Inside the Green Men’s epic return to Rogers Arena, and what’s next for the spandex-wearing Canucks fans

By now, you’ve almost certainly heard of the Green Men, the second-skin bodysuit-wearing Canucks fans who, for years, terrorized opposing players from beside the visitor’s penalty box with their creative shenanigans.

Their antics from 2009-2015 landed them a spot in ESPN’s Hall of Fans, and as we saw when they returned to Rogers Arena last night, in the hearts and memories of Canucks fans everywhere.

The men under the iconic green suits are Adam Forsythe (Force), and Ryan Sullivan (Sully) — two friends who met in their early 20s while attending BCIT’s broadcasting program in 2008.

“In 2009, we were selected to go do a six week internship at TSN in Toronto,” Forsythe told CanucksArmy. “So we went out there and like we didn’t know anyone, we didn’t have friends out there or family. So during that time, we were just like, hanging out over drinks and then we were like, ‘oh, we should wear these green suits that we saw on the show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, like go to a Seahawks game with a bunch of our BCIT classmates. So we bought like 10 tickets, and we were going to tell our friends that we were gonna wear the green suits, and then just try to embarrass them essentially. And then the day of the game, Sully’s suit didn’t arrive in the mail on time. So I gave him s*** for it, I was like, ‘oh man, like I spent 60 bucks on the suit!’

“And he’s like, ‘well, my dad has access to these seats right beside the penalty box at Canucks games, do you want to go just once to see what happens?’ And so we went and security hassled us and we weren’t even sure we were gonna get into the building. They finally relented, but they warned us like, ‘if you do anything, we’ll kick you out.’ And then, by the end of the game, cops and security were taking photos with us, and we had requests to be on every news outlet, and then it just took off from there.”

And take off from there it did.

Forsythe and Sullivan were in their usual perch next to the opposition’s penalty box for the better part of seven years before retiring in 2015. Sullivan moved away from Vancouver, and both green men are now married. Sullivan has two young children, while Forsythe is expecting his first child, a baby girl, in June. So how did these two find their way back into the spandex and back to Rogers Arena?

Just over eight years since their last appearance at a Canucks game, the Green Men made their long-awaited return, with the moment perfectly executed with the help of PA announcer Al Murdoch and of course, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s iconic entrance music.

“The Canucks started asking us a couple years back if we’d ever be interested in returning. And at that point, we were like, ‘honestly, we’re retired.’ We had a really fun send-off where we travelled all around BC and visited the WHL teams and stuff like that, and we kind of liked the ending. And then Sully also moved away; he lived in Halifax for a couple of years, and now he’s living in Saskatoon. He works in the radio business as an FM radio DJ. And then in October, the Canucks said, ‘Hey, like, we’ll do whatever we can to get you guys to a game. You pick the game, and we’ll fly Sully out and put him up in a hotel. And so we looked at the schedule and were like, ‘Man that Boston game in February is pretty tempting. A four o’clock start on Hockey Night in Canada, everyone’s gonna see it.”

“At first, [the Canucks] said like, ‘Can you guys just come back and go to the seats?’ and we said no, if we come back, we want to do it right. So we said, ‘How do we time it where we can just enter into the Stone Cold music?’ That was kind of our priority. And they said, ‘Well, let’s wait until the first TV timeout after the 14 minute mark, and then we’re gonna play a little montage video for you, Al Murdoch’s gonna do the voice of God little quick intro and then the Stone Cold music and then you guys run down to the seats and we said ‘that sounds awesome, let’s do it.’

“They had the curtains closed so no one could see us and then we ran in. The timing could not have been better because JVR had just taken that penalty. Like it couldn’t have been better, and he obviously could see it coming because we sprinted down to the seats, and you could tell he was trying so hard not to laugh. So yeah, that nervous energy just turned into excitement the second we saw JVR there, and then, of course, the rest of the game, there’s like no goals, no penalties. I felt like they were playing the most disciplined game of all time. After the penalty in OT the Canucks called a timeout, so we had a full two minutes to mess with Trent Frederic, it was perfect.”

A top priority for the return was keeping it a secret, so with the exception of their wives, Sully and Force managed to keep the return a surprise by not telling any of their other family or friends. This, as you might have guessed, resulted in a “mountain of texts” waiting for them after the game.

The Green Men had their moment, and their return was made even more special thanks to the Canucks’ thrilling third-period comeback that was capped off by Brock Boeser’s overtime-winning goal. Unfortunately, it may be the last time for a while that fans get to see the Green Men at Rogers Arena.

“As it stands right now, it’s a one-and-done,” Forsythe added. “Sully lives in Saskatoon, and he’s got a wife, he’s got two little girls, and he’s got a full-time Monday to Friday job, so it’s really hard for him to jump back and forth. We’re not ruling out a playoff return. The Canucks have already asked us if we’d be interested, but I don’t know.

“Again, I think last night’s return is another cool send-off. I’m not saying no, but as of right now, we have nothing planned, and that’s being completely honest.”

While attending another game is undetermined, the perfection of last night’s return clearly has the Green Men wanting to return sooner rather than later. And given how Saturday’s game went, Canucks fans will certainly want the Green Men back in their normal post when playoff games return to Rogers Arena for the first time in nearly ten years this spring.

“We were always interested in returning for one game before disappearing again, but after the reception we received last night, we definitely aren’t ruling out a return.”