For this Memorabilia Monday, we thought we’d change things up. For those of you new here, every Monday, we share stories from Vancouver Canucks fans about different Canucks-related items or collectibles they’ve acquired over the years.

In week one, we covered Canucks memorabilia from events that never actually happened. In week two we covered edible Canucks memorabilia. This week, the day after Father’s Day, we asked Canucks fans to share their stories or items with a personal connection to their Dads.

First up, Twitter/X user K.D. Madigan (@riotsurvivor) reached out via DM to share the following story:

“My old man took me to my first hockey game when I was seven. I’d been a Jays fan but Pavel Bure’s name was everywhere, and I begged to go. And so we went and we made a bet. If Pavel Bure scored a goal, he’d buy me a pack of Upper Deck hockey cards, and if he didn’t, I’d buy him one. Bure scored and we beat the Whalers 3-2.”

“My memory tells me I pulled a Brett Hull card from that pack.”

William L. reached out over email with the following story:

“My dad took me to my first hockey game ever at Pacific Coliseum when I was 11 years old in 1978. The Canucks won something like 20 games that year but me and nobody else really seemed to care. NHL hockey had this city and 11-year-old me absolutely hooked. On the way there, I asked my dad if he thought we would get an autograph from anyone on the team. He told me the chances were slim, but kept the hope alive. We watched the game, the Canucks lost I think 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens. I think it was late March, but I might be wrong. It was towards the end of the season and the Canucks weren’t making the playoffs. But it was my first game, so it was special to me. We started chatting with a nice arena worker named Janice who heard it was my first game and who I politely asked where the best spot to go for autographs was after the game. She said there wasn’t much of a dedicated place but that she’d be back if she thought of anything.

“With about five minutes left in the third after the Habs scored their fifth goal of the game, Janice came over to us and told us to come with her. She brought us down to the bowels of the Coliseum and I couldn’t believe my luck. Multiple players came out and said hello, but I had completely forgotten that I wanted autographs. They all said hello to my Dad and I and I was so starstruck that it slipped my mind why I was taken down there in the first place. Finally, Jack McIlhargey came out and something made me remember in that moment why I was there. He signed my game ticket and it sits proudly in a frame in my family cabin up north. I don’t have a photo, but thought I’d share. It’s not worth anything anyways, but it always reminds of my dad and I think about that game and that night a lot on Father’s Day.”

CanucksArmy commenter SEJG wrote in and said:

“I was born and raised in Alberta, my dad was a farm boy from Vernon, B.C. My first memories of the Canucks were watching the Rangers and Canucks in the finals. My Dad would let me stay up late to watch the games. Anything that Trump’s bedtime makes you a fan for life. Since then, my Dad and I have gone to most of the Canucks games in Edmonton. A few years back was the first time my dad or I got to see the Canucks live in the playoffs. It was great cheering for them even though most everyone else in the stands were against us. The bucket list is a trip to BC to take in a Canucks game in BC. Hopefully a playoff one in June.”

Thank you to all three of these gentlemen for their stories this week!

This author will give you a story of his own today, too.

Like William’s, my story is one that’s mostly just special to me, but one that readers might get a kick out of.

It must have been either 2003 or 2004. It was definitely before 2006, because I know I was very young. Not young enough that I wasn’t talking much (as both my parents will tell you, getting me to talk was as little of a problem for them back in the day as it is for Canucks fans today), but young enough that a story like this one certainly makes sense.

Bryan Allen was doing an autograph signing at the Lougheed Mall Walmart. We did not live close to the Lougheed Mall Walmart, but my dad, my brother, and I waited two hours in the long lineup to get to finally approach a folding table with Bryan Allen sitting at it. I knew I was excited and that I wanted an autograph, but I hadn’t really thought about what I wanted to say, or really, what I wanted to get signed.

We get to the front, Bryan Allen politely says something along the lines of “hey buddy, how’s it going?”

Starstruck by a REAL LIFE Vancouver Canucks player in front of me, I couldn’t come up with any words. Instead, I placed the right arm of my varsity Canucks jacket with faux leather sleeves onto the table, and Bryan Allen kindly signed my sleeve. My dad, brother, and I all love that story, and we tell it often, and it’s usually followed by us all laughing at me — for once in my life — being lost for words. I don’t even know where that jacket ended up, so if you see it at Value Village or on Facebook Marketplace, let me know!

It’s funny, really. Typically, Memorabilia Monday comes with photos of physical items. Autographed sticks, rare cereal boxes (check out last week’s story if that doesn’t make sense to you), pucks, stuff like that. But for me and both of our submissions this week, we don’t have the physical items in question, but we do have stories and memories with our Fathers that we won’t soon forget, and that’s the best kind of keepsake, anyway. Easier to dust, too!

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