Shane O'Brien picked up an "ice girl" mid-game and his Canucks coach was furious
Shane O’Brien was no stranger to Alain Vigneault’s doghouse during their two seasons together (2008-09 and 2009-10) with the Vancouver Canucks.
This is probably one of the reasons why.
The fun-loving former Canucks defenceman is now a podcast host and recently recalled a unique story from his playing days.
And it got him in trouble with Vigneault.
With the Canucks winning in Calgary, O’Brien’s eyes wandered during a break in play.
O’Brien had post-game plans at Cowboys, a famous bar in Calgary. And he had his eye on a member of the Flames’ Ice Crew.
“It was retro night at the Saddledome,” O’Brien explained during the latest episode of the Missin’ Curfew podcast. “I jump out for the TV timeout, and she’s scraping the ice, and I come over and say, ‘Hey hey, we’re staying the night, are you gonna go to Cowboys?’ She said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be at Cowboys after.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll meet you there.’ Whatever. Good.”
While O’Brien was laying on the charm, his coach was shooting daggers at him.
“I skate back, and as I skate back, AV obviously had the iso-cam on me and he’s like, ‘OB, keep your f*cking head in the game!’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I got it.’ And he’s like, ‘Are you f*cking serious? Let’s go here.'”
O’Brien said the Flames, who were one of the Canucks’ biggest rivals in those days, then took the lead.
“Now I’m worried,” O’Brien said. “I’m like ‘if we lose this game, and I went over the ice girl [when we were winning]…'”
That’s when the Sedins came to the rescue, and the Canucks won the game.
“I met her out at Cowboys, and the rest is history.”
AV yelled at @ShaneOBrien55 for trying to pick up an ice girl mid-game in Calgary for @CowboysCalgary after the match #Canucks | #Flames #MissinCurfew Ep 201 | @draftkings pic.twitter.com/DbMx82Vrz5
— Missin Curfew (@MissinCurfew) July 26, 2023
O’Brien developed a well-earned party boy reputation during his 141-game tenure with Canucks. The team suspended him for three games after he was late for practice in March of 2010. He had been spotted the night before at The Roxy nightclub on Granville Street.
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