[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoons
Title: Go Canucks! (click to view)
Date: June 3, 2011
The last time the Vancouver Canucks made it to the Stanley Cup finals the year was 1994 and I was 10 years old. When we lost, riots broke out across downtown and I have vivid memories of sitting in my grade six classroom the next day, while Mrs. Kirby, my eccentric Montessori teacher, loudly berated her disappointment in us. Obviously, as children we bore no direct responsibility for the violence and property damage that had unfolded the previous night, yet as the closest available representatives of the “youth of today,” we weren’t about to get off scott-free, either.

17 years later, I keep Mrs. Kirby’s stern words in mind as I watch my city once again teeter on the emotional precipice that comes with being one of the last two remaining teams in hockey’s most coveted tournament. Already on something of a patriotism high from the 2010 winter Olympics, Vancouverites have seamlessly transitioned into all-out Canucks mania, with everyone who’s anyone in the city — if not the province — expected to make some token loyalty gesture.

As a cartoonist, it was obviously most logical for me to draw one of these vicious cartoons that you’re seeing plastered on every bar window and Facebook profile these days, something that depicts a heroic “Johnny Canuck” like figure towering over the bloodied corpses of the previous teams we’ve felled: the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, and San Jose Sharks. (We Vancouver cartoonists are very lucky that our team faced such easily anthropomorphisized opponents. Our rivals in the finals, the Boston Bruins, have faced far more amorphously-named opponents: the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Philadelphia Flyers.)

Though I want to see my team triumph in the finals, I am personally not a huge hockey fan, so I can’t really offer too much stunning analysis. As you might expect, I’ve been most interested in following the “politics” of our success, so to speak, which there has been a fair amount of.

Canada’s credentials as the world’s top hockey nation are obviously quite impeachable, yet an awkward asterisk on this reputation has been the fact that no Canadian team has actually won the Stanley Cup — a made-in-Canada trophy named after Canada’s eighth governor-general — since the 1993 victory of the Montreal Canadians over the Los Angeles Kings. This lost decade has spawned a resurgence of anti-American attitudes into Canadian hockey culture, as fans frequently resent American teams for even existing, let alone winning a cup they supposedly don’t even appreciate. The New York-born commissioner of the National Hockey League, Gary Bettman has become a particular boogeyman to partisans of this type: in his two decades as boss, Bettman has become synonymous with the expansion of professional hockey into the United States, promoting the formation of new teams like the Phoenix Coyotes and Dallas Stars in so-called “non-traditional” markets where interest in the sport has been historically low. If one subscribes to a particular theory that hockey can only be enjoyed by people who live in a cold climate, this sort of expansion seems absurd and self-destructive. Useless teams will lose the league money and gobble up valuable resources — including Canadian players — all in an effort to further enrich far American plutocrats at the expense of the proudest totem of Canadian culture.

But even then, anti-Americanism only goes so far. There are folks back east who seem to even think that Vancouver’s team, founded in 1971, is something of a flash-in-the-pan newcomer, and thus not even a true “Canadian team” in the proper sense of the term. An amazing amount of newspaper ink and message board threads have been devoted to settling this absurd debate, culminating in a hopefully definitive Angus-Reid poll declaring that in the eyes of 70% of the country, yes, the Canucks are indeed Canadian enough to deserve nation-wide support.

But what are your thoughts? Do you follow hockey? Will you be supporting the Canucks? Or is perhaps your team lying somewhere in the pile of corpses…

[CKASlacker]

I'm a big hockey fan, and while Canadian, those clever enough to examine my status to the left will see that I'm a Bruins fan.

Personally, I never quite got this: "Canada must support a Canadian team in the finals". As if the Sedin twins (Swedish) hoisting the cup would be more 'Canadian' than Zdeno Chara (Slovak captain of the Bruins). Case in point: in the 1st round, Boston played Montreal, and the US v. Canada thing falls a little flat when the Bruins have more Canadian players on their team, and Montreal more Americans. Boston's best skater is probably Patrice Bergeron, who is French-Canadian as well.

Nothing personally against the west coast -- it's beautiful country out there, and I love flying out to ski, but I've always thought the cultural lines in Canada run north/south easier than east/west, so those of us in the east coast have more common with American east coast cities than Canadian cities in other times zones. I suspect you feel the same way about Vancouver and Seattle v. Toronto.

[Choban]

Personally I'll always cheer for my home team first, when I lived in the Peg it was the Jets, when I lived on the east coast it was the Habs (sorry Toronto), I do however appreciate that not having a team in the playoffs this year I should cheer for a Canadian team as I would like to see the cup back on Canadian soil for a year anyway. So I was rooting for both the Habs and the Nucks until it was down to just the Nucks.
As far as anti-americanism in hockey goes, I don't so much think thats the case, there are some very good American markets for hockey out there, look no further than Detroit, Boston, Chicago. Also look at what the NHL has been able to do in California. The issue is more that Betman seems to insist on keeping teams in already failed markets, Atlanta is a staunch NBA supporter for their team and they also have the Braves, most of them down there never saw hockey and don't much care for it (not to mention this will be the second time an nhl team has left there), Pheonix I think is much the same. Dallas has done well considering their location, but I wouldn't bet on them sticking around if they have a number of consecutive bad seasons.
Truth is though that the majority of NHL supporters in the states are Canadian ex-pats and possably any American friends they have gotten into the game, I'm guessing at the end of his carreer Bettman will be better known for his failings at keeping interest up in those markets than for his successes in other more hockey friendly states

[Zipperfish]

Quote:

Though I want to see my team triumph in the finals, I am personally not a huge hockey fan...

That much is obvious, if your recollection of the 1994 playoff run is the riots after Game 7.

I have much more positive memories. The Game 7 overtime winner against our nemesis, the Calgary Flames, by Pavel Bure. The pasting we delivered to the favoured Maple Leafs in the Conference Finals. Turning on the big hairy CFOX to listen to Bill Courage slaver over another Canucks win in the afternoons. Hugging strangers at the old Collisseum when the Canucks tied the series 3-3. Trevor Linden's heroic performance in a losing effort in Game 7. Fantastic.

If you are Canadian and don't support the Canucks then you are committing a crime akin to high treason...for the duration of the game. And that qualifier is the key.

There's a strong element of faith involved with sports (there's a reason that one of the most enduring refrains in any team, any league, any sport is "I believe..."), and if you're on the outside looking in, you don't get it any more than you get a bunch of dudes dressed in loincloths, chanting Latin, and flagellating themselves.

Sometimes I'm convinced that Gary Bettamn has been deliberately cast as the villain. The pop-eyed midget New Yawk lawyer is the antithesis of the "good Canadian kid" hockey player, and he does seem to go out of his way to be unpersonable.

And, in case I didn't mention it earlier:

GO CANUCKS GO!

[Canadian_Mind]

You made typo. It was the Nashville Predators that were felled, not the Minnesota Wild...

[CKASlacker]

Zipperfish wrote:

If you are Canadian and don't support the Canucks then you are committing a crime akin to high treason...for the duration of the game. And that qualifier is the key.

I'm obviously an outlier here, but even if I didn't have an interest in this series (say it was NYR v. Canucks)... I don't know that I would necessarily be cheering for Vancouver. Oh sure, I'd watch the games with a passive interest as a neutral, but I don't "jump on the bandwagon" of another team simply because mine is out, and doing so "because they're Canadian" isn't really a good enough reason. It's like you said about faith - if my local church burns down, do I join another one even if they're a different sect simply because they're local?

Zipperfish wrote:

GO CANUCKS GO!Let's Go BRUINS!

Fixed that for you.

[Murray_Smith]

J.J., you do realize that if the Canucks win, you would make a fortune if you put that design on a shirt.

[Disclaimer: I have very little interest in professional sports, but if anyone asks, I support Boston, partly for reasons outlined by Zipperfish and partly because papists can be mean drunks.]

[Mowich]

I qualify as one of the 'band-wagon' people as I support the Habs during the regular season, even though I live in BC. After the Habs lost, I cheered for Boston right up until they won the Eastern Conference. I really didn't think they would make it that far but then, I didn't think the 'Nucks would make it to the Western Conference final either.

Now that Boston and the Canucks are in the final, my 'patriotism' has risen to the fore and I am firmly on the side of the Canucks. I believe that the Canucks have more depth and are quicker and smarter players than the Bruins. Also, the Bruins PP 'inhales' big time while the Canucks have both PP and PK ability.

GO, CANUCKS, GO!

[PENATRATOR]

CKASlacker wrote:

Zipperfish wrote:

If you are Canadian and don't support the Canucks then you are committing a crime akin to high treason...for the duration of the game. And that qualifier is the key.

I'm obviously an outlier here, but even if I didn't have an interest in this series (say it was NYR v. Canucks)... I don't know that I would necessarily be cheering for Vancouver. Oh sure, I'd watch the games with a passive interest as a neutral, but I don't "jump on the bandwagon" of another team simply because mine is out, and doing so "because they're Canadian" isn't really a good enough reason. It's like you said about faith - if my local church burns down, do I join another one even if they're a different sect simply because they're local?

Zipperfish wrote:

GO CANUCKS GO!Let's Go BRUINS!

Fixed that for you.

Well thought out post, especially the first part

[PENATRATOR]

Let's remmeber that regardles of which team wins the cup, it ALWAYS resides north of the 49th after the players get their summer day with the cup. It goes back to the hall and replaces the replica that sits there when it's out on tour.
Not sure of the breakdown of players for the entire canucks crew, but as far as the Bruins go amongst those dressing

Thomas - USA
Rask - Finland
Chara - Slovak
Seidenberg - German
Krejce - Czeck
Kaberle - Czeck
Ferrence - CANADA
Boychuck _ CANADA
McQuaide - CANADA
Patrice Bergeron - CANADA
Brad Marchand - CANADA
Mark Recchi - CANADA (BC Boy too)
Milan Lucic - CANADA (BC Boy too)
Gregory Campbell - CANADA
Michael Ryder - CANADA
Dan Paille - CANADA
Nathan Horton - CANADA (Smoking hot old lady too)
Rich Peverly - CANADA
Tyler Seguin - CANADA
Chris Kelly - CANADA

So should my boys "upset" the incredibly unbeatable Vancouver Canucks, you see the cup will spend a great deal of time in Canada anyways.

GO BRUINS

[Proculation]

According to the odds online (money bets), Vancouver as a +2/1 advantage on the Bruins. The Cup will come back to Canada guys !

[TattoodGirl]

GO CANUCKS GO!!!!! Its our year!!!

[CKASlacker]

Hmmm... seems Canada is changing its mind... http://m.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/canucks-have-become-nhls-most-hated-team/article2050961/?service=mobile

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Quote:

The Canucks defenceman hit Horton after the puck was long, long gone, and the latter was carried off the ice on a stretcher.

And this is what happens when you have a bunch of European pussies that think they know hockey.
The puck was not long, long gone. Horton was hit barely a second and a half after making the pass. If that's a long, LONG time, then the refs in the NHL have been slacking off something fierce for decades.
And if Bergeron doesn't want his fingers bitten, maybe the whiney little bitch should quit shoving them in people's mouths.
But hey, I guess it's ok to whack a guy in the back of the legs with both hands 5-6 times before he goes down. I guess it's ok the punch someone in the back of the head 4-5 times in a row behind the net WELL after the whistle is blown. I guess it's ok to try and jam your fingers down someone's throat while giving them a facewash. As long as the asshole doing it is a Bruins player, it's alllll good

[Strutz]

Doesn't bother me at all what anyone else thinks. Whatever man...

I've been watching the Canucks since I was 7 or so... 35 years of being a fan. I've taken alot of ribbing over the years from LOCALS who'd say they'd always be "losers"... Whatever... hasn't changed anything for me. Still a fan despite the many low times.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this ride this season and have watched every game (except those on PPV...). This playoff year has been fantastic and IT AIN'T OVER YET!