Fantastic Showing - Part 4

Odds & Ends

A few thoughts to wrap up the trip:

- Ernest, the next time you start trash talking the other team's fans in a 1 goal game with a minute left I'm going to punch you. Thanks for ruining the trip.

- Conversation with Buffalo fan:
BF: What's that on your jersey?
Me: It's a killer whale and a C
BF: I don't get it - Vancouver? whale?
Me: We've got lots of whales in Vancouver. I have one in my backyard.
BF: I don't know, seems weird.
Me: What's that logo on your jacket? (the Buffaslug)
BF: It's Barney Rubble's toupee. (walks away)

- There should be more gas stations between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Running out of gas on the highway after midnight, well, sucks.

- If a broken thumb is what it takes to get Pyatt going, we should consider breaking Naslund's thumb.

- What's it going to take to get Bob Cole and Harry Neale to retire? I watched the CBC broadcast of the Leafs Canucks game after I got back to Vancouver (already feeling nostalgic) - countless Bieskas, Mr. and Mrs... Mom and Dad (referring to Bieksa's parents), Mats Naslund, Henrik Gradin, Alex Borrows...

- Buffalo announcer kept saying Bieska as well. Maybe it is hard to pronounce, with all those letters and stuff

- The Fallsview casino poker room sucks. Session fees instead of a rake, which is ok if the game moves fast. But the dealers are BRUTAL and slow, and the players don't make an effort to play quickly. Still managed to win enough to pay for all my hockey tickets though.

- Why is there someone in a Winnipeg Jets jersey at every hockey game, regardless of the city? Even Buffalo?

- I feel for Dany Sabourin. Played great, finally got some goal support (I think the Canucks had only scored 1 goal in front of him so far this year), and can't hold on to win. I say keep playing him, once every 10-12 games. If they can, send him down for starts with the Moose when possible.

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-Best moment of the warmup in Buffalo - two girls in their early twenties, one with a Buffalo Pyatt jersey, one with a Vancouver Pyatt jersey. Pyatt takes a shot and then skates by them. One girl to the other: "HE'S SOOOOO HOT!"

- I generally think that AV has done a great job at coach, but a few times this year he's forgotten to put out two centres near the end of the game for a key faceoff. Last night, Morrison gets kicked out, Bulis loses the draw, Buffalo scores. Earlier in the year Kesler got tossed and Burrows had to take a big draw (which he "won" by diving onto the puck and smothering it). Pretty easy adjustment to make.

- Pittsburgh beat Toronto 8-2 Saturday tonight - nice to see that last Saturday's game was no fluke!

Anyway, that's all I've got. Ernest and I are off to Calgary in early February for a Canucks game, I'll post something then.

-Earl

Game 4 - Buffalo Preview

Great Animal - Horrible City

What I’m looking forward to:
- Sitting in row 9 behind the penalty box
- Leaving the city
- Retro jerseys, since both the Canucks and Sabres joined the league in the same season

What I’m not looking forward to:
- Being mugged
- The Buffaslug
- "Second game in two nights" play vs one of the best teams in the league

Canucks memories:
- Not that I was around, but the Sabres set the tone for the Canucks to have the pathetic franchise history that we do, and it just happened to be my birthday. (Although years before I was born) (from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/news/2001/08/08/sayitaintso_canucks/ )
- The Canucks had Numbers. 1-6, and the Sabres had 7-12. The wheel spun and it was announced that No. 1 came up, sending Canucks GM Norman "Bud" Poile and his entourage into a frenzy. But Buffalo GM Punch Imlach noticed that the digits were on top of one another and the wheel actually had landed on No. 11. The league sided with Imlach, giving the Sabres the top pick, which they used to draft Perreault.
- This was a classic (I miss Gino!):



Bets on the game:
- I don’t know any Sabres fans, but I’m sure I’ll find someone at the game

Other bets:
- Number of Jumbotron appearances: I’ve got 0, 1 is a push, Ernest has 2+ (He is a Jumbotron whore after all)

Fan-tastic Showing - Part 3

I wouldn't want to be a (Sens) fan here, but being a Canucks fan anywhere right now, is awesome!

I don't know much about Ottawa, besides the obvious stuff. The federal government is here, everything is bilingual, and the Senators are almost always a good hockey team. What I learned about Ottawa on this trip is that the traffic here sucks, and that being a fan is really inconvenient. Oh, and they consider this "Hockey Country." How special.

Scotia Bank Place Banque Scotia is way outside the city, in Kanata or something. You have to take the highway there. On a bus. We met up with our friend Michelle and then drove to a pharmacy's parking lot near a bus station, where we then took a bus to an outdoor mall (why are there so many outdoor malls in Ontario? It's cold!), where we got on another bus, which took us to the game. And this helped us avoid a lot of traffic. Oh, and it was only 4 o'clock.

We met up with the local UBC alumni group for a nice dinner in the skybox before proceeding to our group seats in the third teir. The Senators have one really cool thing in their stadium (and loads of suck). There are video projectors mounted on the ceiling that play moving images onto the ice (Montreal had them too). The quality of the video was awesome and is visually very impressive. Now that the Canucks have a new scoreboard and light ring in GM Place, we must get some video projectors for next season! [Side note: the concourse around the stadium is really narrow and makes getting around quite the challenge - a reoccuring theme, as your will discover, later in this entry. Plus, it's all concrete, like BC Place. Not nice.]

As promissed, the fans here started a "Go Canucks Go" chant to start the game, and many times throughout the game. We got drown out by Senators fans piggybacking our chant almost everytime, however, it was the Canucks fans that had more to cheer about. Our section was packed with fans and we could see many others around the stadium. The fans here claim to love their team, but they actually hate the Leafs more than anything. The cheer for the Senator's only goal of the game was only slightly louder than the ovation on the two Canucks goals (including Rory Fitzpatrick's first goal of the season) and is only really noticeable because of the deafening locomotive horn that the the sound department plays over the loudspeakers. Awful.

Bobby Lu stood on his head for the third straight game and the Canucks were very fortunate to escape with 2 points tonight (you don't usually win games when you only take 14 shots, but Ray Emery let in a soft one and Luongo didn't). As the game concluded, we had to rush to the exits and almost missed seeing #1 in white come out for a curtain call as the game's #1 star, for the third game in a row. If he isn't named NHL player of the week, something is wrong.

The reason that we had to rush out of the stadium, is because we had to catch that bus back to "Ottawa". Apparently, there are only a handful of buses that service the stadium (in the middle of nowhere) and if you aren't part of the first group that gets to them, right after the game, you don't get home. We didn't waste any time getting to the bus stop, but there were a thousand people trying to get on to five buses. After missing the first, we managed to sneak onto the next bus through the back door (it was a 'bendy-bus' with multiple doors) after someone waiting to get on near the back, pried the door open. And thank goodness, because we might not have made it home otherwise.

After a 45 minute bus ride back towards downtown (but only one stop and not all the way downtown) we got back to our car and drove the rest of the way back to Michelle's place. Whoever designed this place, wasn't thinking too hard. The stadium is too far from downtown and does not have a proper clover leaf highway exit. The parking lot has only one entrance and exit, and the bus loop is on the other side of the of the main road that leads into the parking lot, meaning that every pedestrian getting on or off the bus, has to cross all the cars trying to park or leave. Brutal.

As we discussed on the way home, we could not be fans here. Not in the same way. We could care about the team - their quality of play, talent, skill, results deserve that. But to come to more than one game a month, never mind being a season ticket holder, like back home - no way!

After a brief pass by the parliament buildings Friday morning, we will be driving back down to Buffalo (we passed through it on the way here... and it sucks!). This will be the last post-game fan blog from the road, as after the Sabres game we are driving back to Niagra for some latenight poker and then back to Toronto to catch our Saturday morning flight. We will however report again with a summary of the last game on the road trip and a summary of the details we've left out along the way, once we get back to Vancouver.

Many thanks to those of you who have left comments on the blog board and/or emailed us, including Jason, Tamara, Jody (Vance?) and Jeannie (one of Alexandre Burrow's relatives who emailed us some photos). We're also still looking forward to receiving some photos from other Canucks fans that we have met on the roadtrip, including Mike, who met Trevor Linden in his hotel lobby.

-Myles

Short and sweet

I think I found my favorite place to write blog entries. Instead of the comfort of being either on a desk or on a bed inside a hotel room, I actually enjoy entering my entries in the back of the Buick Rendezvous while we are on the road. It’s something about Myles and Earl driving that wants me to write this, literally behind their backs. [Myles notes: Ernest spends more time sleeping than awake when we are driving on road trips, which is why he "sits" in the back]

Now, after 3 nights in Montreal, we are heading to the nation’s capital to cheer on the Canucks as they take on the Senators.

My blog will be much shorter than last as the other guys wrote much about our stay in Montreal. Plus, I didn’t really spend much time by myself. But here are some random thoughts about my stay.

Our hotel had the fitness room and sauna on the top floor of the hotel. Very strange, as for the hotels that I have stayed at, the pool was on the bottom floor. However, I did appreciate having the luxury of drying myself from a dip in the pool, and looking over the city from the 26th floor.

Shopping in Montreal was fantastic, or in the words of a Scottish girl “Fabulous”. I was overjoyed, but yet surprised, to see that there was a store that had the same name as me, “Ernest”. Going inside, I was hoping to find an “Ernest” shirt to buy for myself and as a gift, but the store only had other name brand clothing. Myles did ask if there was “Ernest” clothing, however, the salesman laughed the word “no”. I did settle for a clothes hanger with “Ernest” on it. I’m pretty proud of it.

One thing I haven’t done much in my lifetime is travel within Canada. I frequent the States more than I visit Canada outside the lower mainland. So I keep forgetting that I don’t have any “spending limit” before I pay duty. I did happen to buy a bunch of stuff for myself, but one thing I didn’t find in Montreal was a Go Canadiens foam finger. My friend Kristy, was disappointed upon hearing this news. So I bought her a rubber ducky instead.

The Canadiens game was great, although I hear that the fans get rowdy. Unfortunately they did not get to cheer much as the Canucks shut them out. Sitting beside me was a teenage girl wearing a Habs jersey with her last name stitched on the back (which in Earl’s world is a definite no-no). Jessica told me that it is her very first Habs game, and that her grandfather took her. Although cheering for Montreal, I convinced her to cheer on the Canucks while she has given up hope on her team.

Key Score: Canucks 4 – Montreal 0
Items I gained: lots of stuff
Things I lost: My cold
Things my friend may have lost: Earl can’t find his passport

-Ernest

Weather, we like it on the road

Before we left Vancouver, we heard many warnings about how the weather "back east" could be treacherous. My friend in Toronto kept telling me how nice it had been there. Sunny in the Big Smoke when we had snow in VanCity. And then something changed. As we left Beautiful BC, the cold temperatures and precipitation decided to follow us. We experienced freezing rain in Niagra, then snow and minus 20 cold in Montreal. It was so cold yesterday. that we spent much of the day shopping in Montreal's underground malls.

Much of the downtown here is connected by tunnels. Even when we were on the street, we would only make it a couple blocks before would HAVE TO go into a store (to shop, but also to warm up). In Maison de Simons, we tried on Furry hats - I bought one. Completely worth the ten bucks I paid for it. I don't want to give the impression that I dislike Montreal. In fact, I like it a lot! The shopping is great, the people aren't as rude as described, and after 2 smoked meat meals, I can confidently say that I understand what the big deal is about. I have lived in Saskatchewan before, so I know cold (I have experienced -45 before)... and it's not THAT cold here; I actually like it when it's so frosty that your eyelashes freeze together. Now as we leave for Ottawa this morning, we can only hope for nicer weather, in the nation's capital.

The Canucks Mobile was covered in an inch of ice in Niagra... Earl was able to roll down the glass window and still have a second window of ice.

Thanks to my aunt for the Canucks logo magnet and scarf. Both have been well used on the trip!

-Myles

Nation's Capital - Game Preview

Ottawa
What I’m looking forward to:
- Watching the game with a big group of Canucks fans (and probably 8,000 Sens fans)

What I’m not looking forward to:
- The traffic to and from Kanata

Canucks memories:
- The outdoor practice on the Rideau Canal from a few years ago (which unfortunately won’t be happening this year unless it’s a swimming practice)
- Canucks 2 – Sens 1 in a shootout last year, probably the most exciting Canucks game of the season. I especially enjoyed yelling “Killer!” whenever Heatley had the puck. Here’s Daniel’s shootout winner (couldn’t find any better video than some dude’s cel phone)



Bets on the game:
- If the Canucks win then Sens fan has to drink Starbucks for a week
- If the Sens win I have to drink Tim Hortons for a week (I would rather drink motor oil)

-Earl

Fan-tastic Showing - Part 2

Advantage Numerique

Which means 'power play' in French, or in this case, the benefit of confidence that a team gains from its supporters.

There's a big difference between the fans in Toronto and the fans in Montreal. While both franchises have have incredible histories, the attitudes of their supporters appears to be quite opposite.

In Toronto, everyone wants to like the team, and being at the game is definitely the place to be, but the fans are extremely critical. In Montreal, the fans have very high expectations, and are too critical, but at the heart of it all, the fans are extremely dedicated to the team.

In Toronto, as soon as the team started to play poorly, the fans jumped all over the team, and the sentiment of the people in the stands was very negative. In Montreal, after the Habs got down two goals after the first period, there was some booing, however, I got the impression that their intent was to encourage the team to pull things together and improve their effort.

In Toronto, the fans that we spoke with both in the stadium and on the streets, took the first opportunity to agree with us that their team indeed sucked. On the other hand, in La Belle Province, even when the team is down, the dedication to the team does not waiver. The Canadiens are the most common topic of conversation and always number one in people's hearts.

Canucks fans fall somewhere in the middle. There are those who are fickle, jumping on and off the bandwagon as often as they take the skytrain, and there are those who will never say a critical thing about the hometown team. For the most part, however, Canucks fans have learned to be loyal and constructive, supporting the team whether they are in 9th place, or 3rd place, which could be any given successive night, the way this season has gone in the extremely competitive NorthWest Division.

We have been well received in both Eastern Conference cities this week. To our surprise, fans of the Canucks' opponents this week have been impressed with us for following our team on the road. Where in Vancouver, we hold a certain disdain for the visiting teams, especially those from Eastern Canada. Back here, they don't even realize that there's a rivalry. Moreover, all of people we have met even LIKE our team. We've heard "Canucks suck!" a few times, but for the most part, we haven't been jeered. Not like a Leafs fan in VanCity would be. Then again, if we were travelling Senators fans in Toronto, the story might be different.

While shopping on the afternoon proceeding the game (wearing our jerseys, of course), the three of us were crossing Rue St Denis when we heard a car horn. We looked at the driver, expect a dirty look. Instead we saw the driver and the passenger fighting over the horn. Turns out, the passenger was a Canucks fan and the driver was a Habs fan. They ended up honking again, in support, after the light changed, as they drove away.

At the Bell Centre we got reaquainted with a number of the same people that we met in Toronto, but the biggest treat was meeting the great uncle of Alexandre Burrows and his family, including his nephews who were both sporting shirts autographed by the whole team. Mr. Burrows was very friendly and was please to know how much we appreciate number 14 in Vancouver.

There were definitely more Canucks fans at the Toronto game on Saturday night, but there was still a decent showing in Montreal on Tueday night. At one point I was speaking to the Habs fan beside me about the quality of French-Canadian goaltenders, and how lucky we are to have Roberto Luongo on our side. While she agreed, another habs fan in front of her shot sneers and scowls each time I cheered or something went our way on the ice. Curious about the French, I asked her, "Does 'Huet' translate into 'hole'?" She pouted, and then stung back, "does 'Canuck' mean 'ugly winter jacket'?" I laughed and then pointed at the scoreboard.

Luongo came out for an ovation after the game, taking a bow in front of his hometown crowd, after being named the game's number one star. The Canucks have been playing outstanding hockey as of late, and especially on this road trip. It's safe to say that they know that we are following them on the road, and they can hear us cheering them on. They are keeping the game simple, playing smart, and getting amazing goaltending! Confidence is high right now, and the team can expect to get another large ovation in Ottawa Tuesday night, as there is a large contingent of Canucks fans going to the game.

FIN.

-Myles

They’re not saying boo… they’re saying Boolis!

Sacre bleu! We win again!

Today, we started out by wandering around Montreal, where it turns out it’s cold. Like -20 cold. I swear, you could see my nipples through 4 layers. For once, Myles wasn’t taking pictures. Turns out that Rue de St. Laurent is basically shut down due to construction, and our intended lunch stop Le Pistol is closed. We ended up at Schwartz’s deli where we devoured some smoked meat sandwiches.

I’ve got no segue here. Oh wait, our friend Michelle arrived from Ottawa. While she was parked for 20 minutes by our hotel, some fucker crashed into her driver-side mirror. [Myles notes: Montrealers aren't known for the quality of their street driving; then again, we've been jaywalking all over the place since we arrived].

The atmosphere at the Bell Centre wasn’t quite the same as the ACC, I guess that there were fewer fans and they were (foolishly) less scared. As I’m sure you all saw, the Canucks dominated for 60 minutes and Bobby Lu got a well deserved shut out. The Habs fans were quick to jump on their own team to which I yelled “They’re not saying boo… they’re saying Boolis!” Then something weird happened and Bulis scored. I lost a bet that a Quebecois Canuck would score at 10-1. I was pulling for you, Danny.

After the game we did the usual high fiving and subsequent hand washing, good times. We headed to a hotel with some other Canucks fans (who we also saw at the Leafs game) and rode the elevator with Dan Murphy. Also saw Madame Vignaught. Then we headed out to some nice clubs where (sorry the rest of the evening is not bloggable).

Ok, maybe this part. So we’re sitting by the stage and this girl comes up to us and asks for a leather belt. We reluctantly oblige and she takes the belt across the room and gets a Habs fan to remove his pants and whips him several times in the ass until he’s crying. (Which is funny since he was already crying due to the game!) We got the belt back but will boil it for 15-20 minutes before it’s sanitary again. That’s all I can report…

-Earl