Whistler – The Vancouver Canucks can sure draw a crowd. Spectators at the Meadow Park Sports Centre arena filled the rink and parking lot to bursting on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 20 and 21), as the NHL club popped into town for a brief two-day training camp before heading straight into pre-season games.
There were Canucks sweaters, hats and flags aplenty on display in the standing-room-only crowd in the rink both days, and the fans filled the cold air with exclamations at the spirited battles, big saves and hearty slaps of the NHL-powered pucks flying into the boards and glass.
In between their on-ice drills and off-ice workouts, the 45 Canuck players at the camp were good-tempered guests, signing many an autograph for kids who waited outside the weight room or at the back of the complex to call for their favourites.
The Canucks seemed happy to be in Whistler, if only briefly. Star Canuck forward Henrik Sedin told The Question he thinks Whistler is “the best place to have a camp,” and new Canuck Darcy Hordichuk and goaltending prospect Cory Schneider wrote warmly about Whistler in blogs on the Canucks’ website.
“It’s perfect — the rink here is great, (there are) a lot of fans, and the setup is good with the weight room and everything,” Sedin said on Sunday, pledging that he doesn’t say that about every place the Canucks have had camps.
The Canucks players had a good time getting to know each other here, Sedin said, and they appreciated the support of the local fans.
“It’s exciting, it’s a packed building — it’s always more fun to practice when there’s people watching,” he said.
Young local fans came away beaming after scoring signatures from the likes of Daniel Sedin, Kevin Bieksa, Alex Burrows, Mason Raymond and Nolan Baumgartner.
Whistler’s Bobbi Douglas, 11, was carrying her stick around the arena foyer, hoping to have it signed by players. Douglas has played hockey herself since she was seven, including a stint in this summer’s Whistler International All Star Hockey Tournament, which she said was lots of fun.
Though she doesn’t have a favourite Canuck, Douglas said she was happy to see the team come to town.
“I thought it was cool because I could go watch them,” Douglas said.
For lifelong Canuck fan Hunter Parsons, the opportunity to watch the team’s camp was worth a drive from Kelowna. Parsons, 26, sported a late-1970s-style jersey bearing the name of fan favourite Harold Snepsts at Sunday’s session, and he said he was pleased with what he’d seen, especially the play of the young Canuck hopefuls.
“(This year’s first-round draft pick) Cody Hodgson has really impressed me — he looks mature beyond his years, good skater,” Parsons said. “It’s exciting to see all the young guys, like Jannik Hansen. I think we’re going to have some good young prospects in the system this year.”
Parsons also had praise for Canuck returnees such as Bieksa, Mattias Ohlund and Willie Mitchell — but not for former Toronto Maple Leaf Kyle Wellwood, whom the Canucks picked up off waivers this summer. Parson said Wellwood looked out of shape in training camp play, and Canuck head coach Alain Vigneault subsequently announced Sunday afternoon that Wellwood’s conditioning currently isn’t up to NHL calibre.
While Parsons spoke warmly of Canucks-related memories from his childhood, eight-year-old Gunnar Jacobsen of Vancouver kept his eyes firmly fixed on star Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo. Jacobsen, whose family vacation just happened to coincide with the team’s training camp, said he likes Luongo “a lot,” and is a goalie himself.
He named Luongo and backup goalie Curtis Sanford as his favourite Canucks.
Mount Currie’s Craig Dan was also in it for the kids — the New York Rangers fan brought his six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter to watch the camp on Sunday, because “the kids like them.”
“I almost wore my (Rangers) jersey,” Dan joked.
