The Penalty Box

Tonight I went to my fourth Canucks game this season, hoping I would be able to avoid my first losing record in one season of attending Canucks games. Previous to this season, I had only attended one loss. This season, including tonight, I have attended three. Not the greatest record I could hope for. Something has been off this season, and it’s really screwing with my gameday superstitions. It’s an odd quirk I’ve developed over the years as a hockey fan; some superstitions are ingrained, some change. It really is an illogical method of decision-making, but in the weird, twisted part of my mind that occupies my love of the sport, it makes sense. I know it will only get worse once the playoffs start, and since there hasn’t been playoff hockey in Vancouver for three years, I’m only going to get more twitchy the deeper the Canucks go. In some crazy way, it’s really a lot of fun.

Really.

Stop looking at me like that.

The game still had some entertaining points, albeit most of them came in the fan interaction. It was a promotional night for Telus, so every fan got a towel. Fitting, since it’s the 25th anniversary of the birth of “Towel Power” in Vancouver. As the disc jockey started ramping up the crowd for the game, everyone started waving their towels. And, just for a second, I had what could be called a daydream. All the images of 1982 filled my mind, from “King” Richard Brodeur making the saves to the welcoming of the team back from New York to the chants of “Haaaaaaaaa-roooooold, Haaaaaaaa-rooooold.” Then there was the image of Roger Neilson holding up a stick with a white towel on it and his players following suit. Then, 1994. The Life Line. Towel Power and the White Wave. The Save. Bure in overtime. Adams in overtime. Clank. I came out of that to the chants of “Go Canucks Go” as the crowd drowned out the music coming out of the speakers. Game time.

A few minutes before actual puckdrop, Don Cherry and Ron MacLean were doing a HNIC spot.  Cherry was wearing a ridiculous hat.  Some Calgary fan tried to drape a Flames flag behind them.  Fin, the Canucks mascot, decided to grab the flag, pretend to eat it and wipe his armpits with it.  The crowd had a good laugh and he passed it back to the Calgary fan, who was pretty good-natured about it.  Not quite MacTavish ripping out Harvey the Hound’s tongue, but still pretty funny.
Things didn’t start well. The Canucks gave up the first goal, and a Flames fan yelled, “WHAT’S YOUR SAVE PERCENTAGE LUONGO??!” My response? “BETTER THAN BRODEUR’S, WHAT’S KIPPRUSOFF’S?” Yeah okay, not the most original, but it shut him up.

There was a kid behind me with an annoying horn. He was a Canucks fan, but I still wanted to break the damn thing.

A cowboy started dancing in my section. The guy beside me yelled, “SIT DOWN BROKEBACK!” Slightly amusing, but he wasn’t even drunk so it wasn’t near as funny.

When the Canucks scored their second goal to make it 3-2, I thought, “They’re finally getting up for this game.”  I looked at the scoreboard and the ad that happened to appear there at that moment was Viagra.  I chuckled.

In the end the Canucks lost so it was a bit of a letdown. I have to go rearrange some of my jerseys now.