The one about…overcoming adversity

Think Bambi.

Now think ice.

Now think Bambi on ice.

Now you know how Chris Tanev looked the first time he laced up tiny cheese graters at four-years-old and stepped off the visitor’s bench for his first ever hockey shift.

“That door right there,” pointed his dad, Mike, Thursday at the Victoria Village Arena. “That’s where it happened.”

The story in question practically defines Tanev, who has metaphorically fallen down or been knocked down too many times to count throughout his hockey career.

“When he first stepped on the ice at four-years-old, I think the pants were bigger than his body,” Mike explained. “He could skate because he was in a learn to skate program, so he was okay without the equipment, unfortunately when he got the equipment on, it was a little bit more difficult for him. So he stepped on to the ice and went straight down and when he hit the ice, he was crying. His mother opened up the gate at the player’s bench and she went and picked him up and I went up to her and said that if she ever did that again, I was never coming to watch him again.

“From that point on he got better and better and better and better, and fortunately we never had to do that again.”

Mike described himself as “tough, but fair,” and his son agreed. Both said this was a learning moment, although Tanev doesn’t really remember it. This was the first of many lessons about not giving up and doing it yourself that Mike taught his son and it’s tough to argue the 22-year-old would be manning Vancouver’s blueline were it not for his drive and ability to overcome the odds.

“If you’re trying to learn to ride a bike, you’re going to fall, and hockey is the exact same thing, so it’s trial by error,” said Mike. “If you can overcome adversity, and this is one thing that I’ve always said about Christopher, he had to overcome adversity from a very young age. So when he finally grew to play junior, then to college and in the AHL and now the NHL, he’s had to overcome many, many, many things in life and he’s handled them quite well and I think a lot of that stuff is second nature to him now.

“I’ll never forget that story.”

The one about…Tanev in high school

Tests passed, lessons learned and friendships formed.

East York Collegiate Institute was where that all went down for Chris Tanev and his friends Steve and Lucas. During a lunch pit stop at Steve’s restaurant Off The Hook, a gourmet fish n’ chips joint in Toronto, Thursday afternoon, they spilled what beans they could about Tanev.

The trio met in Grade 11 or 12, they aren’t exactly sure, but the connection was there from the beginning. They’re as chill as Tanev, so just hanging out was the name of the game.

They’ve seen him change quite radically, both physically and mentally, in the last few years and like proud parents, they spoke of Tanev with the utmost pride – when they weren’t busting his chops.

“When we met, I was taller than him, his head was like at my shoulder,” laughed Steve, taking a break from behind the grill. “Then all of the sudden he filled in more.”

“He was a lot quieter back then too,” offered up Lucas, “now he’s opened up a lot more.”

HE HAS?

“Okay, a little more, not a lot.”

Added Steve: “There’s no inside scoop on him. He’s funny in a way where if all the guys are chirping louder and louder, he’ll quietly sneak in comments. But he’s the same guy, he just has little bit more responsibility…and he’s taller.”

“He plays like he is, he just goes to work, calm guy, all the time,” said Lucas.

The three amigos are part of an eight-man crew, a tight crew, that gets together a few times a week. They never talk hockey unless Tanev brings it up; “we want to be a break from hockey…that’s his job,” said Steve.

Tanev has yet to make his NHL debut in his hometown, but when he does, Steve and Lucas will be there, as will the rest of the crew, in addition to countless family members.

Until then it’s more of the same, chillin’, lately at Off The Hook.

“We accommodate his special diet,” said Steve, “but he does have some cheat days – isn’t everyone allowed that?”

Yes, yes they are.

Excellent Adventure: Tanev

What a day. The quiet, calm, reserved Chris Tanev I once knew has been replaced with a funny, upbeat, optimistic 22-year-old who still can’t believe he’s playing in the NHL. He defied the odds, and the above sign around the corner from his house, and is now primed to make a real impact on Vancouver’ blueline.

We’ve got a ton of content to create based on our day touring Toronto with Tanev on Thursday and most of it won’t go up on Canucks.com until tomorrow, but here’s the photo gallery of our day to tie you over until then.

EXCELLENT ADVENTURE: TANEV

Hope Rises Relief Fund

On July 20th, the world awoke to an unspeakable tragedy, learning of the catastrophic events at the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” in theatre No. 9 at the Century 16 in Aurora, a suburb of Denver.

As the news quickly spread it was soon realized this tragedy was not isolated in Aurora; it touched thousands across the United States and beyond who lost loved ones or knew of those in the theatre that night.

Cory Schneider’s very close friend (the two are so close Schneider refers to him as his cousin) was nearly part of the tragedy.

Gianmarco Cacciamatta, a Schneider family friend whose father was a foreign exchange student that lived with Cory’s mom’s family in high school and “basically became part of the family,” had tickets to the midnight show. When an early morning meeting was scheduled for Cacciamatta for Friday, he passed his tickets off to a co-worker.

That co-worker, 22-year-old Petra Anderson, sustained severe injuries in the incident, while the six-year-old seated beside her died.

According to an online story featured in the Sacramento Bee, Petra is “is expected to fully recover, according to her mother, Kim.”

Cacciamatta has been working with others on the Hope Rises Relief Fund, which is raising financial aid for the victims of the Aurora shootings, including Anderson. The fund also wants to send the message that no matter how horrible a situation looks, you always have the power to turn it into something immensely positive.

Schneider is backing his cousin and the cause, and is urging you to help with your donations, thoughts, or prayers.

For more information on how to lend your support, visit http://www.indiegogo.com/readytobelieve; #readytobelieve4petra is the Twitter hashtag for the cause.

Silly Boston

The one about…the new mask

Cory Schneider’s new mask made its on-ice debut Tuesday during an hour-and-a-half on-ice session in Boston and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive from the Vancouver Canucks goaltender.

“I’m very happy with the look of it and it felt great out there today,” said Schneider, cradling the mask as if it were his firstborn.

As with Schneider, there are many layers to this mask. The colours, Canucks green and blue are dominant, while a sharp chrome cage gives the mask a sleek feel. On the left and right sides the Canucks orca is present, albeit with bubbles above his head as part of an underwater theme, while the chin has CANUCKS written several times. Look closer through each of the aforementioned areas and native orcas are found in the background. Nice touch.

The top of the mask features a large Johnny Canuck team logo with BAUER written underneath, just above the chrome masking.

More bubbles on the back right side, NONE SHALL PASS in the middle and RYP, a tribute to Schneider’s fallen teammate Rick Rypien on the left.

This mask has it all, including a very satisfied owner.

“It turned out pretty great,” boasted Schneider. “There’s some subtlety to it and I like the chrome cage and how sharp the details are. It’s a different look.”

The design was brought to life by Swedish pro airbrush artist David Gunnarsson of DaveArt.com; he’s done masks for Henrik Lundqvist, Pekka Rinne, Carey Price, Tomas Vokoun, Jose Theodore, Steve Mason, Marty Turco, Kari Lehtonen and a host of others. Basically if you can think of an NHL netwinder with a spectacular mask, Gunnarsson created it.

He now comes highly recommended from Schneider as well.

Fort Nucks exclusive photos of Schneider’s new mask

The one about…his two front teeth

Some people notice eyes, others lips, while another big draw is teeth.

Cory Schneider has nice teeth, the two front ones just aren’t real.

I know what you’re thinking: hockey accident – maybe a puck to the face?

Wrong.

Freak accident during his junior year in high school.

Schneider still doesn’t know exactly what caused the falls, blood pressure issues perhaps, but if he got up too quickly, he’d get extremely lightheaded.

“So one day, it was a hot day, I got up too fast and I started to get that lightheaded feeling and it turned into a blackout faint and I fell forward onto the hardwood floor and knocked my two front teeth out,” said Schneider, checking out his pearly whites in the rear view mirror between a visit to his hometown of Marblehead and an on-ice session.

“They put them back in and we knew one would stay, but the other had the root crack in half and we knew it wouldn’t. Literally for two years I had a wire bonded to my teeth, which was all that was holding them in place.”

Schneider had one tooth removed and a fake inserted during his freshman year and a short while later the other tooth turned grey and died, so that one was replaced as well. It wasn’t a permanent fix and he wore a retainer off and on before getting them redone, for good, two years ago.

“Not many people know that story. People always just assume I was hit by a puck. I wasn’t.”

The one about…swallowing a penny

Cory Schneider can be described in many ways, but penny pincher isn’t one of them.

Penny eater definitely is.

“I was like six or seven years old, I was little,” Schneider laughed Tuesday as Joey, Jory & Rory’s Excellent Adventure rolled into Boston. “I was just sucking on a penny because I was bored, I don’t know, I guess I thought it was a good idea at the time, and I swallowed it.”

Pardon me? It sounded like you said you swallowed it.

“I did,” he confirmed. “For most kids it probably would have gone right through them, but for me, it got stuck in my esophagus. My 10-year-old neighbour was looking after me so he called his house and his parents called 911 and they came and took me to the hospital.”

Schneider was knocked out and the penny was removed using long tongs that reached down his throat and grabbed the circular copper currency. He stayed in hospital overnight and as angry at his brother the entire time.

“My brother swallowed a nickel and a dime at one point and he was fine, it went right through him. Not me though. I don’t remember it hurting to be honest, it wasn’t like blocking my airway, but it definitely felt like someone was blocking my chest, which wasn’t a good feeling.

“That was the last time I put change in my mouth.”

The one about…being a Boston sports fan

If you can put your resentment towards a certain hockey team, one rhyming with ruin (as in a Stanley Cup dream), it’s impossible to deny that Boston is an unbelievable sports city with an undeniably passionate fan base.

The recent success of the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and that other team has raised all four franchises to new heights in Beantown, and that has inevitably attracted a few bandwagon fans here and there.

Cory Schneider isn’t one of them.

Tuesday he sported a Boson Red Sox hat and if you could wear four hats at once, he probably would have represented every Boston team – sorry, three of the four.

“I was a Bruins fan though,” Schneider admitted. “I was never a diehard fan, but we had season tickets growing up so I’d go to like five or ten games a year. I remember watching Ray Bourque and Neely and Adam Oates and those guys. My brother always loved Dave Reid, so I kind of did too because he did. Great penalty killer; longest stick in the league.”

If you want hardcore Schneider, bring up the Sox. You best pull up your sox as well because this man knows his stuff.

“I grew up more of a Red Sox fan than a Bruins fan. Even before I was in college and they finally won the World Series I was a diehard fan. I’m not anymore, I’m a fan, I just don’t live and die with every game. I mellowed out after a while. They are still my boys though. Go Sox.”

Rich Schneider, Cory’s father, was a big sports fan and if he and the boys weren’t at a game, they were watching it on TV. It didn’t matter who was playing, if a sporting event was on, dad and his two sons had their posteriors planted.

The New England Patrios were “terrible” when Schneider was young and yet he hung in with them as well and now has admiration for Tom Brady, both on the field and in Under Armour commercials.

Watching him live hasn’t happened yet, but it will someday.

“Foxborough (where the Patriots play) was about an hour and a half from our home, so it was just kind of a pain, so we never actually went to games, I might have gone once or twice, but we definitely watched them on TV a lot.”

The Celtics, oh those poor Celtics. Thanks to the actions of another Boston team they are at least third in Schneider’s heart and he admitted fandom, yet he simply doesn’t have much time for hoops.

“I don’t watch basketball, but when I do I drink Dos Equis,” he said, with a slam dunk of an answer. “That was a bad joke, don’t use that. Don’t put that one there. Sorry, where was I…oh, basketball. If I do watch basketball, I’ll watch the Celtics.”

Oddly enough Schneider didn’t wear the jersey of any Boston team on his back growing up, he supported the New York Rangers and specifically goaltender Mike Richter.

“He was my favourite goalie,” he said with pride. “My parents got me that jersey for Christmas; I liked him ever since the Cup Final in ’94 against Vancouver. He was one of the prominent American goalies at the time and an easy guy to like. I liked watching Richter play for Team USA as well.”

Wait a minute, slow down here.

Vancouver’s Cory Schneider, like Cory Schneider Cory Schneider, used to be a Bruins fan and he cheered for the Rangers and Richter in the ’94 Stanley Cup Final?

“Theoretically, I guess.”

Don’t expect this Boston sports fan to apologize.

Excellent Adventure: Schneider

Hey there sleepyhead! Nice of you to finally join us. Out here in Boston, the second stop on Joey, Jory & Rory’s Excellent Adventure, the day is half over, as is our time with Cory Schneider.

The Canucks goaltender puts new meaning to rise and shine as we met him for his daily workout at 6 a.m. - that’s 3 a.m. Pacific Time if you’re wondering. Starbucks wasn’t even open yet (more on that later).

We have a bit of a break now with Schneider tending to some personal matters before we travel to his hometown. During the trip we’ll have a Twitter Q&A, so make sure to be following @VanCanucks for the chance to get your questions answered.

And, as always, if you have a question, comment, concern or restaurant recommendation for Joey, Rory or myself, let us know.