Vancouver Canucks NHL Hockey Team

Best Players, Playoffs, Tickets & History in Western Canadian Sports

Apr 25, 2009 Lori Henry

The Vancouver Canucks NHL hockey team is revered in their hometown. Find below the best players, playoff runs, franchise history and learn how to buy tickets.

The Vancouver Canucks NHL hockey team is a hot commodity all over BC and Western Canada. Fans are demanding of the best players and fill General Motors Place each game night by buying every NHL ticket available.

Vancouver Canucks Tickets

An NHL ticket to General Motors Place is like trying to find water in a desert. There is a wait list to get season tickets and the arena has been sold out since November 14, 2002 (only the Minnesota Wild have had more consecutive sell outs in the league). For single game tickets, try signing up for the Canucks Email Newsletter to enter ticket contests, or bid on auctioned ones.

Knowing the difficulty of buying tickets, the club has implemented a “Prime Seat Club” membership for regular season sold out games and the “Blue Line” membership to get on the wait list for Canucks packages. Each has an annual membership fee.

Best Hockey Players

Everyone has their favourite Canucks player, who they hold up as the best hockey player on the team. The bonanza that was the Mats Sundin signing earlier this season was touted as the move Mike Gillis made for the history books. Is Mats Sundin living up to the hype?

Captain Roberto Luongo is the backbone of this team, written about by the media as one of the best hockey goalies in the NHL (and backed up by Jason LaBarbera). The defence core rests on plus/minus record keeper Willie Mitchell (+29 this season), gritty Kevin Bieksa, stalwart Mattias Ohlund and dependable Sami Salo. Shane O’Brien, Alex Edler, Rob Davison and newcomer-to-the-Canucks Ossi Vaananen round out the rest of the solid blue line.
Goal scoring rests on the shoulders of Swedish twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin, sparkplug Alex Burrows, workhorse (and team MVP) Ryan Kesler and veteran Pavol Demitra. Secondary scoring is depended on from quick-handed Kyle Wellwood, speedy Mason Raymond, physical Steve Bernier, once first-liner Taylor Pyatt and young Jannik Hansen.
The best hits are promised from Darcy Hordichuk and Rick Rypien, while Ryan Johnson is the unsung hero at blocking shots, taking face offs and generally outworking every opponent on the ice.

Playoff Hockey in Franchise History

Vancouver Canucks fans, some of the most dedicated in the National Hockey League, have yet to see their boys hoist the coveted Stanley Cup (okay, the Vancouver Millionaires did it in 1915 against the Ottawa Senators when the league was called the National Hockey Association).

Canucks fans are most likely to remember the 1982 Stanley Cup run, when the team had a less than stellar season but ended up beating the Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks with an 11-2 record. Fans will forever hate the New York Islanders for upsetting this storybook tale.

Younger fans will recall the 1994 Stanley Cup run, as Vancouver stars Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure and goalie Kirk McLean made another improbable run into the finals. The most defining moment came during the first round series with the Calgary Flames: beat up and exhausted, the photo of Trevor Linden, blood stains on his jersey, with his arm clutched around Kirk McLean for support, remains a symbol of Canucks hockey. This time the other New York team, the Rangers, spoiled their Stanley Cup playoff dreams.

Is this the year the Vancouver Canucks can bring the Stanley Cup home?

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