, but there wasn’t anything earth shattering that was announced. Well, at least nothing that I didn’t already clue into based on The Crazy Canucks, J.J.’s and Alanah’s blogs, and general hockey conversations that Rebecca and I have. If anything, I have a new found respect for Dave Nonis and his business ethics, but you just need to look around the rest of the NHL to understand this.

Getting set for the panel discussion

The coolest part of the evening started out with John Shorthouse coming out on stage to kick off a panel discussion with a group of Team 1040 broadcasters about various topics around the NHL as well as the Canucks. Don Taylor, Dave Tomlinson, and Barry Macdonald joined Shorty on stage to hack through the usual topics of the schedule, rules, and what should and shouldn’t change. It was highly entertaining, and I’m sure J.J. will have more on his site about the discussions.

Crowd around the big guys

One note about the whole jersey topic. Zimmerman answered the question from the audience about this and hammered on a detail that adds some more light. I’ve heard it before, but him stating, quite matter of fact, that “Fin will have a continued presence in the organization” leads me to ponder this comment that showed up in my last post about this topic. That’s all I’m going to say.

If anything, it was really awesome to be in GM Place and be talking about the Canucks. That’s pure happiness, and you can view more of the photos here on Flickr.

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The Canucks jerseys will change

Rick Ball - Team 1040I got a note from GZ Expat the other day about a recent episode of the Canucks Lunch podcast from Team 1040 that aired on May 31, 2007. Being that I still get a lot of hits from people searching for results about a potential logo change for the Canucks next season, I thought I would pass on this little bit of info that popped up on this show.

Rick Ball had CEO Chris Zimmerman of Orca Bay Sports Entertainment (who will be changing their name in the coming months, according to this interview) on the show, and he had some very interesting things to say, one of them alluding to their efforts to connect better with Canucks fans. Does that have any reference to what we are doing with The Crazy Canucks? I’m not completely sure, but the hands that have been extended to us is evidence of that. If you think there is still a ways to go, then I think it’s safe to say that they do, too.

But, the jerseys. Will they change? Zimmerman says yes, and there isn’t much more beyond that. Ball gave out some statistics about what that change should be, in terms of a logo, there isn’t any hints. In regards to the stick-in-rink, gives a long response about respecting the past and great traditions that have come before today’s team, and the “next era of Canucks hockey” will also “pay tribute and respect the past.”

Fin is here to say, and the orca will be a long lasting image with the team. However, we’ll know exactly what will happen just before training camp starts, and that was the major piece of news that he let out in the interview.

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Downer to the Canucks post-season

I know that I am so late to the post, but there is not an easy way to approach the end of the Canucks season. I’ve been busy with some projects at home and having some job opportunities to explore that getting time to get The Crazy Canucks gathered and the studio pumped up to record has been a hassle.

Am I depressed? Kinda. No one wanted to see the season come to an end like that, and I doubt that anyone wants to see their team in any sport get booted out of any sort of elimination process like that. It’s the way the game is played, and you can’t forget that.

Saying that, I was prepared for the season to be over for the Canucks, but the beam of hope is something I never gave up. In fact, in the second period of that game five against Anaheim, I was was calling for a 9-1 victory for Vancouver. A bit of a stretch, but hasn’t the whole season been that way?

So here comes the excuses, and this is only because there are those out there that would call it that. I like to call it facing the truth because the fact is, we went from a painful season last year, to a clueless start to this one, and wound up with something no one in their right mind thought was possible. Sure, the dedicated ones will tell you that they always knew, but that’s just the legacy of a fan.

At the end of last summer, so many people knew that we had a good goalie. How good remained to be seen, but we all get the picture now. Alain Vignault was… well, no one had a clear picture other than what could vaguely be recalled about his previous experience as a NHL coach.

And don’t forget the new faces. So many fans we’re trying to figure out, “Why the hell did we toss down money for Mitchell?” And now we sit here saying, “Oh… right.”

There were other things that I am really lazy as to listing off, but for a season that was often viewed as a rebuilding year, we whooped all the predictions, aside from those few who called it a long time ago (good for you, now shut up and get over yourself).

The Canucks fell short? I don’t think so. I know that this season was a blast to watch, and Luongo probably had a large part to do with that. The rest of the chips fell into place, but not enough to push the team further than what all of us fans wanted to happen. Yet, I can’t say that I am disappointed at all.

When Luongo let that absentminded goal go in, I wasn’t upset or angered by his sudden drop of the guard, not that it’s excusable. But after everything he did in that game five, not to mention the entire season, I can truthfully say that I was not let down. If anything, I am more excited for next season and can care less about the rest of the playoffs.

Well… almost.

Go Sens

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Crazy Canucks Outsider live on Ustream.tv

Attention Canucks fans! A first time event for myself, but Dave will be taking the Canucks Outsider live again tonight on Ustream.tv. In addition, Rebecca and I are partaking in the event this evening, expanding our conquest into the realm of new media and tossing in some representation from The Crazy Canucks at the same time.

Check out the goings on here or just come back to my site because this goes live tonight at 7PM PST. You can watch it on this page, but you’ll really been interested in going to the Ustream site to get in on the live chatting action.

For those of you within viewing shot of the game on TV, here’s a neat little tip. Bypass the crap that comes at intermission and commercials with keeping the Ustream going on in the background. What I did last time Dave went live with the video feed is to have my computer hooked up to the TV and then switched over to him during said times. His hi-jinks gave you all the Canucks love that you need in these feverish playoff times. Hopefully we’ll be able to add to that.

Go ‘Nucks!

Update: Depressing end to a game that saw the Canucks start out looking so strong. Anaheim takes the series to a 3-1 lead. Hold hope. We can win three more.