Canucks are in the House !

Finally ! The boys are back . Well, some of them are anyways and that is a damn good start because any Canucks hockey is good for me.  It's been a long summer with no hockey & seriously, very little Canucks news but finally, this past week I got myself a little fix.
Wednesday found myself & my girls at UBC to watch the Canucks practice. I wasn't expecting many vets to be there yet but was excited to watch the prospects.

Daniel .. smiling of course

Day 1- Alex Edler, Daniel Sedin & Marco Sturm were the vets of the bunch . Some of the prospects we watched were Jordan Schroeder, Darren Archibald, Kevin  Connauton, and Anton Rodin.The boys hit the ice shorly after 11 and from then on, its all a blurr. I do remember feeling like I was in heaven... me, my girls and my Canucks.. yes, all was right in my world again :)  After the boys were done on the ice, they were ever so kind enough to stop and share their time with us. We had Daniel Sedin sign our Canucks cap and told him to say 'Hi' to Henrik for us. Henrik was due to land today ( friday ).  I also remember thinking Sturm looked pretty darn good out there for a guy with 2 bad knees. There was no notice of soreness , he kept pace with the rest of the guys and uhoh he won a place in my Canucks heart. *sigh*
As we were heading out after practice & saying our goodbyes, our friendly equipment manager told us he would see us tomorrow.. and that led to day 2.

Day 2 - We make our way to UBC, same rink as the day before, not knowing who we will see on ice and honestly, not really caring because any Canuck is a good Canuck ;)  We got lucky .. Samuelsson, Edler, Daniel and Sturm along with the prospects. I was excited to see Samuelsson skate , anxious to see how his hip held up. It seemed to hold up just fine :). He was stretching it a lot but that isn't a shocker I would think. Watching #26 out there, confirmed in my mind what a great loss it was for us when he went down and out early in the playoffs.
Edler , who is still dealing with issues stemming from his playoff war wounds, was at times favouring his hand but looked pretty sharp to me. I don't claim to be an expert but I'd tell you's if i thought it looked bad, and it didn't. :P 
Sturm looked good still. Keeping pace with the rest , showing no signs of knee issues.
Daniel didn't stop smiling. I swear he smiled through the whole practice and I will admit, it made me giggle like a teenager. My 6 year old loves the twins and can tell who's who quicker than I can most times,  so when Daniel shot a puck over the glass, my lil one raced to snag it. Of course, the boys are amazing and Daniel signed it for her after practice. We also got signatures from some of the prospects, and the girls got pictures with them.
Kevin Connauton .. amazing kid & I am sure he will be a great addition to any NHL team one day, preferably ours ;)
Darren Archibald ( the kids call him Archie ) .. friendly guy, hard shot & fast on his feet. I was impressed. Actually, I was impressed with many of the young guys but this post will be long enough as is so I best not get into all of that . lol

Alex and Jordan

One thing I do want to mention tho, from day 2.. Dave Babych ! He was co-coaching the guys during practice and that alone was exciting to me. After practice was over and the girls were getting autographs, I stopped Dave and asked for his autograph. He was so friendly and didn't hesistate. My mom would have loved to meet Dave.. sure hope she wasn't too busy up there and was watching down at that moment ;)
When we were getting pictures with the prospects, we asked if they were practicing again the following day.. which leads us to today and Day 3.





Day 3 - I was sooo tired when I woke up this morning but I couldnt not go. There was no way I was disappointing the kids like that and skipping out on the last practice before school starts, so off we went.  We got to the rink and parked our butts in a good spot to see the boys come out onto the ice. We heard the door open, looked up and I swear every single person there, dropped their jaw. Manny Malhotra was there !! And he was not in full cage. He was wearing a visor, just like the good ol days :) Like Daniel, Manny smiles a lot when on the ice and is a joy to watch . When Manny shot a puck over the glass, not 5 feet from us, the teen and I went for it .. I threw a wicked bodycheck and beat her to it ! I Am The Champion ! or maybe not. We share any memorabilia we get so we both win either way :P
My 6 year old spent the last 30 minutes of practice, figuring out what she was going to say when she asked Manny to sign her Canucks cap. " Mr Manny Sir, can you sign my hat please" was what she came up with and she repeated it at least 50 times.. then her chance came. Manny was heading to the locker room after signing autographs and taking pictures with other fans at the practice, he had his  hand on the door when lil one popped up and said her thing. Manny didn't just sign her cap, he also signed my teens jersey and took a minute to get a picture with the kids. We also got pictures with Samuelsson and Sturm, and again bugged the prospects for pictures and a bit of chit chat. They may think we are crazy but they , like the vets, take the time and it is much appreciated.

Marco Sturm

Sturm looked good on day 3, but at times looked to be rubbing his knees. The guy has not missed a practice, and we need to remember, these practices are optional, so it speaks volumes to see him on the ice every day, giving us his all. Got to admire a guy like that :)

The smile says it all ... Thank You Manny

I can not emphasize enough how great these guys are. Tired and sweaty after a solid 90 minute skate and they still stop to take the time for us.  I always let them know how much we appreciate what they do and once or twice I even apologized for holding them up. The minute or two they take for us fans means more than they could imagine. These are some of the best family outings we have. Me, my girls & our Canucks :)

Taking it all in

Welcome back Canucks.. Oh how we have missed you !