The Canucks entered the NHL in 1970 as the Vancouver professional hockey team. Canada already had two very successful franchises in Toronto and Montreal, both of which had won the Stanley Cup multiple times and Montreal was already a dynasty. The Canucks had very high expectations to meet, being a Canadian hockey franchise.
From the beginning, management adopted a tough playing style, selecting tough players who could handle the gritty nature of professional hockey. There is a saying among Canadians regarding hockey that goes, “I went to see a fight last night and a hockey game broke out.” This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the number of fights that happen in hockey, blood-soaked, bare-knuckle fights that you can pretty much count on with every game played. It’s become a part of the sport, the fans love it, and if a referee tries to stop a fight before it’s over, the fans boo loudly and bitterly. Tickets in attendance and revenue go down so the league and management no longer try to stop fights, they let the fighters fight and the arena changes from a hockey arena to a fight arena as soon as a fight starts.
A spotlight illuminates the combatants and follows them around the rink, players from both teams cheer on their teammates, players on the bench bang their hockey sticks hard on the rink walls in support, fans go wild, everyone is on their feet, and “fighting-style” music blasts from the arena’s speakers. It’s big business and the league knows it.
It is this culture that the Vancouver Canucks launched their franchise into, and clearly management had a plan to capitalize on it. It could be argued if management ever had plans to win in the first place, or if they went for a guaranteed draw for the fans by drafting a team full of fighters. Either way, one thing is clear, the Vancouver Canucks rarely, if ever, lose a fight. This made them wildly popular with their fans and the rest of the league’s fans, who loved watching a game Vancouver was playing in, knowing they would be treated to at least one barbaric display of brutality.
Over the years, times have changed, and while brawling was still popular, teams managed to build a degree of toughness into their lineups enough to take on any fight that occurred, while also putting a skilled team in the game. the ice capable of winning games. The concept of a “team enforcer” was born, where each team appointed a designated tough guy, whose job it was to make sure that the skilled players on the team were not intimidated or mistreated beyond the norm. His job was essentially to be the team’s police officer.
As this trend took hold, teams like the Canucks fell out of favor as fans recognized that they didn’t have to sacrifice quality for toughness, that they could have it all. So the Vancouver Canucks had to change, and they changed. They began to recruit skilled players from Europe and Russia, and the team began to win. It was a transition, though, and it took time, but in the 1980s they weren’t just in the playoffs, they were winning and advancing to the next round, and in 1982 they made it to the Stanley Cup Final, for the first time. It didn’t, but it showed the Canucks and the league that the Canucks had arrived and were a quality, skilled team.
During this time, the Canucks’ fan base grew in size, loyalty, and awareness. Websites and blogs dedicated to the Canucks were easy to find, and forums discussing the Canucks were active with speculation and the latest news. The typical Vancouver blogger was a hockey player, as Vancouver has dozens of amateur leagues and “beer leagues” where hockey isn’t just a sport, it’s a religion. As a result, Vancouver blogs are rich sources of hockey information, where trade rumors, management direction, and upcoming games are discussed at length.
Today, the Vancouver Canucks are considered one of the top franchises in the NHL and have established themselves as a premier organization that any player would be proud to play for. Their history as a tough team doesn’t hurt them one bit, as the fighting culture remains strong in hockey, so strong that hockey commentators regularly debate which team enforcer is the toughest in the league. They usually don’t have to debate much as enforcers love to challenge each other, in fact, in almost every game. So these disputes are resolved like all hockey disputes, on the ice.
