Arena: Rogers Arena

Location: Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia

Game Attended: January 3, 2023 vs New York Islanders

Game Result: Islanders 6, Canucks 2, I Lost Track After the 4th Islanders Goal

Seat Location: Downstairs, Behind Shoot 1x Goal

Overall Impression: A Great Place for Vodka Sodas

t had been nearly four years since my last visit to Canada, but I couldn’t wait to get back.

But the announcement of the new Seattle franchise, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed my plans. After all, if I was going to travel 2,200 miles to see a hockey game in the Pacific Northwest, it probably made sense to kill two birds, uh, Kraken, uh, Canucks, with one stone. 

So after spending our New Years’ weekend cheering on the Kraken and lamenting the Jets, Craig and I braved the cold, dark streets of Seattle for a pre-dawn trip to King Street Station. We took Mom and Dad’s advice: take the train between Seattle and Vancouver. Sage advice, indeed; the Amtrak Cascades train was a relaxing way to travel whilst taking in the gorgeous seaside and scenic mountain views of Puget Sound and Bellingham Bay. We may not have been “playoff bound in the Puget Sound”, but we did enjoy the ride. 

(You’re welcome, Craig. All my homies hate Matt LaFleur.)

When we arrived, we discovered one of the most scenic and purely beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. Snow-capped mountains stood guard over the city, while the clean waters of Vancouver Harbour and English Bay gave us plenty of nice seaside strolls. The night before the game, we traveled north to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, which is easily one of the coolest “touristy” experiences of my life. The park included breathtaking views of the Capilano River gorge and thrilling walks in the treetops of the Canadian rainforest, and the 460-foot suspension bridge dangling precariously over the gorge added some suspense each time we crossed. The staff also set up thousands of lights in the trees, creating a great visual experience. Totally recommend even to the worst acrophobes out there!

And much like Seattle, Vancouver is culturally rich and diverse. We spent time on game day roaming around Chinatown and Gastown seeing the sites and sampling the local fares. Our pregame lunch at The Ramen Butcher was, to quote the great Guy Fieri, “out of bounds”! We also had a phenomenal pregame plate of poutine at the Steamworks Brewpub in Gastown. And who doesn’t love poutine? 

Now I’ll admit: after a pleasurably surprising arena experience in Seattle, I didn’t have the highest of expectations of Rogers Arena in Vancouver. And, well, the building met those far-from-lofty goals. 

Craig and I both found the arena to be, for lack of a better word, blah. It opened in 1995 to replace the old Pacific Coliseum, and save the jumbotron above center ice, it didn’t seem like much changed since then. Rogers reminded me of a pre-renovation Wells Fargo Center in my native Philadelphia. A rather large building but without many bells and whistles and not much to write home about. In fact, the only thing of real note from an “amenities” perspective was a DJ spinning some tunes on the concourse during the intermissions.

 

But the game-day experience did have its redeeming moments. The pregame light show, while not as complex as those in Vegas or Seattle, was cool to see. The Canucks installed lights on all the stanchions between the panes of glass surrounding the rink, providing some added flair to an otherwise plain part of the rink. 

The team also engages well with its loyal fans. There was a pregame video from local native nations leaders expressing their support for the Canucks and rallying fans together. Season ticket holders crank up a rally horn before the start of each period, like the “hurricane siren” in Carolina. And superfans “Crazy P” (real-life human being) and Fin the Whale (not a real-life human being) rallied various sections by starting chants and banging drums. 

And I’ll give Canucks fans their fair due: they were easily the better of the two crowds on the trip, and the best of the four Canadian markets I’d been to thus far. The fanbase was highly attentive and engaged, groaning at every Islanders save and cheering on every takeaway and crushing hit. And they brought the energy for both of captain Bo Horvat’s goals. Alas, those were the Canucks only goals and the Islanders tripled that amount en route to a decisive win. 

And bonus points to the great fans of section 101 who laughed at my recurring, once-a-game, “Who Cares?” scream after the visiting team’s goal announcement. Even the Islanders fans sitting behind us chuckled, and it broke the ice to a conversation with them that defined the rest of the evening. 

Turns out, there were plenty of Islanders fans at both the New Years Day Kraken game and the January 3rd Canucks game. The father and son we sat in front of, Rich and Brian, were on the second game of their own four-leg tour to follow their beloved Islanders. They were leaving the next day for Edmonton, then Calgary two days later.

Brian also introduced us to Tom, who, as fate would have it, Craig and I had “met” before. Tom is one of the leaders of New York’s Orange and Blue Army, the passionate fan group we sat with at Nassau Coliseum in 2019. Tom led the section’s chants and goal celebrations right in front of us. And here we were 2,400 miles and four years later!

This game also gave me a rather memorable and serene experience. Thanks to possibly one too many lagers at Steamworks Brewpub and a NÜTRL vodka soda at the game, I was feeling somewhat….happy, shall we say. And in that somewhat….happy state of mind, the following words from the PA announcer made me just sit and reflect:

“Please welcome back to the ice for the third period, your Vancouver Canucks!”

Those words are innocent. Routine. Every PA announcer at every arena says something alike. But I just sat there and thought, “wow, this is really freaking cool.” That this wonderful idea of the Tour de NHL brought me to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. To watch my 29th different NHL team take their home ice. To be able to share happy stories with hockey fans all over the world. To be on the cusp of achieving a dream I’d set out on five years prior. 

And I did it with my best friend. Who introduced me to hockey and struck the match that ignited this passion and this dream. And he who won not one, but TWO, Team Canada hockey prizes at the bar the night before and looked like either Vancouver’s most touristy tourist or a diehard hockey fan from Kamloops. 

Final score be damned, you can’t ask for a better story with your best friend.

Building: 2 / 5

Atmosphere: 4 / 5

Neighborhood: 3 / 5

Overall: 3 / 5