Canucks winning streak generating buzz in Vancouver
Posted January 6, 2020 10:36 am.
Last Updated January 6, 2020 11:40 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A winning streak, fan excitement, and a good chance at making the playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks are generating some long-missed hockey buzz in the city.
With seven wins in a row, Sportnet 650’s James Cybulski says a lot of folks are coming out of the holidays and realizing the team is on fire right now.
“It’s an interesting time because I think a lot of people were away for the holidays and they come back and they’re like, ‘Wow, this team is on fire right now.’ I think the big driving force behind that has been the play of Jacob Markstrom. I think the bandwagon is significantly more packed than it was in the last half-decade. You really get the sense there’s a buy-in, ticket demand is creeping up. You look at the television ratings, the radio numbers, everything seems to be up there. There’s a legitimate buzz about this team again.” he says.antly more packed than it was in the last half-decade,” he says.
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The bandwagon may be filling up quickly right now, but fans in Vancouver have been known to be a little — fickle, if you will. “I don’t know if [the excitement] will deflate after one loss but the interesting thing is they’ve won seven straight games and they’ve picked up 14 out of a possible 14 points, but it is so tight right now in the Western Conference that there’s not a lot of wiggle room. The Las Vegas Knights are winning games, the Arizona Coyotes are winning games, the Calgary Flames are winning games — it is tight right now and this will probably be par for the course for the rest of the year,” explains Cybulski.
Before the regular season began last fall, team brass had made it clear to the fans, this year’s goal was to make the playoffs.
“I think there is that expectation amongst the fan base but is this team ready to take that step forward? It’s very debateable. They’ve had some peaks, they’ve had some valleys but… meaningful games in the New Year is something we can all appreciate,” he says.
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He knows the team and players are under a lot of pressure because, as Cybulski, points out Vancouver is a one trick pony when it comes to sports. “This is a Canucks town. It’s not a Whitecaps town, it’s not a Lions town, it’s a Canucks town — that is the driving force from a Vancouver sports standpoint. Two weeks ago, a lot of people were ready to fire [Head Coach] Travis Green, now they’re ready to put him in the All-Star game or name him as coach of the year. It gets a little fickle here because there are no other distractions. You look at Toronto, you got Raptors, Blue Jays, you got Leafs, there are other distractions. You don’t have that here.”
Many die-hard Canucks fans have been eagerly waiting for some long-missed playoff action. The last time the team made the post-season was 2014-15.
However, even with the buzz, not everyone on the streets of Vancouver, who we talked to, wasn’t even a big hockey fan. “I don’t watch sports at all. Quantum physics is my game,” one man told NEWS 1130.
The last time the Canucks lost was on Dec. 12th against the Montreal Canadiens, since then the team has beaten the Knights, Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, LA Kings, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers.
