Kevin Bieksa and FriendsVisit the BCCH

Every year the BC Childrens Hospital gets visits from the local sports athletes in Vancouver.  The Vancouver Giants and BC Lions had just recently visited the hospital to see children who are unable to go home for Christmas.  Every year the Vancouver Canucks players also make a visit to the hospital to spread some hockey cheer to the children.  Earlier last month, the Canucks staff had paid a visit but not the players because of the lockout.

Last week the BC Lions and the Vancouver Giants players had also made their rounds visiting at the hospital.  I wondered if our locked out unemployed Canucks would do the same even though they aren't playing.  The Canucks are known for donating their time and generosity in the city with volunteer work, which is heavily expected of them as Canucks when they join the organization.  Turns out, our boys didn't disappoint. With Kevin Bieksa taking lead, he organized.a visit, bringing along a few of his own "friends" and made a visit to the Oncology department to give the kids and their parents a boost.  They may not have been wearing their Canuck sweaters but they still autographed items and took pics with the kids just as if they were still playing.  This is a classy thing the Canucks did.  Just makes me proud to be a Canucks fan.

The money that was raised from the Candytown event in Yaletown I had volunteered for a couple weeks ago was given to the Oncology department of BCCH and the Yaletown BIA had met with the children in the unit as well.  At our event party, they told us that when they asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas, their only answer was "to go home".  So, seeing that the Canucks visited that very department makes me very happy and that they were able to put smiles on not only these kid's faces but I'm sure many more.

This is the reaction they've been getting on twitter from fans.  Apparently fans of other teams are also noticing the charity work the unemployed Canucks are continuing to do throughout the lockout and how much they care about the fans by putting on spontaneous road hockey games.  I have to say, hands down, we have the best NHL team in the league.

There were tons more but I can't put them all up.  I just wanted to show how the city and other cities are reacting to seeing our Canucks continuing their community work even without a paycheck to encourage them.   Class acts for sure and they do deserve our respect for how they've handled themselves throughout this lockout.  I think our team puts other teams to shame when it comes to caring about the city they play in.  Hopefully soon, we will get to watch some hockey with the talks continuing tomorrow in New York with the NHL, mediators and the NHLPA.  Cross fingers.