On the road again

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go, I’m standin’ here outside my door waiting for Joey Kenward to pick me up, I hate to wake you up to say goodbye…

Yes, I’m listed on the Air Canucks manifest again, this time for Vancouver’s upcoming four-game road trip to Minnesota, Chicago, Dallas and Colorado. Not only that, I’m bringing my sidekick Jeff Vinnick, you know, the Behind the Lens photo taker guy. Behind the Lens will be front and centre on Canucks.com throughout the upcoming week, I just hope my captions are up to the challenge.

As always I’ll be dishing dirt from behind the scenes here on Fort Nucks, I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve but am always open to suggestions. What do you want to know about life on the road? Which Canucks have I neglected to spotlight this year that you want more of? And what do you want to know about them? Send me your story ideas, the kookier the better.

I’ve got some prizes to give away on the road, so if you’re a Canucks fan heading to a game this week, tweet us at @VanCanucks or me during a game at @CanucksGame.

Time to board. Enjoy your Sunday, I’ll touch base from Minnesota, home of Vikings, Timberwolves and 10,000 lakes.

Derek

Canucks vs. Mother Nature

Two days ago we woke up in Nashville, yesterday it was Detroit and today it’s New Jersey. Trippy.

And it almost wasn’t New Jersey after Mother Nature really threw us a curve ball last night following Vancouver’s 4-3 shootout win in Detroit to break the Red Wings’ NHL record 23-game home winning streak.

With the game going longer than expected we weren’t in the plane until late and by then the snow was really coming down. We sat on the runway for an hour and a half, more time than the actual flight from Detroit to New Jersey itself.

We had to be de-iced and still our takeoff was questionable; it’s never comforting when the pilot is checking the wings with a flashlight.

If you’re not a good flyer, and I’m not the greatest, this is tough to go through. First World Problem agreed, but I can’t help that time travel and myself don’t get along. The only saving grace was that the Canucks had won, otherwise the flight would have been even more tense.

On the plus side of things, I’m finally earning my keep near the front of the plane. Of the four people on the entire Air Canucks with two seats to themselves, I’m one of them. Newell Brown, Rick Bowness and Alain Vigneault are the others, yes I agree that one of these things is not like the other, and it’s me.

I am proving my worth by helping out goalie coach Roland Melanson by plugging his laptop cable into the outlet on my seat because his is broken. Were it not for this hard work and kindness on my part,the Canucks might not have any wins on this road trip– ya right, I can’t even type that without laughing!

We got to the hotel in New Jersey around 3 a.m. and I knew the guys were as fried as I was when I saw Roberto Luongo push the down button on the elevator despite wanting to go up. Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids.

When I got to my room it was 3:07 a.m. and by the time I had my laptop open to post my game story, someone had slid Friday’s edition of USA Today under my door. Sometimes being on the road is glorious, sometimes it’s New Jersey at 3 a.m.

I’m assuming there’s no game day skate this morning, but I’m not going even if there is one. A man needs his beauty rest before we go to war against the Devils tonight – by we I mean the Canucks on the ice and me battling poor Internet signals in the press box.

Just one last note from Detroit: It was an emotional return for David Booth, who played his first game as a pro at Joe Louis Arena. He played well and almost played hero in the end.

He wasn’t the only one feeling emotional either. That was my second trip to The Joe, the first time I was here was in late 2008 after my younger brother was in the freak accident of all hockey freak accidents. He spent time in the hospital in Windsor, Ontario, and got a night pass to come to see the Canucks play the Red Wings; boy does that ever seem like a lifetime ago.

I don’t want to re-live the horrid tale again, Google Kurt Jory and read ‘I felt the warmth of the blood’ (for some reason I can’t link to it), just know that baby bro is back between the pipes for the Brock Badgers and they play the Western Mustangs tonight in Game 2 of the OUA West Semi-Finals, down 1-0 in the series.

Do or die isn’t a sentence I use anymore after my brother’s accident; let’s just say the Badgers have their backs against the wall.

Best of luck brudeur!

Honky tonk hockey

We board Air Canucks this afternoon, everyone gets settled and what movie starts playing?

Contagion.

I’ve got nothing against the flick, it’s a quality two hours, but you can’t help but be wary of germs after watching it. And we’re on an airplane with recycled air. And someone just coughed. And someone just sneezed. Why am I touching my face?

I’m surprised I’m not foaming at the mouth like Gwyneth Paltrow right now. (I love that I just looked in the mirror and actually had white toothpaste on the side of my mouth).Maybe Howie Mandel isn’t such an odd dude after all. Howie Mandel is still overdoing it.

We are now in Detroit, the Motor City, the birthplace of motors and other motor related things. This is our third city of the trip, after Thursday night’s game against the Red Wings our journey is half done.

What did I think of Nashville? Great question. Here are my random thoughts from our time in the Music City.

-The equipment said Tim McGraw, the music they were singing was Tim McGraw’s and I saw a guy in front with a BBQ stain on his white t-shirt. That last part was a lie, but I actually think I saw McGraw practicing with his band at the reversal stage in Bridgestone Arena.

-I managed to resist saying Honky Tonk Badonkadonk while in Nashville. I’m proud of me too.

-The hotel we stayed at featured a lot of nice things such as a phone beside the toilet and a lady who brought me tiny cookies and a bottle of water one night. The coolest thing was the washroom of the bar under the hotel though; it has been voted the nicest washroom in the United States for quite a few years in a row.

-I walked to the game with Alex Burrows, Dale Weise, Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen and Mason Raymond yesterday and I wish I could relay all the hilarity of it, but there just isn’t time. I was nearly in tears from all the bantering. Thankfully it wasn’t directed at me.

-Of all the cowboys I saw in Nashville, none of them hold a candle to Woody from Toy Story.

-The Predators email out quotes post-game. This was a first for me and I must say, it’s quite nice. I had already gotten my own quotes so I didn’t use them, but it shows they care. Next time I hope they write my story for me too!

-They should put gum in more things. I had a lollypop on the bus to the airport this morning and it had gum in the centre. Very tasty.

-I’ve never had chapped lips in my life, then I get to Nashville and BOOM, chapped. I felt like Napoleon Dynamite trying to source out lip chap.

-Bought my dad a belt buckle the size of my head at a cool store that sold boots and shirts, it was called Boots ‘N Shirts. I tried to make it part of my attire for last night’s game, but it was too over the top.

Have a wonderful rest of your day/night, I’m off to find a submarine sandwich.

From Edmonton to Nashville

Yesterday’s blog lacked spice so instead of talking about Edmonton and how the Wayne Gretzky statue is awesome, but I couldn’t find the Sam Gagner statue, I opted instead to bring you aboard Air Canucks.

I’d say strap yourself in, we’re in for a bumpy ride, but these flights are as smooth as I was when I asked out the head cheerleader in high school. At least smooth is how I choose to remember it.

11:39 – Just got on board Air Canucks. I love getting on before the players because I can grab some food and not feel guilty about it. Every time I go for a snack I feel Sami Salo judging me. “You need to eat, again? You ate last flight,” I’m sure he’s thinking but really not because he’s a swell guy.

11:45 – We are preparing for takeoff. Doesn’t look like anyone will be sitting beside me for this trip to Nashville, for the first time in all my flights. Coach Vigneault is across the aisle from me watching game footage from Vancouver’s win over Edmonton; we make eye contact every once and a while, I smile politely, he tries to remember my name. It’s a game we play.

12:04 – Wheels up. Some movie is just starting, it looks semi-interesting. No clue what it’s called. I’ll watch some of it and try to guess the title. So far I’d say it’s titled People In a Helicopter and the Pilots Don’t Seem to Like Each Other.

12:19 – I’m working on a Local Heroes story I hope to have up tomorrow (be ready to shed a tear), but I’ve been catching glances of the movie playing. It’s now called People Drilling into an Ice Block with a Creature in it and Everyone Looks Shifty and Nervous.

12:33 – New title: The Monster Who Ate Someone.

12:42 – New title: The Monster Filled with Spaghetti.

1:01 – Just attempted to look outside to provide a weather update. I was blinded by the light. I’ll be down a sense for a while, I’ll have to rely even more on my always trustworthy sixth sense of seeing dead people. Great.

1:02 – New title: Open Your Mouth, I Need To See If You’re The Monster.

1:39 – Lunch time. Robert just brought me a meal consisting of a vegetable plate, a Greek salad and a fruit bowl. Yummy.

1:43 – Double yummy. Turns out that was just the appetizer, the main course is a vegetarian red pepper curry. Don’t mind if I do!

2:07 – I watched some of Zombieland (actual title) while I ate. I love zombies and Zombieland does them right. The dweebie lead guy is great, he must have done this movie before creating Facebook.

2:08 – Back to writing.

2:21 – Jannik Hansen just did some kind of banshee celebration cheer from the back of the plane. Safe to assume he won that round of cards.

2:22 – I wonder how I’d get in on a card game with the boys…I’m the greatest Go Fish player this side of the Mississippi.

2:36 – There’s a Harold and Kumar Christmas movie playing in-flight now. Thanks, but no thanks. If I wanted to be entertained by this low of humour, I’d go sit with Joey Kenward. Or I’d talk to myself.

2:48 – Edmonton gets its revenge. Mike Brown, this is where I should put his title but I don’t know it, just told me there was a baggage mix-up and either his or Ben Brown’s luggage might not be in Nashville when we land. Stay tuned.

2:56 – Snack time. You know the overhead bins usually reserved for luggage? On Air Canucks there are a few reserved for nothing but awesome. They call it the Bin of Sin and it’s jam packed with chips, chocolate bars, gum and other awesomeness. I opted for a Caramilk bar (how do they get the caramel inside?!?), while Dan Hamhuis took a big bag of Terra chips.

3:09 – I went for a walk around the plane a few minutes ago and of all the guys sleeping throughout the aircraft, listen up ladies, no one is snoring. I don’t actually think guys snore, it’s an urban legend like big foot or a bad women’s beach volleyball game.

3:24 – I lied. I heard snoring. It woke me up actually. There was drool too. All produced by yours truly. This is why I don’t sleep on planes.

3:25 – I need to get off this plane. I’m starting to smell like a snail left in the sun.

3:36 – We have landed. Great flight. And I don’t see snow out my window, I see a tarmac bubbling from the scorching sun. I love Nashville already.

3:36 – The title-less movie in question was The Thing. Whoever made that movie did a bad, bad thing.

4:46 – Yikes, just realized we lost an hour. Too bad, pretty sure it was going to be a dynamite 60 minutes. We’re off to the hotel now, I’ll check in with you tomorrow, I’ve got a photo surprise courtesy of one Alex Edler.

Air Canucks

Rise and shine Vancouver!

We have arrived safely in Boston, we got in about 7 p.m. Boston time last night after a glorious five-hour flight on Air Canucks. For those of you who followed Fort Nucks last year, you know all about the incredibleness of Air Canucks, which continues to amaze me more and more each time it shreds through the clouds and I’m lucky enough to be on board.

Two seats to a side, ample room per passenger, seats so cushioned even the most portly of behinds would be satisfied. A great spread of snacks, healthy and otherwise (see the PB & J pictured above), then a full range of meal options and desserts like fresh melt-in-your-mouth-oh-my-goodness-this-can’t-be-a-real-double-chocolate-chip-cookie double chocolate cookie. Movies play all trip, en route to Beantown Warrior and Black Hawk Down were the feature presentations, but I spent the entire trip trying to get my jaw realigned. It drops real low, low, low, low, low, low, low every time I have the privilege of flying Air Canucks.

Yes, I was classy as ever 30,000 feet above the ground, awestruck like that kid and his dad meeting Sidney Crosby in that Sport Chek commercial.

Not much else to report from the flight. I’m always re-amazed every time I fly with the team and get to see how much video work the coaches put in. For the entire flight, I’m talking wheels up to touchdown, with the exception of grabbing a bite to eat, Alain Vigneault, Rick Bowness, Newell Brown and Darryl Williams were breaking down Vancouver’s play and scouting the opposition. Whatever it takes to get an edge.

Speaking of the Bruins, Boston seems to appreciate them more than ever these days. I joined a few of the media guys for supper post-flight last night and we did our own scouting of the Bruins watching them shellac the Calgary Flames 9-0. Throughout the game the Stanley Cup Final rematch with the Canucks was advertised again and again and again, it’s part of a quadruple header of hockey on Saturday.

The Bruins and Canucks play at 1 p.m. Boston time, followed by the second annual Sun Life Frozen Fenway Hockey East doubleheader with the University of Massachusetts and University of Vermont squaring off before the University of Main Black Bears takes on New Hampshire – wait a minute, that’s only three games, I thought you said quadruple header?

Prior to all the live hockey being played Saturday, Bruins fans will be treated to a replay of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final from a year ago.

(Insert obscene comment, paired with obscene gesture, here)

And here I thought it was a new season and the game against Boston didn’t mean much in terms of getting revenge. Well, it does for me and I’m assuming you to. Speaking of which, where is everyone watching Saturday morning’s 10 a.m. (PST) game? Too early to visit your local pub, I assume, but hockey and Denny’s don’t exactly go together, do they?

The Canucks practice this morning and I’ll have all the details this afternoon on Canucks.com. Until then, enjoy a Behind the Lens teaser. There wasn’t much for photographer Rick Collins (playing the roll of Jeff Vinnick on this trip) to shoot, but we managed to bring a gallery together. It took a lot of glue and Popsicle sticks though.

Cheers,

Derek