2009-10 Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks began their 39th season in modern History and will be forced on a long-term road trip due to the 2010 Winter Olympic Hockey games being played on their home ice.
The team selected University of Minnesota Centre Jordan Schroder with their first pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the 22nd overall. They also selected Right Wing Anton Rodin with the 53rd overall pick. In free agency, the Canucks signed a number of veterans, most notably Mikael Samuelsson (3-yr $7.5 million) and Mathieu Schneider (1-yr $1.55 million).
The Canucks are currently sitting in 6th place in the NHL Western Conference with a 35-21-2 record.
Previous Seasons
Classic NHL hockey fans eagerly await the continued performance of the much-beloved Vancouver Canucks' 35th season. Few teams have spawned as much controversy and excitement as the Vancouver team. From abrupt coaching turnovers to violent player behavior to hometown riots, the Canucks rarely fail to disappoint their fans. Vancouver Canucks hockey tickets are a sure way to see all the action live and up close.
Setting up their reputation as playoff contenders in the mid-seventies, the Canucks have traveled to the playoffs 20 of the past 35 years and have been division champions four of those 20. Although their history reflects years of strictly mediocre hockey, the Canucks always seem to find a way to work just hard enough to make it into the playoffs.
Boasting NHL-renown players such as Stan Smyl, Toni Tanti, Tiger Williams, and Pavel Bure the Canucks were never as powerful as when they decided to rebuild their team in the 1999-00 season. They began the process with the draft of Daniel and Henrick Sedin, twins from Sweden with a reputation of being unable to miss. The Canucks' reshaping trend continued throughout the season as they traded Alexander Mogilny to New Jersey in exchange for Brendan Morrison, Vadim Sharifijanov and Denis Pederson. The Canucks also returned Mark Messier to the New York Rangers as his performance failed to impress after three long seasons.
What became known to NHL fans as "the youth movement" began to pay off for the Canucks as they ended their four-year playoff dry spell with a 36-28-11-7 record to take on the Colorado Avalanche. The team only continued on with their success as Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi established themselves in the 2001-02 season. Still, fans were hesitant as they faced the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs. Yet the Canucks shocked us all as they took to first two games in Detroit and began to once again to build their reputation as a force to be reckoned with. Canuck hockey ticket sales continued to rise.
The following season, Naslund and Bertuzzi stayed firmly in place as league scoring leaders all year while watching the Canucks display their best season in history with a record of 45-23-13-1. With some of the top scorers in the NHL, the Canucks emerged as one of the top teams in the 2003-04 Western Conference and armed themselves to fiercely battle Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division.
However, the injury of Marcus Naslund and suspension of favorite, Todd Bertuzzi for assault on opposing Avalanche player, Steve Moore, threw the team into a panic. Still they managed to struggle just one point ahead of Colorado to win the division title with a 43-24-10-5 record. Yet as the Canucks advanced toward the playoffs, they went through three goalies due to injuries and loss and still managed to push their way all the way to game 7, which went into overtime.
As playoff season rapidly approaches, the now-controversially violent team enjoys a solid fan following as Vancouver Canucks tickets sales begin to soar. Join the legions of Canucks fans and see all the fast paced action, the excitement, and yes, the fights, as the Canucks try to battle their way back to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The pressure is on for Cannuck goaltender Roberto Luongo. For ’07-08 Vancouver seems to be depending a bit too much on his goaltending. They do have a solid defenseman group, and have improved their defense quite a bit. On the downside, Canuck captain Markus Naslund will need to hustle, as he is on a season long scoring decline. A Playoff run might be just enough motivation.
History
In 1970, the Vancouver Canucks joined the National Hockey League as one of two expansion teams to begin play that year. The team was not overly successful their first couple of seasons but managed to make it to the playoffs in their fifth season, losing in the quarterfinals.
In their time with the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks have managed to make it to the postseason twenty-three times in their professional career, even getting to the Stanley Cup Finals two times. They have earned two Conference championships and seven Division championships to the team’s credit as well.
The original home of the Vancouver Canucks was the Pacific Coliseum which was built in hopes of attracting an NHL team. The Canucks played their home games in the arena until the construction of the General Motors Palace, which was built in 1995. Known now as the Rogers Arena, the venue seats 18,860 fans for ice hockey games and has also become the main venue for events in the area, again replacing the Pacific Coliseum. The arena also boasts eighty-eight luxury suites, twelve hospitality suites and more than two thousand club seats.
The mascot of the Canucks is a six-foot anthropomorphic killer whale named Fin the Whale. Fin can be found at Canucks games, and is one of few mascots who can play goalkeeper. His wild and hilarious antics are a welcome sight, entertaining fans of both teams. When he isn’t busy entertaining fans and cheering on his favorite team, Fin the Whale is found out in the community lending a helping hand and participating in activities such as visiting terminally ill children in hospice units.
Off the ice, Fin isn’t the only active member of the team. Players and staff engage in a variety of activities and works within the community such as helping to engage children in healthy programs and increase their interest in educational activities such as reading. Also high on the list of priorities for the Canucks is their work to give support and encouragement to families living with autism.
Although everyone expects teams in any professional sport to change their logos and jerseys from time to time, the Vancouver Canucks have done so thirteen times. Their current logo is virtually unrecognizable from the original logo. The original logo was an ice rink with a hockey stick superimposed on it. That logo did not last long, soon changing to a flying ice skate. Other variations and changes have taken place over the years bringing the team to their current logo, a killer whale breaking out of a patch of ice. The design is shaped to look like a “C” with the whale making up the top portion. Above the logo is the work “Canucks”.
Although the Vancouver Canucks have not yet won a Stanley Cup, the team is far from the bottom of the league. Frequent appearances in the post season paired with the team’s involvement in the community keep the fans coming back for more each year, and they are rarely disappointed. On and off the ice, the Canucks are a team earning respect and admiration from fans and rivals alike.
