BC Place Community Open House

BC Place held an open house this weekend for the community to come out and see what was new with the stadium.  It also gave fans a chance to meet their residents. The BC Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.  Both teams put on a fun interactive session and it also allowed fans to walk on the field and walk under the dome as it opened up just as it looks in the picture shown above.

I started my day off with a coffee and bagel at the local Tim Hortons on Keefer and Abbot.  I ran into a girl dressed in a Whitecaps Jacket and shirt.  So I asked her if she was with Whitecaps.  Turned out she worked in the merchandise store and was working that day at the stadium.  So I introduced myself as a Whitecaps Team Leader.  She said I looked familiar to her and she had seen me around.  We decided to walk back to the stadium together.  At 11:30am this morning, I walked up to Gate A to lineup to be among the first 100 people to get Bob Lenarduzzi's book, Bob Lenarduzzi: A Canadian Soccer Story.  The DJ was playing music on the plaza and the felions came and did their dance routines to entertain the crowd as they waited for the doors to open.  Once the doors were open, everyone rushed in and was handed a copy of Bob's book.  We were then handed a BC Place Newsletter highlighting all the things to see and do while you were there.  I followed the herd of people into the suite area where they had opened up a few of them so people could go and see what they looked like.

The path that was laid out for everyone led to the ramp decending to the 2nd level.  Once on the second level, you could make your way down to the field where all the activities were set up.

 
The Vancouver Whitecaps were set up on the left side of the field and the Lions were on the right.  I made my way down and was caught in the middle of the felions doing a dance routine.

I then started to look around to see where a good place would be to start exploring.  I spotted a tent with Bob Lenarduzzi signing autographs for his book so I decided I would start there.  I took my book and stood in line for 15 mins before I got up to him and he signed my book for me.  He said he knew that I worked for him and he made it out to me.

I left his tent and wandered off towards the two long lineups on the right side of the field.  Travis Lulay and Akeem Foster were busy giving autographs in one line and the other was for taking a picture with the Grey Cup.  You were not allowed to pick up the Cup though like we were able to after they won it.  So I didn't bother getting in that lineup.

 Instead I decided I just wanted a pic with Lulay and Foster.  Once that was done, I headed towards the football lineup and got myself a miniature football and threw it thru a small hole in the cardboard cutout as I was directed.  I got a lot of cheers for it from the crowd.

From there I moved on and went for a tour of the dressing rooms.  Although I have been in there before for other events, I have never seen it with the Whitecaps and BC Lions equipment in the room.  So I went out the West Airlock tunnel and headed first for the Lions dressing room.

Compared to the their training facility locker rooms in Surrey, this was crazy neat. I'm sure it was spruced up for the photo ops.  I then headed past their lounge and ice bath/massage areas into the connecting Whitecaps dressing room.

This room held a different vibe than the Lions dressing room.  The room lights were turned off and only the spotlight in each of their stalls were lit to give this dramatic ambiance.  I was also greeted by my Whitecaps staff (family) who know me and was called a "traitor" for wearing a Lions jersey instead of representing the 'Caps.  I told them I came as a fan today.  Nothing more. When they were done teasing me, I moved onto the next part of the tour.  The path then led to onto the "ring road" inside the stadium that took me right back out an entrance to the field.  I walked back onto the field and decided I would take a break and sit in the stands for a little bit and take it all in while I waited for my friend and her daughter to arrive.

Here the Whitecaps had a giant "scarf" that people could sign to show support for the team.

A Whitecaps player kicks the ball around with a future Whitecaps player.

My friend and her daughter showed up and so we headed back down on the field and I got them all caught up on what activities were happening and what they might be interested in doing.  The first thing we did was line up to meet Lulay and Foster but by the time we got close to them, their time was up and the next two players were to come and take over the autograph table.  Paris Jackson and JR LaRose.  Turns out JR LaRose was the only one available as Paris had just texted the Lions marketing  person when she was talking to us and informed her that he was stuck in traffic and will be late.  So while people waited Lulay came back out and went thru the lineup to give autographs until the other two were set up.  Rose was the only one to come out but was later joined by Foster until Paris was able to make his way to the stadium.

I took my friend and her daughter back thru the dressing rooms and back out onto the field and looked around a bit more.  Spike, the Whitecaps mascot was hanging around so we took pics with him.

 This is Spike pretending his heart is thumping out of his chest. Crazy Kingfisher.

We looked around a bit more and then headed back up to the concourse where the BC Hall of Fame was giving away free sample bags of Popchips.  I got the Sour Cream and Onion bag and they were pretty good.  My friend's daughter wanted to buy something from the Whitecaps merchandise store so she got herself a nice hat.  We then headed back up the ramp and out the doors to the plaza so we could make our way back towards skytrain to go home.  All in all, we all had a great time and it was definitely a fun experience.  Sometimes its just nice to be a fan.

Are the Canucks Cursed to Never Win a Stanley Cup?

O'Stanley, why do you mock us??? 

The Vancouver Canucks season ended early on Saturday night at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.  Makes you wonder if winning the President's Trophy is worth it.

It also makes me wonder though, if the Canucks are cursed to never win a Stanley Cup???   I sure hope not.

Lets hope next season will be more like the Canucks of 2011! I really miss those guys. :( 

The Twins are reunited - Watch out LA!!

No matter what shape or size they come in, the Sedin brothers are amazing.  After watching Henrik play the first three playoff games without his brother, you could tell something was missing.  It was his twin brother and teammate, Daniel.  I couldn't believe how good it felt to be seeing double again last night with Daniel's return.  They go together like two peas in a pod. 

I love how they think alike.  Just watch.

Now that brother Daniel is back, big brother Henrik is looking out for him and making sure he stays safe.  Here's a video of Henrik bitch-slapping Dustin Brown of the LA Kings after he harassed Daniel on an earlier play.  Thanks for the video Stanchion.

Just because the Canucks won last night here are a couple more "punishing Dustin Brown"  pics. Courtesy of Keith Ballard, Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis.

I worked the Vancouver Whitecaps game last night and the Canucks game was on in the Pitchside House of the Building.  So after the match was over and all the staff, security guards and volunteers were putting their radios away, we all sat in the Pitchside House and watched the game together.  I had to help out with the Penalty Kicks after the match but came back in time to watch Bieksa take down Brown for the penalty shot. I stayed to watch until Henrik scored on the powerplay to make it 3-1.  I then walked over to my office and put my radio away, sat down and watched the rest of the game with the Managers.  What a night.  Didn't get home til late.

Next Game is on Sunday...time hasn't been decided yet.  They just need to take it one game at a time.  CANUCKS ARE STILL ALIVE!!  Woots!!

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1, Mission Impossible??

Yes Canuck fans...this is what it has come down to.  Our beloved Nucks have their back up against the wall and have fallen 3-0 to the LA Kings.  This is not how this series was supposed to go.  The Canucks were the ones who were supposed to be up 3-0 not them.

Earlier today Kevin Bieksa sent out a tweet.

Good to know the boys haven't given up yet and that Bieksa still has his sense of humour.  Obviously this is not right where we want them.  Alas, good news travelled to LA that Daniel Sedin will be joining the crew for tomorrow morning's team skate.  He will then wait and see if any symptoms re-appear.  If not, chances are that he will be playing in Wednesday night's game.  If that happens, then its a whole new game altogether.  The twins are hard to stop.  We need every offensive weapon we have at the moment to get back in this series or the team will be joining their Northwest Division rivals on the golf course on Thursday.

Although its tough to get out of a 3-0 hole, it certainly isn't impossible.  The Chicago Blackhawks did it last year when they played the Canucks in the first round and found themselves in a 3-0 hole.  They clawed themselves back into the series and won three straight before losing to Alex Burrows in OT Game 7.

The Portland Winterhawks (Chicago's farm team) are currently in a series with the Kamploops Blazers.  The Blazers had found themselves down 3-0 in the series and as of today won their third straight to make it 3-3.  So it certainly isn't impossible to get out of the hole....it can be done.

So lets pray and send good vibes to our Nucks that they are able to get out of the powerplay funk they are in and start to win some games here.  There is no other choice.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1, Canucks vs LA Kings

Yes...its that time of year again.  The playoffs actually started on April 11, 2012.  The Vancouver Canucks aka President's Trophy Winners, have been matched up with the LA Kings to play in the first round.  The energy in this city was pretty electric at Rogers Arena.  The Jersey's are slowing coming out in the city and everyone is getting into the feeling of what it was like last year.  The fans have BIG expectations of their team this year after losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final a year ago.

The scene outside Rogers Arena on the Plaza taken from Canucks.com

 

 The scene inside Rogers Arena with fans showing support for our Swedish Twins. We love our Nucks.

The birthplace of Towel Power.

The year hasn't been as easy as it was last year for the Canucks having to deal with injuries to star players and finding the right chemistry among the new and old players.  It was nothing short of amazing that the Canucks were able to do what only 3 other teams have managed so far and that is to win the Presidents Trophy back to back.  The next goal is to get to the Western Conference Final and then on to the Stanley Cup Finals.  With two games played so far, it might be a bit of a tougher task for our boys to accomplish than it was last year.  Even with having home advantage, the LA Kings are already up 2-0 on the series.  Also, this series has not come without some controversy.

Game 1, Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

It looked like the Canucks were going to take game 1 after Alex Burrows came out and scored early in the game.  But that didn't last long as LA had come to Vancity with their A game.  They dominated the Canucks in every way.  It didn't help that the Canucks got into some early penalty trouble that seemed to resonate into the second period.  Chris Higgins and Alex Edler shot the puck out of the rink on two separate clearing attempts giving the LA Kings a 5-3 opportunity which they did capitalize on.  Ryan Kesler was obviously frustrated with his play and took an unsportsmanlike penalty for a small snow shower to LA goaltender, Jonathan Quick.  Then Byron Bitz thought it would be a good idea to lay a nasty hit on Kyle Clifford which resulted in a 5 min major and game misconduct.  Bitz was suspended yesterday by League Disciplinary, Brendan Shanahan, two games for his hit on Clifford.  As you can tell, the Canucks spent more time and energy on killing penalties than going on the offense, thus resulting in a 4-2 loss in Game 1. 

Burrows Goal

Game 2, Friday, April 13th, 2012

The Canucks were saying all the right things before the game and we believed that they would come and play like we know they are able to play.  They cut the whining and diving theatrics this game and tried to play whistle to whistle but it still wasn't working.  They managed to stay out of the box as little as possible and concentrated more on playing them 5 on 5.  It looked like they had the momentum at times...that is until they went on the power play.  Its bad enough that the Canucks haven't been able to get their power play going, but its just cruel for the pp to work against them every time.  It seemed as though LA was able to get a short-handed goal and burn us at least twice.  Obviously our Power Play sucked tonight.  Canucks were having a hard time penetrating the blue-line.  This is something that the twins would be able to get through with no problem if they were playing with each other.  However, with Daniel Sedin still out, it was up to Henrik to find other solutions. Keith Ballard made an appearance in his first game back after missing the last 30 or so games with a concussion.  He looked good out there.  I hope he starts throwing some of his famous hip checks soon.  This game went sour real fast when Edler made a bad decision and made a drop pass in his own zone with Anze Kopitar lurking nearby.  He made the Canucks pay for that.  Dustin Brown was able to put the puck in the back of the net after a crazy scrammble in front of Lu who was great in net again for Vancouver.  You can't blame Lu for any of the goals that happened.  The game ended in another  4-2 loss to the LA Kings.

Then Canucks are now down 2-0 in this series to the LA Kings.  Although it looks bad, we have to remember that the Canucks are a different team this year.  The majority of their wins came on the road.  They are proven "road warriors" and we have to believe that they will even up the series in LA.  My friend just flew back from LA tonight after attending a conference and mentioned that there were tons of people already in LA wearing their Canucks jerseys and many more at the airport.  The Canucks will practice at Rogers Arena tomorrow morning and then head out to LA later in the evening for their game on Sunday night.  Hopefully they can figure out whats wrong and get this team back on track.  Or the President's Trophy Winners will be golfing on the 19th with the rest of the Northwest Division.

Winner of the Canucks Poster Contest for Playoff Tickets 2012

The esteemed panel of judges at Vancouver Canucks had 30 entries to decide among this morning. The winner of the Canucks Poster Contest was @isisabella.  Congrats to her!

This person made this awesome video of her placement of the Roberto Luongo poster she was able to find yesterday.  It was well deserved.  Enjoy!!

Vancouver Canucks Poster Contest for Playoff Tickets 2012

The Vancouver Canucks held their first contest today.  It was a Canuck Poster Contest.  Thirty posters of Canucks were hung around the city in different areas all throughout the day.  If you followed @VanCanucks on twitter, they would have posted clues for you to find them as well as pics of the posters hung up that you were to find.  Once you found a poster, you were place it as creativily as you could in your home, school or office and make a video or take a picture of it.  One pair of tix would be given to the winner of the most creative place you put your poster.

So, I thought I would head downtown and try to see if I could find these posters....really, how hard could it be, right?  I knew that they would be starting the contest around 10:30am this morning so I got up early, grabbed my iPod touch and headed to the downtown core.  I got off at the Stadium Station skytrain and thought I would grab a cup of coffee first.  This was a good idea as I needed free WiFi for my iPod to follow the clues.  I was probably there for 10 mins before the first clue came on twitter via @VanCanucks.

Fortunately, the Blendz coffee shop I was sitting in at the time was only a block away from Pender and Carrall, so I quickly rushed over there thinking that I would be able to get one no problem.  But there was a problem.  As I approached the corner of Carrall and Pender, so did 10-15 other people also in the hunt for the posters.  We all frantically looked around for the posters where they should have been easily seen, but to no avail.  Moments later one of the other guys on his twitter checked for an update and as it turned out, @VanCanucks had just tweeted that the posters were all taken.  On to the next one!  Turns out the first guy was seen taking ALL 3 of the posters and he wasn't supposed to.

So then I decided that maybe the next one will not be near the stadiums but might be closer to the Vancouver Convention Centre.  So I got back on skytrain and headed towards Waterfront station.  I got off and walked up to the Starbucks at Canada Place to get WiFi for my iPod so I could find out when the second clue came out and where it would be.  It only took 15 mins before the next Clue location came.

This was located at Columbia St and Alexander in Gastown.  I wasn't sure where this was and I took too long getting there.  So again, no posters for me.

Another 15 mins wait and another location tweet was given.  This was also located in Gastown.

I was there pretty quick...maybe a minute after the tweet went out but by the time I got there, they were all gone.  I did remember passing a kid on the way there wearing a Canucks jersey and he had one of the posters in his hand.  Other Canuck fans also starting showing up and the guy across the street at the bar came out and said the posters had all been taken.  Ok...this was starting to get frustrating. So I headed back towards Waterfront and then decided I would hang out by the Starbucks across from Jack Poole Plaza.  On my way there, it was pretty obvious another tweet came out cause I saw people running out of the coffee shop and running past me on the sidewalk in a rush to get somewhere.

There were tons of people racing towards the marina from Jack Poole Plaza and I knew I wouldn't be able to outrun them so I didn't bother with this one.  It was kinda far from where I was.  So I decided to wait for the next one instead.  So this time I headed inside the Starbucks at the Shaw building, ordered something to drink, sat down and checked my twitter for the 5th clue.  @VanCanucks had tweeted that they would be taking a short break for the press conference at Rogers Arena before they will continue.  So about an hour and a half later, the next clue was given.

I actually had to Google Wesbrook.  I had no idea where it was and when I finally found out, I had no inclination to head that way.  It was located on the UBC Campus.  There were two locations where these were hidden and they didn't last long.  10 mins for both sites to be taken.  At this point, I started to walk back towards Canada Place.

This is where clue #6 was tweeted.

I thought this might be easy to find so I started to walk over to Granville St and it was only a block over from Howe St, where I was located.  My iPod touch by this time had also started to lose its battery power.  I was down to 20% and it wasn't loading new tweets for me anymore.  So all I had to go on was this picture.  I wasn't even able to find out if they had already been taken or not.  I walked all the way up Granville from Cordova looking into every alleyway until I hit the Granville St Bridge.  At that point I had given up and couldn't find the poster anywhere.  The place was called "Violet Boutique" on the other side of the Granville St. Bridge.  I thought I had come close when I found a boutique clothing store called "The Hanging Rose" but there wasn't anything out back. So thats when I decided maybe it was time to head back home as it was already 2:30pm and the contest was going to end at 3:30pm anyways.  There were still more posters to be searched for but I was very tired at that point.

But here are the other clues:

Obviously, Roger Neilson's statue outside Rogers Arena. This lasted out there for about a second before someone picked it up!

The last location was at the SFU Campus.  The went something like this "On top of a big hill. A to the Q. Images"  There were 3 posters up for grabs.  Gone in seconds!!

So I came away early cause my iPod died earlier in the day so had no way to track @VanCanucks and his tweets.  I didn't manage to grab any posters even though I was so close to them all morning.  But thats alright.  There's another playoff tix giveaway on Wednesday morning at the Save-on-Foods in Fleetwood that I'm going to try.  All I have to do is drive up and give them my name and phone number.  Then wait til 3pm and listen to Team 1040 to hear if I won!

Anyways, I'm sure there will be more competitions out there for playoff tickets from the Vancouver Canucks.  I'll be taking part in them and blogging about them as they happen.  Stay tuned!

All the Presidents Men

The Vancouver Canucks have managed to capture the Presidents Trophy for the first time back to back.  There are only 4 other teams in the NHL to have ever completed that feat.  This win was even more special just because of the type of year the Canucks have had so far.  It was so vastly different from the very dominant, high scoring and confident Canucks we watched capture the Trophy last year.  This year was about coming back from injuries, learning to play with new team mates and finding that team spirit and brotherhood that eventually helped them string together enough wins to accomplish this achievement.

I wonder what they did with the New York Rangers President Trophy Hats that they had also made up, just incase the Canucks weren't able to deliver??  I wonder if they just get destroyed?? 

Because the race for the Trophy was so tight between the Rangers the Canucks, they were not awarded the prize at the end of the game.  I'm hoping it will be presented  it at tomorrow night's game.  I've seen it twice up close.  Had my pic taken with it in the beginning of the season at a Canucks open practice to the public.  It truly is a beautiful cup.  The Canucks will now have home game advantage of every round in the playoffs.

This trophy could of been ours had the Canucks been able to hang on and beat the Calgary Flames a game earlier as the Rangers had lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins that night.  So, it had come down to the very last game for both Rangers and Canucks in the regular season.  We can thank the Washington Capitals for thumping the Rangers 5-2 that night allowing the Canucks to gain the cup with their 51st win of the year against the lowly Edmonton Oilers.  So thank you Caps!!  I hope the Canucks organization at least sent them a nice fruit basket for that.

Watch the Canucks final minute of play at Rogers Arena.

The Canucks Regular Season 2011-2012 Tribute - showing the lighter side of the Canucks enjoy!!

Hump Day Hottie!!

This is your Hump Day Hottie!! David Booth of the Vancouver Canucks. Not sure how old this pic is but its definitely him.  Enjoy Ladies!!

Team Plays For: Vancouver Canucks Position: Left Wing Number: 7 Height: 6' 0" Weight: 212 Shoots: Left Born: 24 Nov 1984  (Age 27) Birthplace: Detroit, MI, United States

Drafted: FLA / 2004 NHL Entry Draft

Round: 2nd (53rd overall)

Cory Schneider Interviews on HNIC

If you don't know who this is by now, you need to get out from under whatever rock you've been living under!  This is our "back-up" goalie,...but not really.  His name is Cory Schneider. Not Cory "Snyder" as Milan Lucic's girlfriend recently referred to him as on twitter.  He's not really considered a back up goalie in Vancity though.  Some believe he should be starting for the Vancouver Canucks instead of Roberto Luongo every night.  Personally, I love them both.  I think its wonderful that we have two of the best goalies in the NHL playing for our city.  I like that we have the option of playing Schneider in net when Lu has his nights where he is obviously struggling like he was tonight against Anaheim.  I don't have any hard feelings towards Lu as I know he will bounce back in another game.  Cory is one of the sweetest people I've met.  Very humble and has absolutely no ego at all.  I hope that Canucks will be able to keep him on for next year but I know that it won't happen.  Cory will have to leave us at the end of this season as 29 other teams in the NHL have been drooling over him this past year.  The likes of Stevie Y and Wayne Gretzky have been spotted at Rogers Arena when Schniedz has been playing.  Most likely to scout him out for their own respective teams, The Phoenix Coyotes and the Tampa Bay Lightning.  I can only hope they treat him well where ever he goes cause Vancity will be in mourning the day he leaves.

Anyways...here are two of HNIC's interviews of Cory Schnieder.  The first is of Cory doing his Jannik Hansen impersonation back on Feb 20, 2011.

 This other video is a recent interview on HNIC where he imitates Coach AV with his blessing and then of Burrows at Coach AV's request as he walks by the interview in the hallway.

I know we'll be seeing Cory play in the playoffs at one point or another.  Its inevitable.  Lu can't play all the games.....I'm going to just take it all in while we still have him.  Love this guy!

 

Canuck Animal Names - Who Are They??

There are still more Canuck animal names left to be revealed.  Today I'm going to reveal Ryan Kesler's animal name.  Its quite fitting actually.  Kevin Bieksa spilled the beans on this one as well during an interview closer to the start of the season.

Here's a tweet from Bieksa of him and his animal friends together having dinner.

So far we have the following animal names revealed in past posts:

Keith Ballard = Wolf

Cody Hodgson = Coho

Sami Salo = Owl

Kevin Bieksa = Wolverine

Alex Edler = Eagle

Jannik Hansen = Honey Badger 

Next up:

Ryan Kesler = Bull

The picture above was taken after "Kes" had been struck in the face with the puck.  The blow ripped a hole in his lower jaw and he lost a tooth.  He had it stitched back up and found his way back to the bench right after.

The traits of a Bull can be found in astrology...usually associated to the Tarus and are as follows:

"The characteristics are solidity, practicality, extreme determination and strength of will - no one will ever drive them, but they will willingly and loyally follow a leader they trust."

This is Ryan Kesler in a nutshell.  Determined, stubborn Ryan Kesler is also known as "Keslord" after the 2011 playoff series against the Nashville Predators.

You don't want to mess with a Bull and anyone who messes with Kesler on the ice is just as stupid.  He's not known as "Keslord" for nothing.