Meet the CANUCKS Vancouver is one of the most relaxed and diverse cities in all hen the of North America It has a pleasant climate and when the weekend arrives there are lots of cool things to do and places to go es to go easy to Walking down the streets of the city and its suburbs it is easy to forget that it is home to one of Canada’s seven National Hockey ckey League NHL teams the Canucks h Year in and year out the Canucks fill their lineup with talented stars and play exciting hockey Their fans are more than loyal They identify with the players and embrace them like family members Every Vancouver fan has a favorite Canuck you can tell by the 20 or 30 different jerseys in the stands during games This book tells the story of the Canucks They are a source of intense pride for the people of Vancouver Every player who pulls on a Canucks sweater knows that the fans will always be behind the team Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler exchange a forearm bump after a win during the 2012 13 season 5
Glory Days T he Canucks played their first NHL season in 1970 71 However professional hockey already had a long and colorful history in the city Vancouver is an important seaport with access to the Pacific Ocean It is located in the Canadian province of British Columbia In the early 1900s there were a lot of jobs and a lot of young workers in the city Often they spent their free time playing hockey and watching it Vancouver had a team called the Millionaires In 1915 they won the Stanley Cup It marked the first time a club from the West Coast captured hockey’s greatest prize Over the years the Millionaires featured some of Canada’s top stars including Fred Cyclone Taylor and Jack Adams 6
As the NHL grew in size and power during the 1920s western teams such as the Millionaires could no longer afford to pay the top players West Coast hockey continued to thrive but only for teams in the minor leagues Vancouver was home to one of the most successful teams in the region at this level the Canucks They won six league championships from 1946 to 1970 Five players who skated for the Canucks during this time would later enter the Hall of Fame During the 1960s the NHL decided to expand from six teams to 12 In 1970 the league grew to 14 teams with the addition of the Buffalo Sabres and the Canucks At this point Vancouver was a completely different team than the minor-league club The new owners simply bought the old team so they could keep the name for the new one They hired Bud Poile and coach Hall Laycoe to build a lineup from scratch Poile had done the same job for the Philadelphia Flyers a few years earlier Vancouver and Buffalo were allowed to participate in a special expansion draft The Canucks first pick was Gary Doak LEFT Jack Adams was one of Vancouver’s first stars ABOVE This yearbook was printed for the team’s second season 7
