My god, they finally got to Gretzky.
The Vancouver Canucks went 2-0 in back-to-back games at the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks over the weekend, and a small army of 'Nucks fans reveled in the domination.
Along with the Canuck'ing (and re-Canadanization) of the Kings' Wayne Gretzky statue outside Staples Center, there was also a report that Vancouver fans attempted to do the same to the Mighty Ducks sculpture outside Honda Center.
Oh, but it didn't end there. They chanted "Ellll-issss" inside Honda Center to taunt the home-team goalie. They took over areas outside the rink at Staples, becoming the largest gathering of pasty-skinned Canadians in L.A. since the NHL Draft.
And they left some of the locals rather stunned.
OC Register columnist Jeff Miller chastised the invaders:
While their fans were in the Ducks' ears. The visitors heartily sang "O Canada" before the game and lustily chanted "M-V-P" after Daniel Sedin scored and Henrik Sedin assisted. Before the night was over, the crowd was chiding the Ducks with "Na, na, na, na. Na, na, na, na. Hey hey, goodbye."
Yes, even by Honda Center's shaky standards this was a bit excessive. This isn't the sort of spastic behavior usually received at home. Unless you live with Charlie Sheen. It wouldn't have been surprising had the Ducks gone out to the parking lot afterward and found that their cars had been keyed.
While it's not exactly uncommon to see
Canadian fans travel to warmer locales for road trips (see: nearly every
Florida Panthers home game in the winter against the Leafs or Habs), Robert
Williams of Canuckz.com sees something else afoot here for Canucks Nation:
Canuck nation now travels, impressive when you consider the geography. Vancouver's closest rival is Calgary, an 11 hour drive. Only Colorado Avalanche fans have to travel further to get to another team's rink. New York Rangers fans can drive to 11 NHL cities that are a shorter drive than Vancouver-Calgary.
Even when the West Coast Express was in full flight, you did not see anything close to the kind of support the Canucks get on the road. Sure, you'd see fans in Calgary and Edmonton, but that's been ramped up in recent years.
Now Canucks fans show up in great numbers in every Canadian city, as well as border cities such as Buffalo (I remember a bunch of fans painted "Bieksallent" on their chests at a game against the Sabres in 2006-07).
Did the Canucks get that kind of road support during last postseason against the Kings, given that all three California teams are in the Western Conference playoff mix this year?
Might we see scenes like this during what's expected to be a Vancouver Cup run?
Or this (via Jaspreet Malik):
Thanks to Notanallstar for the tips.