Anti-gloom post - What made you become a Canucks fan?

[gwarrior]

3 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

Classic game.  I don't think many Canuck fans that were paying attention that year won't remember the game.  I think Patrick Roy said it was the best or one of the best games he had ever seen a goalie play.

 

1982 warn't no fluke though.  That was King Richard turning into a demigod.

Speaking of King Richard, I had a puck signed by him delivered back on Thursday. I've kind of gone mental with Canucks memorabilia lately 

[CanuckDownUnder]

Grew up in Vancouver.  Adopted them as my team when they first joined the league. Watched lots of games starting in the Pacific Colliseum. Highlight as a kid was watching Gordie Howe vs Canucks.

[gwarrior]

21 minutes ago, CanuckDownUnder said:

Grew up in Vancouver.  Adopted them as my team when they first joined the league. Watched lots of games starting in the Pacific Colliseum. Highlight as a kid was watching Gordie Howe vs Canucks.

That's pretty cool!!

[gwarrior]

I remember the 2nd game I went to see. We won free tickets from molson back when they would put merch or tickets things in the beer cases. We saw Ottawa that game. And it was maybe 2 weeks after trading Bure for Jovo. We lost 1-0. Didn't  have a shot on goal in the 3rd. Best part, Messier missed the game due to injury. At least I never had to watch that goof live. Fuck that guy.

[Optimist Prime]

9 hours ago, Miss Korea said:

Mark Messier was my first Canuck captain.

I am so sorry. No one should ever have to say that. 

 

I am sure you agree that Naslund era and onwards has been the best time to be a Canucks fan, hands down. No more wandering in the wilderness with an 82 here and a 94 there. We have been spoiled since Y2K, even with the 'drought' in the last decade, far better product than any ten year stretch pre Nazzy. 

[filthy animal]

Me and my family moved here at 1990, started lightly following the Canucks when the team started to do well with Quinn making the deal with St. Louis to get Momesso, Courtnall, Ronning. I was following the Kings more but i started to become a Canucks fan as well when the Russian Rocket arrived.

 

Most memorable games Ive attended live was 94 against the Leafs, the famous Greg Adams Greg Adams! goal

 

A regular season game, Kings vs Canucks, the Nucks were leading the game 5 -1, final score was 7-7. Gretzky had a 1 goal and 5 assist, fantastic game

 

and a preseason game against the Panthers, Pavel's first and only visit to GM place on the other side

Edited March 3 by filthy animal

[Westcoasting]

I was a Laffs fan until my uncle took me to a few games and Bobby Schmautz quickly became a favorite…of course he was good so they traded him but I still persevered remaining a fan till the present  1974 ish?

[Joe King]

As a child my family lived in Vancouver. Canucks were instantly my team.

I don't remember for sure which team they played against the first live game.

I would mostly attended Sabres and Blackhawk games. Montreal and Toronto games were to hard to get tickets for. I was only 12 years old in 1970.

 

3 games really stand out for me. one of them was against the California Golden Seals I think we beat them 11 to 5 or 6. The second game was Game 3 Stanley cup finals against the Islanders. My ears are still ringing, the crowd was insanely load. My wife and I were part of the crowd that waited 3 days in line for tickets.

The third was eliminating the leafs in 94. I moved to Ontario in 1999,so I haven't been to any live games since.

 

I really like that this team has such a huge variety of jerseys. I like them all even the flying V. But I think I like the Sprite one best.

They will always be the only team for me.

[OldFaithfulcap]

Thanks for everyone who has shared so far. Love hearing the older stories. We've all been through such disappointment but we're still here cheering them on, be so very nice if the drought ends this season.

Edited March 3 by OldFaithfulcap

[The Aquaman]

2004 Playoffs, I believe we finished 1st Western Conference. 
 

Vancouver 

Detroit 

San Jose

 

Calgary was the 8th seed I believe and took out the top three seats. That year the infamous “Red Mile” came out it was nuts and I live in Calgary. That year is the year I chose the Canucks. 

[Kevin Biestra]

On 3/2/2024 at 8:29 PM, Optimist Prime said:

I am so sorry. No one should ever have to say that. 

 

I am sure you agree that Naslund era and onwards has been the best time to be a Canucks fan, hands down. No more wandering in the wilderness with an 82 here and a 94 there. We have been spoiled since Y2K, even with the 'drought' in the last decade, far better product than any ten year stretch pre Nazzy. 

 

I think 1991 to 1995 was a better time than the Naslund / WCE years.  The Canucks had their division titles and were impressive in the playoffs every one of those seasons even in the years they only went one or two rounds.  1991 was the Ronning magic year with his LA series where he was better than Gretzky.  1992 or 1993 was the comeback from down 3-1 in the series against Winnipeg and then I think they came back from down 3-2 against St. Louis in 1995.  Plus the comeback from 3-1 against Calgary in 1994 (and almost against the Rangers).  The first half of the 90s the Canucks were consistently very good.  1994 didn't just come out of nowhere.  The Canucks were consistently comeback kings in those years as opposed to consistently frustrating in the playoffs during the Cloutier years.

 

1982 was the only good playoff run of the 80s but the 80s Canucks - Snepsts, Brodeur, Tiger, Smyl, Rota, Fraser, Gradin, Garrett, Butcher etc. - were very easy to cheer for and relate to.  Hard working guys who made teams like Gretzky's Oilers earn their two points and once in a while beat them as well.

 

Edited March 5 by Kevin Biestra

[Steamer4GM]

Why did you become a fan? 1982 run that led to the final vs the NY Islanders had the whole town fired up and me n' my mom n' stepdad all got super caught up in it. Following season I was listening to Jim n' Tom on the radio every game that wasn't on TV, reading The Province articles every game day and post-game day and even clipping out key articles to build a scrapbook for a couple years until other teenager interests took over and I didn't follow as closely for a few years

 

First game you remember? Can't say for sure but had to be one of the games leading up to the Isles series

 

First game you saw in the arena? Not sure of the date but the LA Kings were in town. Ivan Hlinka picked Dave Taylor up in a bear hug and body slammed him to the ice right in front of me. Never forget it

 

Fave jerseys/shirt - Black skate jersey but bet t-shirt I ever had was the black skate super imposed over an image of The Province front page headline the day after we beat Toronto to move on to the final in 1994 reading 'Blow Leafs Blow!'

[Rocket-68]

Me, a game in 1973 on a B&W TV at my uncles house with my dad. Not sure if the Leafs or Bruins were playing but it was Hockey Night in Canada. Been a fan ever since.

 

First in person game was at the Pacific Coluseum back in 1986 against the Kings where the Canucks scored 11 goals on the way to an 11-5 victory. What a game to have as the first game to see live.

 

Favorite Jersey - Bertuzzi, Naslund and now Pettersson. I only have the latter left. Time to start a bit of a collection I think, starting with Miller's.

 

Most games seen live is 14 in 1 season at what was then called GM Place. Saw JovoCop knock Deadmarsh out of a game live to a deafening roar of the crowd. Drove down ever game as I just "happened" to have business in Vancouver game day. 

Edited March 5 by Rocket-68

[Bretzky]

On 3/2/2024 at 7:53 PM, CanuckDownUnder said:

Grew up in Vancouver.  Adopted them as my team when they first joined the league. Watched lots of games starting in the Pacific Colliseum. Highlight as a kid was watching Gordie Howe vs Canucks.

Awesome!

I grew up in Vancouver and didn’t become a Nucks fan really until they drafted Linden. But growing up my dad took me to games at the Pacific Colliseum to see some great NHL teams. Saw Bobby Orr and Ken Dryden etal. I guess that’s also why I like the skate jersey best.

[Alflives]

In the early years it was buy a game seat and get a bottle of scotch. Love scotch. Connect the dots. 

[RomanPer]

I grew up in Soviet Union (Ukraine), so naturally followed all the soviet players, but especially Pavel Bure. At the time there was no internet and all the information you could get was through newspapers. The whole story of Bure draft wasn't covered in the soviet papers as they were trying really hard to not let him go. Moved to Israel in April 1991 and that country is not known as a hotbed of hockey , so flow of information was pretty limited. Once I found through friends who stayed back in Ukraine that Bure moved to Vancouver, started following the results of the team through some limited newspaper articles available. When my wife and I decided to move to Canada, Vancouver became the obvious choice for 2 reasons - weather and Canucks .

 

Moved to Vancouver in April 1997, just before the signing of Messier. As a new immigrant, couldn't afford to go to the games, until some time in 1999, when a friend from work hooked me up with some free tickets. And now it's all Canucks for me

 

Thank you @-dlc- Mom for teaching Gino to play poker - I met him through poker back in 2010 and played a lot with him around Vancouver and in Vegas at WSOP.

[CanuckMan]

 

What made us a Canucks fan? Living in the Lowermainland for one. I personally started watching hockey during the west coast express days. Really liked Naslund/Bertuzzi/Linden. Than the Sedins/Burrows/Kesler days. 
When they win the cup it will be all worth it. But so far it’s been 20 years of pain and suffering. 

[Ballisticsports]

 

I play and loved hockey and Paul Henderson was my fav player (even before the Canada Cup) I always  wore #19 (as a Centre)

Both my Step Dad and Grandfather were big Canuck fans from the start

I remember as a young kid watching the Canucks 1st NHL game with my grandpa and losing to LA (3-1 or 3-2)

I didn't understand the Original jersey idea then (but now would like to see them have Cup pics taken wearing it)

I became a Canucks fan in the exciting 82 cup run ( was driving down River road to get my gf a cat at the SPCA , on the way back she was saying what should I name him?, as we were driving back to Burnaby along the fraser river, in the fraser valley and kept hearing Curt Fraser name on the radio) so Fraser it was named

 

My dearly departed step dad ran a company and was a huge Canucks fan,  I'd witness many of the workers take advantage of him during each playoff series and they would bet money against him that the Canucks would lose and he bet them all.  He even organised the Lotto pool later with these guys who rarely paid up, and he would buy the tickets himself, and one time he won the big pot, and when they received a call from him right after the draw asking if they were in, they must have known something was up (as he never did that) and of course they each said yes, and he split it 10 ways

 

I hated those embarrassing V clown jerseys they wore when I 1st became a Canuck fan though, and wished then they hadn't changed from the original, (which I later appreciated, like the original 6 teams classic uniforms)

I've always worn #19, but never even relate to being a former Leafs fan, 

When the skate jersey came out I remember people ridiculing them that they were skating down

They have had so many cash grabbing ugly jerseys,(even 3rd's) and wish they'd keep it to 2 now (Original and skate)

 

My Grandpa, Step Dad and younger Brother (died 1yr ago in 1 week to today) were all huge Canuck fans and have all passed without seeing the Canucks win

I hope this does not become a family tradition and I can be happy for them (and myself) to see the curse ended with Canucks winning the Cup

 

Edited March 5 by Ballisticsports

[CaribouCanuck]

I first became a fan during the 2003-04 season it was almost exactly the time of the Bertuzzi Moore incident. I became a fan due to growing up in the lower mainland and I really liked watching the games with my dad and siblings it just felt like such a happy time. I wish that I had gotten into hockey a bit sooner and was really able to see bulk of the West Coast express era rather than just the tail end of it.

The first game that I can remember on tv was a game against the Coyotes and the Canucks won but I don't remember the score.

The first game I ever watched in the arena was in the 2006-07 season in a game against the Minnesota Wild where the Canucks lost but I was still happy to have had the experience of going.

My favorite jersey was a Bure flying skate jersey that I got even though that was before my time watching. I also had a Henrik Sedin stick in the rink third jersey that was pretty cool. 

[spook007]

Came to Vancouver as master of a cable ship in 2005-2006 and spent a year alongside in the port (6 months alongside Canada place and another 6 at Main Street dock (I think, struggle to remember the name), but could see Canada place across from our berth...

 

It was a fabulous time and not too far a walk to GM place... First game was a pre season v Oilers and ended with a 6-2 win... 

And that was it. I was sold instantly, and was in awe of the hockey played... It was a new world compared to the hockey, I had been used to watch live...

 

Have no idea how many games I watched, but it was lots... tickets $50 on the street, seats up amongst the pigeons, but I could care less... bought my first shirt at my second Canucks game... A purple Orca one ... Bert, Morrison and Nazzy top line Sedin twins were second line players with Carter... 

 

Never looked back since... been buying all the local tv providers showing Canucks games as well as NHL TV... 

 

Feels like I have been a fan forever although its only 20 years, but tv and all the stories told by all the old time fans almost makes it feel, as if I was there at the time... I wasn't and thus try to stay out of debates about old players, although players like Linden and Bure were well known outside the borders of Canada... 

 

Long story short, love the Canucks, and CFF is like a second family.... magic times and so many great and enthusiastic fans on these boards. 

A massive thank you to you all... from an old sea dog...

 

PS. favorite shirt is the skate jersey. 

Edited March 5 by spook007
PS

[Captain Hughes]

I became a fan when they drafted me

[Westcoasting]

7 hours ago, Ballisticsports said:

 

I play and loved hockey and Paul Henderson was my fav player (even before the Canada Cup) I always  wore #19 (as a Centre)

Both my Step Dad and Grandfather were big Canuck fans from the start

I remember as a young kid watching the Canucks 1st NHL game with my grandpa and losing to LA (3-1 or 3-2)

I didn't understand the Original jersey idea then (but now would like to see them have Cup pics taken wearing it)

I became a Canucks fan in the exciting 82 cup run ( was driving down River road to get my gf a cat at the SPCA , on the way back she was saying what should I name him?, as we were driving back to Burnaby along the fraser river, in the fraser valley and kept hearing Curt Fraser name on the radio) so Fraser it was named

 

My dearly departed step dad ran a company and was a huge Canucks I'd watch many of the workers take advantage of him during each playoffs and they would bet money against him that the Canucks would lose and he bet them all.  He even organised the Lotto pool later with these guys who rarely paid, and he would buy the tickets himself, and one time he won the big pot, and when they received a call from him right after the draw asking if they were in, they must have known something was up (as he never did that) and of course they each said yes, and he split it 10 ways

 

I hated those embarrassing V clown jerseys they wore when I became a Canuck fan though, and wished then they hadn't changed from the original, (which I later appreciated like the original 6 teams classic ones)

I've always worn #19, but never even relate to being a former Leafs fan, 

When the skate jersey came out I remember people ridiculing them that they were skating down

They have had so many cash grabbing ugly jerseys,(even 3rd's) and wish they'd keep it to 2 (Original and skate)

 

My Grandpa, Step Dad and younger Brother (died 1yr ago in 1 week to today) were all huge Canuck fans and have all passed without seeing the Canucks win

I hope this does not become a family tradition and I can be happy for them (and myself) to see the curse ended with Canucks winning the Cup

 

Henderson, Ellis, and Sittler… the boys that got me hooked on hockey

[LaBamba]

I’m a masochist

[OldFaithfulcap]

I love watching these old tv clips, 1982 canucks including fan brawl

 

https://youtu.be/w29MdXphWdI?si=mNmq_1_Fwu9dhMv-

 

[Ilunga]

Came to Canada in the mid 90's to ski, as skiing was my life. Minimum 200 days a year between Aus,  Canada and other parts of the world. 

 

Anyway got introduced to Hockey Night in Canada, and drop in hockey at Big White, just a bunch of locals, and was hooked.

Of course being in BC, just had to follow the Canucks. 

 

Can't remember the real early highlights of games I watched when I first got to Canada.

 

On moment that does stick out from those early years of watching Hockey was McSorley's hit on Brashear. 

I used to be a bit more " punchy " back and those days, I remember screaming at the Telly.

 

 

 

 

 

I remember I used to love going to Value Village in Kelowna and looking for and buying old Jersey's and other Canucks paraphernalia. 

 

Would always spend some time at Whistler and a buddy there took to a game. 

We had seats right up close to the ice, it's not what you know but who you know. 

 

Never took team sports that seriously back then before I found hockey, was more into individual pursuits like MTB and skiing.

However once I found hockey, I even played drop in hockey over here in Aus. 

 

I can clearly remember 2011, and my memory is screwed, watching every game of the final, still thinking we were gonna win game 7.

The feeling of devastation when we lost.

 

My thoughts on this year are based on head not heart. 

In team sports it usually takes a few attempts at play-offs/finals here in Aus, to actually win it all. 

Play-offs/finals are like a different season, first the mental confidence of knowing you have been there before and succeeded, and the time you had to make decisions/plays in the regular season disappears. 

 

 

I am not saying the Canucks can't win it all this year, just tempering my expectations.

 

I do believe like most that we have a core of players at the important positions that is the basis of a successful team.

It's the role players, the meat and potatoe players that are the difference between the top teams.