SportsHockey

Snapshots: Who Canucks players say they don't want to be quarantined with

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Apr 16 2020, 10:52 pm
Snapshots: Who Canucks players say they don't want to be quarantined with

There’s not a lot of interesting questions to ask hockey players these days.

They’re stuck at home like the rest of us. Do they want the season to continue? Of course they do. How will that be accomplished? Who the heck knows.

But there’s one recurring question nearly every NHL player has been asked on video calls with the media that I’ve been drawn to: Who would you most and least want to be quarantined with among your teammates?

That’s a question I posed to Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers.

He took the question seriously too, which I appreciated, taking nearly 30 seconds to think of the appropriate response before revealing his answer.

“I love the guy, but least quarantined would be Jake [Virtanen] just because our lives are at such different points right now. It would be so chaotic,” Myers said with a big smile on his face.

Somehow this was the perfect answer for Canucks Twitter, who were quick to notice that Myers wasn’t the first player to name Virtanen.

Bo Horvat also named Virtanen as the player he’d least like to be quarantined with, and curiously enough, his answer for who he would most like to be quarantined with was also the same as Myers’: Brandon Sutter.

Jake is getting more love from fans though, as he’s currently leading this TSN 1040 poll question:

For the record, Jake says he wouldn’t want to be quarantined with Bo either.

JT Miller was also asked this question, but he said he would least like to be quarantined with Antoine Roussel.

Bo on Spittin’ Chiclets

Speaking of Horvat, his interview on Spittin’ Chiclets was released today.

Horvat dug into a number of topics on the popular hockey podcast, but there were a couple that really stood out to me.

Would you have guessed who the Canucks player that likes to stir the pot the most is? I wouldn’t have.

“The biggest pot-stirrer on the team, hundred percent, is Tanny [Chris Tanev]. He’ll get anyone going just like that,” said Horvat. “I don’t know what it is, but he loves stirring the pot and he’s good at it. He’ll put his two cents in and then just sit back and watch everything unfold.”

Markstrom is an epic sleeper

Spittin’ Chiclets co-host Ryan Whitney told an incredible story about Jacob Markstrom from their AHL days. When their team arrived at a hotel in Oklahoma City after a long bus ride from San Antonio, everyone got off and went inside except Markstrom, who was still sleeping.

Markstrom apparently woke up in the middle of a bus yard, with just an hour until puck drop. He made it to the rink on time.

“This guy sleeps everywhere. No matter what,” Horvat confirmed. “We had that China trip [in 2017], he slept for 11 hours straight. Didn’t wake up once. Didn’t take a sleeper [sleeping pill], nothing.”

Well done, Canucks fans

Not a lot of fanbases can spend nearly half a million dollars on the 50/50. It’s always for a good cause, but this one was extra special:

What a line

Canucks fans laid into @NHL for this recent tweet, and for good reason. I’ll let the people explain:

Well done everyone.

Has Sportsnet run out of classic Canucks games to show?

Has the well run dry on classic Canucks games already? It certainly seems like it, despite only giving fans one marquee throwback game per week.

On the slate for this Saturday are two games from this season: December 19, 2019 vs Vegas, and January 2, 2020 vs Chicago.

It’s shocking to me that Sportsnet isn’t able to find a better selection of classic games to televise, given they paid $5.2 billion to the NHL for the broadcast rights.

1040 countdown

Some fun stuff from TSN 1040 this week, as Jeff Paterson and Trevor Martins counted down the top 40 moments from the station’s 19-year history.

It didn’t finish No. 1, but I loved listening back to Beth Bartkowski, the mother of former Canucks defenceman Matt Bartkowski.

Beth, if you’ll recall, was interviewed by Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy during the mom’s trip in 2016.

Beth appeared on Sekeres and Price the next day, and she was even better. Our Canucks writer Omar transcribed the interview at the time:

Her story on meeting Jim Benning:

“I’m in the Vancouver rink in November and they have what they call a friends and family room and this man comes in and he’s shoving sushi in his mouth, and he goes, ‘Isn’t this the world’s best sushi? It’s from Miko.’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I need to join like an AA group like Sushi Anonymous. We need to get off the sushi,’ and he said, “Sign me up.’

I said, ‘Who are you?’ and he said, ‘Well my name’s Jim Benning.’ I said, ‘Do you work for the team?’ He goes, ‘I’m the GM.’

“I had no idea he was the GM – I signed him up for Sushi Anonymous! I didn’t even know who he was. You’re supposed to know this as a mom! I don’t know who these guys are.”

How she feels about the Canucks organization:

“It’s truly a very, I don’t want to say ‘high class’ organization because then you’ll think it’s snooty. It’s not. It’s like a living on the farm organization. It’s family. They all look out for each other. They all take care of each other…

“When Matthew was coming up here I said, ‘Oh my God Matthew, you’re halfway across our country and way up into Canuckland,’ and I was a little worried.

I would pay the organization to keep him. I love it that much.”

On meeting and talking to the Sedins:

“I had to touch them both twice because I’ve been a fan of them for years and years and years. They’re hockey royalty.

I said to [Matt] ‘Are they nice guys?’ He goes, ‘Mom, they’re the nicest guys in the world.’ They are truly the nicest guys you’ll ever want to meet.

“Every guy on the team is the nicest guy on the team, oh my God, except for that little 19-year-old [the little 19-year-old she was referring to must be Jared McCann]. What’s his name? Oh shoot, I was chasing him at breakfast today. My son has Flat Stanley. Do you guys do Flat Stanley, the third-grade book report thing? He goes, ‘I know Flat Stanley.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s because you did it last year!’”

Ideas for her next job:

“Wouldn’t you like to be one of those Sedins’ agents? Oh my God, I don’t even know why those boys would pay their agent, it must be the easiest job in the world – ‘Hey, I’m here with Daniel.’ ‘Oh, sign here.’

Oh my God, I think I’m going to get that job. Maybe I can get that job, what do you think?”

How many of her son’s goals she’s witnessed live:

“In the NHL? This is my second. What do you think? He only has three. How many do you want me to see? I’ve seen more than 50 per cent!”

What a beauty.

Rob WilliamsRob Williams
+ Offside
+ Hockey

SUBSCRIBE TO THE HIVE

Get the latest news sent to your inbox and stay in the loop