Welcome Matt: The buzz is back for Canucks hockey in Vancouver
Can you feel it?
The Canucks are back, baby.
It has been a long and wandering road since 2011-12 when Vancouver had the best team in the NHL. Along the way, many dropped off the bandwagon and the franchise brought more shame than sizzle.
But with a five-game home stand starting Thursday before a very Canucky All-Star break, the market is once again buzzing over hockey.
The Canucks enter this home stand tied for the most points in the NHL, seven better than the defending Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division.
They have the largest All-Star Game contingent, with a club-record five players, plus head coach Rick Tocchet, attending festivities in Toronto early next month.
We always knew the Canucks had the most-connected and one of the most passionate fan bases in the league, but it really showed out in All-Star voting, getting Thatcher Demko, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Brock Boeser to the game to join captain Quinn Hughes.
The Leafs are coming to town Saturday for a matinee, and for the first time in years, their fans have had trouble prying tickets from the hands of Canucks’ faithful.
The community is engaged. The optimism is palpable.
Heck, not even Pettersson’s uncertain contract situation can get ’em down.
At least not ’til trade deadline. Or maybe the draft.
But put those springtime travel plans on hold. The Canucks will be in the playoffs, and there’s nothing quite like this city — or any Canadian town — when the local team is vying for the Stanley Cup.
Time to get excited, Vancouver. Because even a January Thursday nighter against the Arizona Coyotes feels like an event.
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