Pavel Bure is now in the Hockey Hall of Fame and in honour of his incredible accomplishment, nine of you paid tribute to the Russian Rocket through art.
Click here to see the submissions, there are some fantastic tributes, including the photo above by DanielleSanders.
I was able to ‘borrow’ an extra program from the Hockey Hall of Fame Legends Classic game, and that prize goes to randomly selected art maker kendallion! Congrats.
I was a member of the Pavel Bure Fan Club when I was younger and there was no bigger thrill than getting The Rocket, the fan club newsletter, in the mail.
I still have one actually, it’s yellow and will likely turn to ash soon, but it takes me right back to being a rabid 10-year-old Bure fan.
In doing Bure research to cover his Hall of Fame induction I’ve actually been using the Pavel Bure Fan Club website quite a bit - yes, it is still up a running and it’s a fantastic wealth of everything Bure.
Nick is the brains behind the operation, I found that out when I emailed him recently to say thank you for his time and efforts. He said his one-man operation has always been “a labor of appreciation of Pavel’s talents.”
Thank you for everything Nick - especially for not removing the links to other Pavel sites.
Browsing through the links the other day I stumbled upon the most fantastically out of date Bure fan site the internet has to offer.
Please click this link. Here it is again. You know you’re in the right place if an instrumental version of ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’ by Bryan Adams starts playing.
Welcome to Pasha’s Palace.
Have a look around. Check out the incredible vintage audio and video clips and some rare photos of the Russian Rocket, but most of all, play Bure Concentration. Then play it again.
Are we having fun yet? I AM!!!
Now good luck beating my imaginary concentration high score and getting Bryan Adams out of your head.
Pavel Bure didn’t steal the show during the 2012 Hockey Hall of Fame Legend Classic game at Air Canada Centre Sunday afternoon, but given a little more time, he just might have.
Bure, who missed a quarter of the game changing out of his swanky new blazer and into gear, scored twice and added an assist for Team Trottier in a wide open game; in classic Bure style he wheeled through centre ice a few times just waiting to fly onto the attack, but no one was there to feed him like Jeff Brown did.
Still, it was a great showing for a man who hadn’t been on the ice in quite some time and while a comeback isn’t in the works, his place in the Hockey Hall of Fame has clearly been earned.
Here’s what fellow 2012 inductees Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic and Adam Oates, and 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Dino Ciccarelli, had to say about the Russian Rocket.
Mats Sundin
“One of the toughest guys ever. Pavel Bure, to me, if you look at the best pure goal scorers of the last 50 years, he’s right up there. Impossible to stop really with the speed and his nose for scoring goals. It’s a great honour to be inducted with him.”
Joe Sakic
“I don’t think he was one of (the most exciting players), he was by far the most exciting player in the game for that 10 year stretch that he played. I saw that first game of his and from then on he was just so electrifying that as a hockey fan, you wanted to watch the Canucks because you wanted to watch Pavel Bure and see what he was going to do. He was just a tremendous player.”
Dino Ciccarelli
“He was just a dynamic player, great skater, great shot.
“(Vancouver) had a great team and he was the explosive guy on the team, for every opposition team, every pre-game was always about Pavel Bure and him getting behind the defence. No matter how many times you talked about it, he would still stick it to you. He’s a great talent and he deserves to be in here.”
Adam Oates
“Pavel was the Russian Rocket and before a game you’d be thinking that if we don’t find a way to shut this guy down, we’re going to lose. He’s also one of those rare guys that was very dynamic because of his skating ability that brought the crowd to its feet, almost as an entertainer.
“Like most good players, you just tried to contain him, you really couldn’t shut him down. He was an elusive guy, he could turn the jets on at anytime, so he was a very tough guy to cover.”
This weekend Pavel Bure and three others will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, joining 366 players, builders and on-ice officials in the shrine.
“It’s an amazing honour,” Bure will likely say, “but it would be even better if Fort Nucks ran an art contest to honour my time in Vancouver,” he likely wouldn’t add.
Your pretend wish is our command Mr. Russian Rocket.
It’s time for another Fort Nucks deviantArt contest, this time dedicated to Pavel Bure, which I’m sure you gathered.
Next, gather your art supplies and get moving. Due to the tight turnaround of Canucks.com just recently getting the green light to cover the Bure induction and the actual ceremony going down next Monday, there’s no time to waste.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: art Bure in whatever way, shape or form lets you pay tribute to the most exciting player in Canucks history. What was it about Bure that set him apart from others? Whatever it was for you, make it come to life through cartoons and comics, digital art, drawings, paintings, or others.
The fine print:
1. Sign up for a free deviantArt account, then join #VancouverCanucks page on deviantArt.
2. Create a fabulous work of art. As mentioned, cartoons and comics, digital art, drawings, paintings, or others, are all welcome. Submit said art to the #VancouverCanucks page (click gallery, go into the contest folder titled: Contest – Hall of Fame Bure, then click submit).
3. That’s it. (Contest is open to new and existing members)
The contest begins today, November 6th, and runs until Sunday, November 11th. We’re hoping to secure a prize for this contest from the Hockey Hall of Fame banquet itself, but as of now you are submitting art to submit art.
Truthfully, I’m hoping to show Bure a few of the submissions and have him pick his favourite.
The winner, who may or may not receive a prize, will also be inducted into the Fort Nucks Art Hall of Fame, alongside Shan317, kkylasmithh, ArtAngelo and peanutjester.
Joey, Rory & Jory are at it again, this time in a special Hall of Fame Excellent Adventure.
The three amigos have been given the green light to cover Pavel Bure’s upcoming induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame; the team departs Saturday and will not only cover Bure receiving his HHOF blazer and ring, but also his return to the ice in the Legends Classic game Sunday.
If you joined us for the previous four Excellent Adventures this summer, you know to expect the unexpected, and that counts double for this trek.
Joey Kenward and Rory McGarry are true professionals; you don’t have to worry about them. I, Derek Jory, on the other hand, have been able to mask my Canucks fandom for years, but reality will set in when I’m face-to-face with The Russian Rocket - the freakin’ Russian Rocket!!!
I’ll expand on my admiration for Bure as we get closer to this weekend’s trip, just know that he played a major role in getting me to where I am today – and we’ve never even met.
Canucks.com has some fantastic coverage planned for the Bure weekend, including exclusive videos, stories and behind-the-scenes social coverage (maybe even a Twitter Q&A), and we’ll also launch a Fort Nucks art contest themed around Bure later today.
I now turn the microphone over to you Canucks fans: what would you say to Bure if you had the chance? What do you want to know about him, past or present? What can we do during this Excellent Adventure to bring you closer to Bure?
Leave a comment below with anything and everything Bure related. We’ll do our best to produce coverage worthy of the most exciting player in Canucks history.
Derek
