<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="Canucks fans explained" width="600" height="450" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/2012.05.15_Canucks_fans_explained.jpg" />
If this doesn&#8217;t perfectly sum up the essence of Canucks&#8217; nation, I don&#8217;t know what does.
Top tier goalie on&nbsp;a team that has in the past&nbsp;resorted to Toronto Maple Leafs cast-offs? Boooooooo.
Coach takes you to top of the league two years in a row, and within one win of the Cup? <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23FireAV">#fireAV</a>.
Selke winning centre hampered by a pretty serious injury? Trade him!
Yup, that&#8217;s about as irrational as you can get. But again, I take no credit for the idea. It is one of the two things I&nbsp;learned listening to our very own <a href="http://canucksarmy.com/authors/drance">Thomas Drance </a>on the <a href="http://canucksarmy.com/2012/5/13/nation-radio-may-12-2012">Nation Radio podcast this week</a>. The other one is that Thom is a very nice young man. Seriously.

Thom&#8217;s point on the show was that forty-two years of futility will breed a certain amount of desperation in a fanbase, and that leads to irrationality. Based on the comments I&#8217;ve seen in the last two months, the most egregious of which are paraphrased above, I couldn&#8217;t agree more. And I don&#8217;t even listen to the local sports radio call-in shows!
The beauty of the statement is its simplicity. This town is hockey mad, and really just wants to win. But let&#8217;s not kid ourselves, the same is true around the league. Granted, the degree to which it is true varies.
<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/theoryofice">Ellen Etchingham</a> posted a <a href="http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2012/05/09/ilya-win/">piece on Kovalchuk</a> that in one elegant sentence captured the essence of NHL hockey: &quot;Hockey respects skill and it treasures toughness, but it loves only winning.&quot;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="The essence of hockey" width="600" height="187" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/2012.05.15 The essence of hockey.jpg" />
So yes, Canucks fans have been deprived of that outlet for so long that the desperation is breeding irrationality at a fevered pace.
But I have to say, I still prefer that, to living somewhere where this could happen:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="LA Kings who?" width="600" height="339" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/NBCLA.jpg" />
No comment.
Finally, it appears that &quot;shot blocking&quot; is the latest scourge to ravage the NHL playoffs. So much so, that the New Jersey Devils have threatened to deploy the &quot;shoot for the face&quot; strategy:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="Shoot for the face" width="600" height="450" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/2012.05.14_Shoot_for_the_face.jpg" />
Or maybe Shanahan can just give out a 25 game suspension to the next guy that blocks a shot&#8230;

<img alt="Canucks fans explained" width="600" height="450" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/2012.05.15_Canucks_fans_explained.jpg" />
If this doesn't perfectly sum up the essence of Canucks' nation, I don't know what does.
Top tier goalie on&nbsp;a team that has in the past&nbsp;resorted to Toronto Maple Leafs cast-offs? Boooooooo.
Coach takes you to top of the league two years in a row, and within one win of the Cup? <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23FireAV">#fireAV</a>.
Selke winning centre hampered by a pretty serious injury? Trade him!
Yup, that's about as irrational as you can get. But again, I take no credit for the idea. It is one of the two things I&nbsp;learned listening to our very own <a href="http://canucksarmy.com/authors/drance">Thomas Drance </a>on the <a href="http://canucksarmy.com/2012/5/13/nation-radio-may-12-2012">Nation Radio podcast this week</a>. The other one is that Thom is a very nice young man. Seriously.

Thom's point on the show was that forty-two years of futility will breed a certain amount of desperation in a fanbase, and that leads to irrationality. Based on the comments I've seen in the last two months, the most egregious of which are paraphrased above, I couldn't agree more. And I don't even listen to the local sports radio call-in shows!
The beauty of the statement is its simplicity. This town is hockey mad, and really just wants to win. But let's not kid ourselves, the same is true around the league. Granted, the degree to which it is true varies.
<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/theoryofice">Ellen Etchingham</a> posted a <a href="http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2012/05/09/ilya-win/">piece on Kovalchuk</a> that in one elegant sentence captured the essence of NHL hockey: &quot;Hockey respects skill and it treasures toughness, but it loves only winning.&quot;
<img alt="The essence of hockey" width="600" height="187" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/2012.05.15 The essence of hockey.jpg" />
So yes, Canucks fans have been deprived of that outlet for so long that the desperation is breeding irrationality at a fevered pace.
But I have to say, I still prefer that, to living somewhere where this could happen:
<img alt="LA Kings who?" width="600" height="339" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/NBCLA.jpg" />
No comment.
Finally, it appears that &quot;shot blocking&quot; is the latest scourge to ravage the NHL playoffs. So much so, that the New Jersey Devils have threatened to deploy the &quot;shoot for the face&quot; strategy:
<img alt="Shoot for the face" width="600" height="450" src="https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/2012.05.14_Shoot_for_the_face.jpg" />
Or maybe Shanahan can just give out a 25 game suspension to the next guy that blocks a shot...

Canucks fans explained

NHL Notebook: Buffalo and Utah take Byram and McBain to arbitration

Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin meets with the media at Rogers Arena.

Canucks GM Patrik Allvin talks free agency, Silovs’ future, and more

JPat’s Monday Canucks Mailbag: Where will the goals come from next season?

Goaltender Ty Young leads the Vancouver Canucks out at the 2024 Young Stars Classic.

Recent articles from Graphic Comments

Breaking News