|
October 12, 2002
Canucks Kill Sharks
By Matt Petersen
|
VANCOUVER -- We left San Jose on Thursday and got into
beautiful British Columbia on Saturday with a crisp
breeze in the air and nothing but blue skies.
Hockey was on our minds since we only had an hour to
unload our luggage in our downtown hotel room and get
to the arena to set up, but the allure of the town
(the vast waterways, the boats, the bridges) were too
much to just pass by. We were looking forward to
spending some time in the great city of Vancouver for
sure.
Setting up outside of GM Place, we had no shortage of
interesting folks to talk to. Save for a few Shark
fans at the outset, it was nothing but red and blue
streaming toward the turnstiles, and plenty of the
Maple Leaf to be seen. Jeff and I were sticking out
like California hockey fans in our odd colored
jerseys, and it didn’t take long to hear the disdain
of the Canadian Hockey fan base toward those of us
“Johnny-come-lately’s” from the States. It was what we
expected, and we laughed when most of the jabs were
finished off with an “eh” at the end. One fan
approached me after the game and asked, “Do they sell
men’s clothing where you bought that (jersey).” No
“eh,” but funny stuff.
Rocky welcome be damned, we were in Vancouver, our
first hockey stop in Canada and our heads were
buzzing. For me, it had such a rich feel of fanaticism
that I haven’t felt before at a hockey game in the Bay
Area. There was a different chatter outside of the
arena, a different looking crowd. Three high school
age girls that we talked to (decked out from head to
toe in Canuck colors, and I’m not kidding, they had
their toenails painted in blue and red) talked
tirelessly about women’s hockey, team defense and what
the Canuck’s need to do to win the Cup this year.
Angelica Ganske, fresh from singing the praises of
superstar defenseman Ed Jovanovski, stopped dead in
her tracks and accosted a fan in a Canuck jersey that
was autographed by young Right Wing Matt Cooke.
“You’ve met Matt Cooke?,” she asked the guy with a
look of total disbelief. It was a look of fanaticism
that was exciting to see in a female fan.
General Motors place is another smaller scale arena
(along the same amount of seats as in San Jose) with
two levels of luxury boxes and two levels of seating.
The place roared for each goal (and for the Canadian
National Anthem of course), and fans were on the edge
of their seats for every second of action.
On the way out to the car after the game, the three of
us were met with more crazy language and the fans
hooted and hollered like they just won the seventh
game of the Stanley Cup. If this is how it is out here
in Western Canada, we have no idea what it’ll be like
in the east. Next stop, Calgary..., eh.
|
All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner.
This site is not recognized, approved, sponsored or endorsed by the NHL.
This is just a site to chronicle the journey of two die hard hockey fans from California
as they embark on their quest to set a World Record
©2002 Offthepost.com.
All Rights Reserved.
|
|
| Videos are streamed using Windows Media Player technology. Trip of a Lifetime videos are best viewed over a cable modem using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0+ and are not recommended for dial-up connections. |
 |
'Nucks beat Sharks
Cable Modem |
|
|
