Vancouver Canucks president Trevor Linden spent the prime of his career wearing the mid-90s ‘flying skate’ jersey, and has repeatedly made no secret of his affection for the sweater, even pushing for the sweater to be worn for the game last season that honoured Pat Quinn. And now he’s succeeded in bringing it back, for real.
As part of the 20th anniversary festivities for the Rogers Arena, the Canucks will sport the sweater that they wore during the 1994 Stanley Cup Final this coming year. They’ll do in a nationally broadcast game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 13th, the club’s president announced during an appearance on TSN 1040 on Thursday afternoon.
Cool!
Here are Linden’s comments in full:
“The big news is, we’re going to bring (the skate logo) back for a game. We’re talking Toronto. The Toronto Maple Leafs on February 13th, yeah. In kind of the Rogers Arena 20th celebration, we’ve got a series of very unique and fun nights scheduled and that will be one of them. It’ll kind of take you back to the Leafs v. Canucks 1994 conference final.”
The 94 Conference Final, of course, narrowly pre-dates Rogers Arena. But whatever! The skate logo will make us all feel like the Maple Leafs are back in the Western Conference, where they obviously belong.
Adds Canucks COO Victor de Bonis in a team release on Canucks.com:
“Rogers Arena has provided twenty years of fun and extraordinary moments and we’re excited to celebrate its rich history with Canucks fans this upcoming season,” said Victor de Bonis, Chief Operating Officer, Canucks Sports & Entertainment. “It continues to serve as the premier sports and entertainment venue in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. We are proud to have hosted more than 27 million guests since opening our doors in 1995, and we look forward to creating more unforgettable experiences for our fans for years to come.”
During his back-and-forth with Matt Sekeres, Linden added that contrary to popular belief his favourite historic jersey is the stick in rink. He also artfully dodged the implication that now that the flying skate is making a return, the flying V becomes a more distinct reality. Surely that will never happen.
So there you have it. The Sedin twins wearing the flying skate for the first time in their careers. See it February!
