Canucks are now Canada’s team
And with their solid core of talented young players, they could hang onto that role for years
OTTAWA — In the last few weeks it has become increasingly difficult for hockey fans not to fall in love with the Vancouver Canucks.
After Tuesday night, it’s almost impossible.
Not just because they are showing so much spunk as Canada’s team, the only one of the six return-to-play teams from north of the border that has maintained a beating pulse against all odds.
And not just because of their tortured past. In the Canucks’ 50-year existence, they’ve only been to the Stanley Cup final twice, losing both times. Before last month, they had gone eight years without winning a playoff series and four years without even qualifying for the post-season tournament.
And had there been no COVID-19 interruption, their 2019-20 may very well have ended with Game 82.
But now, after toying with Minnesota in the qualifying round then dumping the defending Cup champion Blues, they are going toe-totoe with the Vegas Golden Knights, who are now listed as Cup favourites by bookmakers.
Tuesday night, the Canucks fan base grew wildly. They became more than a good, homegrown story. They showed a lot of character. They endeared themselves to Canadians.
Down 3-1 in the series and without injured MVP goalie Jacob Markstrom, they rallied around 24-year-old rookie Thatcher Demko. All he did was make 42 saves in a gutsy 2-1 victory to become the first goalie to win his playoff debut in an elimination game since Jose Theodore with the 1997 Canadiens.
And Demko looked so casual about it, too, apparently not at all nervous before, during or after his moment in the spotlight.
“I slept great, thankfully,” Demko said with a chuckle. “I think it was lights out at 10:05 or 10:10. … These guys go to bed a little later than I do.”
Not a surprise. The Canucks have a nice mix of veterans and youth, but their best players are kids. Their top seven scorers during the regular season are all former firstround picks: J.T. Miller 15th overall in 2011, Elias Petterson fifth in 2017, Bo Horvat ninth in 2013, Quinn Hughes seventh in 2018, Tanner Pearson 30th in 2012, Brock Boeser 23rd in 2015, Jake Virtanen sixth in 2014 — and their average age is 23.
How are you supposed to sleep when you’re having the time of your life?
Petterson, just 20 years old and, with Tuesday’s winner tied for second in playoff scoring, is already a superstar. He was literally giggling in between answers on the postgame podium, as was the 19-year old Hughes, who moments earlier had tied the record for playoff points (14) by a rookie defenceman.
He could have one game left to break it, or the Canucks could have two more rounds.
Miller, the 26-year old former Tampa Bay Lightning, has assisted on the Canucks’ last six goals and plays the game hard. (Did you see him give Ryan Reaves a twohander across the chest and then just stare the Vegas enforcer down?).
Captain Horvat, another package of grit and skill, led all playoff scorers with nine goals before Wednesday’s game.
Boeser, who could pass for a surfer if you didn’t recognize him as a natural goal scorer, had only put the puck in the net once over 11 outings heading into Tuesday, when he popped one and assisted on the other in the 2-1 victory that sets up Game 6.
How can you not like a team that is led by the nicknamed Lotto Line, because of the jersey numbers worn by Boeser, Petterson and Miller: 6, 40 and 9? nd who isn’t ready for the backup-to-hero yarn that can be written by Demko, a second-round pick who in his last year at Boston College had a 27-8-4 record with 10 shutouts, a 1.88 goalsagainst average and a .935 save percentage, but was resigned to having the best seat in the house until Markstrom went down?
Now, if his No. 1 guy is healthy enough to play Game 6 on Thursday, coach Travis Green will have a difficult decision to make. Demko really was that good.
It should be vogue to cheer for Vancouver now, not just because it’s the last Canadian team standing and it’s been 27 years since a team north of the border won the Cup, and not because every other team still alive has at least one championship banner except the spoiled, three-year-old Golden Knights, who really should first have to pay their dues.
No, get on the bandwagon now because the Canucks are exciting, fun, talented and a good time to watch.
And because it’s them, not Edmonton, Toronto, Calgary, Montreal or Winnipeg, that’s poised to be Canada’s team for years to come.
From this angle, it looks like the Canucks will become the next franchise living north of the border to win the Cup. It’s just a matter of when.
ON THIS DATE: Exactly 54 years ago today, Bobby Orr signed his first NHL contract. If you can imagine, the twoyear deal paid him less than six figures: US$70,000 plus a signing bonus. It was the top salary in the league.