And by “we”, I mean the Vancouver Canucks and I.

In light of the upcoming Vancouver Canucks 2008/2009 Season, I thought it would be a good idea to give the readers of this blog an idea of the love affair between the ‘Nucks and myself. And, Trevor Linden.

When I was about 5 years old, I started to understand the Vancouver Canucks play-by-play announcers on the radio. Over the next decade and a bit, I would cuddle up with my dad and watch Hockey Night in Canada, listen to Tom and Shorty on CKNW, and catch nearly all the games on TV or radio. I would even grab my dinky radio-alarm clock and turn it down to the lowest volume so my parents wouldn’t catch me, and listen to the post-game shows late into the night.

My Old Room

Even when I went away to University in the East, I saved all my pennies and bought NHL Centre Ice, just so I could catch Canucks game. (They had little to no coverage of Western hockey teams in Ontario) Up again voracious Leafs and Habs fan, I stood my ground and proudly wore my Canucks jersey around campus and in bars.

Mini hockey setup in university

When I finally moved back home and got a job in the video game industry, my relationship status to the ‘Nucks changed from “in a relationship” to “married”. I decorated my work cubicle with jerseys, flags, and even Trevor Linden’s rookie player card. I watched and listened to every single game. I managed to catch Trevor Linden outside of Vij’s restaurant and got him to autograph my jersey (no, I wasn’t stalking him — I happened to be eating there too). I Took the journey with my favourite announcers Tom and Shorty from CKNW to Team 1040, went to a few Canucks games, and wore my Canucks jersey every single day leading up to the playoffs and all through the playoffs (even at work).

Canucks stuff at my previous job

Playoffs 2006/2007

The 2006/2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs rolled around and I decided that I would watch one round of playoff hockey, even if it killed me. I sold my soul and went to all of the Round 1 playoff home games. I even got Tommy Santala to toss me a puck in the 1st game of Round 1 (yep that 7 period hockey game).

Eating Tommy Santala's puck

This year will be different. My hero and lifelong crush Trevor Linden retired last year. Marcus and Mo are gone, and a few others. But that won’t stop me from continuing to be a Canucks fan.

Trevor Linden and I

Hope you enjoyed tonight’s first pre-season game. I’ll be back tomorrow to write a recap of tonight’s game as well as cover the first pre-season home game and… THE NEW OPENING SONG!

I can’t wait for the real season to start.