Cory Schneider's hilarious Canucks impressions of Hansen, Burrows, Vigneault
He’s still got it.
Former Vancouver Canucks netminder Cory Schneider may have recently retired from the NHL, but his famous impressions live on.
When interviewed by Thomas Drance and Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650 radio following the news about his retirement, Schneider dusted off his infamous Jannik Hansen impression.
Spoiler alert: it’s still bang on.
š Cory Schneider gives his best Jannik Hansen impression as he joins #Canucks Talk with @ThomasDrance and @JamieDodd on the heels of announcing his retirement from hockey. pic.twitter.com/gXhop3hj4z
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) September 26, 2023
Schneider’s most recent impression of his former sent us on a trip down memory lane. Here’s a look at his three most infamous impressions of former teammates.
Jannik Hansen
This is how it all started.
Cory Schneider sat down for his first After Hours interview with CBC’s Scott Oake and Kevin Weekes back in 2011. Midway through the interview, Oake read a tweet from someone who requested that Schneider do his impression of Hansen.
The rest is history.
Two years later, Hansen came back with a non-verbal impression of Schneider.
Alex Burrows
One year later in 2012, Schneider rejoined Oake on After Hours.
Oake informed Schneider that his Hansen impression had made him YouTube famous.
“What shows up on YouTube when you search Cory Schneider, more than anything else, the Jannik Hansen impression that you did last season. It’s all over the place,” said Oake.
Schneider explained that he had retired the Hansen impression because Jannik “had been a good sport about it.” However, after Oake pressed on, Schneider agreed to do a couple other impressions of his teammates.
One of those was beloved former Canuck, Alex Burrows.
Alain Vigneault
Doing an impersonation of your head coach takes courage, especially when that impersonation is done on live TV.
“Did he give his blessing?” Schneider asked Oake on After Hours before doing the impersonation of his head coach.
“Yes,” Oake replied.
Other funny Cory Schneider moments
Not only was Schneider known for being a world-class goalie on the ice, but his sense of humour off the ice is clearly top notch.
His demeanour is likely part of the reason why the tandem of Schneider and Roberto Luongo worked so well. In a hyper-competitive league, the two star netminders were able to make it work, as they helped lead the Canucks to two consecutive Presidents’ Trophies.
They were also able to poke fun at themselves in a hilarious manner during this skit on TSN with James Duthie.
Who could forget Schneider’s ballad where he said:
“Louie, Louie, fooey, fooey. There’s a reason why Cory rhymes with glory, and Lu rhymes with number two.”
They even continue their fake rivalry at the NHL All Star game years later, when both netminders were with different teams — Luongo with the Panthers and Schneider with the Devils.
Not only is Schneider a sharp, funny guy, but he even showed some skill as a hockey analyst back in 2020, when he worked for NBC during the NHL Playoffs.
We suggested that he would be a good fit for the Canucks colour commentator role vacated by John Garrett. While that role has been filled, it would be a shame if we didn’t see Schneider in some form of hockey media down the road.
But if this is it for Schneider in hockey media, at least his infamous impressions and witty humour will live on.