I am not in Vancouver to hear the horn honking and live the party, but I am not as far removed from Canucks fever as you might guess. In Sweden, the Canucks are the ‘official’ Swedish NHL team and the sports pages are filled with pictures of their playoff progress. Hockey is big in Sweden and the Stanley cup is revered… enough that Henrik is quoted in a Swedish paper saying Cup finals are a bigger deal than his Olympic gold medal (OS-guldet). I have a playoffs-progress board by my office door, and I tracked the scores through the playoffs. Most people seem happy to get the update and talk about ‘tvillingarna’ (the twins). I have a repetitive strain injury from jumping on and off the Canucks bandwagon the last few years, and I honestly thought that I would be changing my ‘Go Canucks Go’ sign to ‘Golf Canucks Golf’ partway through the playoffs despite their number one ranking. Colour me pleasantly surprised.
I remember watching the last Stanley cup run in 1994 and the ensuing riots. Here’s wishing Vancouver can be as well behaved as they were for 4 Olympic hockey medals (without all that expensive security).