[GDT] Vancouver Canucks @ Philadelphia Flyers, Oct 17th, 3PM PT (6PM EDT / EST), the Hat Trick Game

[Rocket-68]

A Random Hockey Story

History of hockey and the Canadian military

Many claim that Canada was the birthplace of hockey and few would dispute that it is Canada’s official winter game. The passion for this fast paced sport runs deep in every community. The relationship between hockey and our country’s military dates back more than a century. In fact it is believed that hockey actually had its origins in the military. To play the game at competitive levels, you need to be in great physical shape. It is therefore not surprising that many young Canadians who played hockey also enlisted during the First World War.

 

First World War

Military hockey teams were created across Canada early on in the war. There were games between battalions, games between military members and civilians, and well-known matches in which the navy faced the army. Military hockey teams attracted lots of attention, such as the 228^th Battalion (Northern Fusiliers) who even played in a professional league. As the war dragged on, more and more men were needed on the front lines. Hockey themes were even used in posters to encourage military service! Large number of young men ended up enlisting, creating a void in many arenas and women’s hockey suddenly became very popular.

There is no official count on the number of hockey players who served in the Great War, but more than 30 Canadians who perished in that war had significant ties to hockey. Memorial awards were created for many of these men, such as the Abbott Memorial Cup, to honour Edward Lyman Abbott, as well as the George Taylor Richardson Memorial Trophy. The tragic loss of prominent hockey players such as Allan "Scotty" Davidson and George Richardson inspired Captain James Sutherland and businessman Liam Carr to create a trophy to pay tribute to all Canadians who died at war.

 

The Memorial Cup was first awarded in 1919, one year after the end of the First World War. It is now awarded each year to the junior hockey champions of the Canadian Hockey League. The cup was donated in 1919 by the Ontario Hockey Association. Since then, the format of the tournament to decide the winner of the cup has been altered a few times, but a key element remains—it is always a powerful symbol of remembrance. At the 2010 Memorial Cup Tournament, held in Brandon, Manitoba, the championship trophy was rededicated to recognize Canada’s war dead from all conflicts. Veterans from the Second World War and the Korean War escorted the Memorial Cup in a touching ceremony that took place at CFB Shilo.

 

Few Canadian hockey teams have won gold at the Olympic Games. For the Winnipeg Falcons, this accomplishment was even more special due to the fact that seven of its players served during the First World War. Sadly, Frank Thorsteinson and George Cumbers lost their lives, and by coincidence, they both are buried in the Barlin War Cemetery in France. This tough blow did not prevent teammates Wally Byron, Frank Fredrickson, Konnie Johannesson as well as brothers Bobbie and Harvey Benson to don the skates during the war and play on their battalion’s team. After the war, the Winnipeg Falcons team was put back together and they went on to win the Allan Cup in 1919-1920, making them the national senior amateur men’s ice hockey champions of Canada. This title granted them the right to represent Canada at the 1920 Olympics games in Antwerp, Belgium. The first Winter Olympics (better suited for hockey!) would be held four years later. The victorious Falcons brought home Canada's first-ever Olympic gold medal in hockey.

 

Second World War

During the Second World War, many National Hockey League players put their careers on hold to serve in the military. Most players, though, did not enlist as dramatically as Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer. The three forwards for the Boston Bruins’ best line, ironically nicknamed the ”Kraut Line” because of their German ancestry, hung up their skates and enlisted together in the Royal Canadian Air Force on the same day in 1942. The fans went wild! All three saw action overseas as aircrew. Fortunately they survived the war and returned to the NHL, but not before they had given up three and a half years of their hockey careers to serve in the cause of peace and freedom. The teammates hadn’t lost their hockey flair and helped the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup finals in 1946.

In Toronto, co-owner of the Maple Leafs, Conn Smythe (who had been decorated for bravery in the First World War) enlisted again at age 45. Leading by example, many Maple Leaf players also decided to join the war effort. Smythe was commanding an artillery battery in France when he was wounded in an enemy bombing attack. To this day, the National Hockey League trophy for the most valuable player in the playoffs is named in his honour. As Veteran Gordie Bannerman recalled in his memoirs, “Turk Broda of the Leafs and a few more NHL chaps were just overseas and had the help of Conn Smythe, Leafs owner, who commanded an artillery battery. Orme Payne, Sparky Ament, Darcy Spencer, Bob Bradley, and a couple more of our chaps, plus 5^th LAA personnel were off to Amsterdam to play hockey. The fellows had a pretty good few weeks in the city of canals.”

 

Some players, like Maurice “Rocket” Richard, could not enlist because of injuries they had received during their hockey careers. Other players enlisted but did not make it to the front lines. Having them play hockey either in Canada or in military camps overseas proved to be a pillar of strength for both civilians and the military. Highly competitive regimental hockey teams were formed, serving such purposes as keeping the men fit and entertaining the serving members on military bases.

 

The war also had a huge impact on the Canadian economy. Various peace-time factories were converted to supply much needed products for the war effort. For example, the Canadian Cycle and Motor Co. Ltd. of Weston, Ontario, which had made bicycles and hockey skates before the war, took over the manufacture of armaments including gun parts, tripods for Bren guns, and cradles and pivots for anti-tank guns.

While firm numbers are elusive, hundreds of Canadian hockey players from all leagues would end up serving during the Second World War and sadly, more than 50 would not survive.

 

Following the Second World War, the 1948 Winter Olympic Games were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Many of the players on the Royal Canadian Air Force Flyers hockey team, representing Canada, were Veterans of the war. Despite a challenging tournament, the men finished in first place. In 2000, the 1948 Royal Canadian Air Force Flyers’ gold medal win was selected as the ”greatest moment in Canadian Armed Forces sports history” and the team was inducted into the Canadian Olympics Hall of Fame in 2008.

 

Korean War

Our Canadian service members’ love of blending hockey with military service would continue in the Korean War. As the conflict progressed and the front lines became more stationary, our soldiers would find a way to play hockey in the Far East. During the colder months, they would clear the snow covering the ice on the Imjin River and play as the sound of artillery fire boomed in the distance. The matches often saw different units square off, with pride and bragging rights on the line! On March 11, 1952, for example, players from the 1^st Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and the 2^nd Battalion of the Royal 22^e Régiment faced off in a well-remembered game. These kinds of sporting events helped bring a little normalcy to our troops serving so far from home in war-torn Korea.

Post-war years

During the post-war years, many military bases across Canada built rinks to allow soldiers, sailors and airmen to play hockey for recreational and training purposes. Not surprisingly, the old military-hockey connection has continued in more recent times. Hockey sticks are sometimes packed when Canadian troops deploy in conflict zones. For example, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where temperatures often reach 40°C, Canadian Armed Forces members built ball-hockey rinks. They played mostly at night, when the cooler temperature allowed for a faster-paced game. Former NHL players and celebrities like Guy Lafleur, Lanny MacDonald, Bob Probert and Don Cherry even went overseas to visit the troops, some of them playing exhibition games in mixed teams made up of hockey legends and serving members. But a hockey game wouldn’t be the same without referees, so former NHL officials were also on site to oversee the game!

 

Hockey in the desert was helping boost the morale of our military but Afghanistan was a dangerous place to serve, and sadly some 158 CAF members lost their lives there during the course of our country’s 2001-2014 mission in the country. Many of our service members came back wounded, and stories of severely injured soldiers like Dominic Larocque demonstrate yet again the ties between hockey and the military. Losing a leg in Afghanistan, Larocque went through rehabilitation and was introduced to sledge hockey where he performed so well that he was selected to represent Canada in international competitions including the Paralympic Games. The team won a bronze medal in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

 

Today, many NHL teams have special games to honour the men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces. It is common to see professional athletes wear camouflage jerseys in warm-ups before those games and goaltenders sometimes play with specially-painted helmets that pay tribute to military members. Junior hockey teams design commemorative hockey jerseys, especially when playing in the Memorial Cup tournament. Ceremonial puck drops involving our men and women in uniform are held across Canada at all levels.

 

During wartime, hockey was a way for people to momentarily escape from the hardships of war. Next time you watch a hockey game, why don’t you take a moment to think about the heroes of yesterday and today who make it possible for us to enjoy the peaceful society we have in our country?

 

Source: https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/those-who-served/hockey-canadian-military/history

 

Some Canadian hockey players that served and never made it home

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/those-who-served/hockey-canadian-military/honour 

 

 

Allan McLean "Scotty" Davidson (March 6, 1891 – June 16, 1915) was a Canadian ice hockey player and soldier. He was considered one of the top wingers of the game's early years. He led his Kingston junior team to two Ontario Hockey Association championships in 1910 and 1911, when he moved to Calgary for the 1911–12 season and led the Calgary Athletics senior team to the Alberta provincial championship. Davidson turned professional with the Toronto Blueshits in 1912 and was among the National Hockey Associations's leading scorers the following two seasons. He captained Toronto to the Stanley Cup championship in 1914.

 

Upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Davidson volunteered with the Canadian Expeditionary Force; he was the first professional hockey player to do so. He was killed in action on 16 June 1915, while fighting in Belgium. Hailed as a hero by his peers, Davidson was said to have been killed after refusing to retreat during a battle. A military record reports he was "killed instantly by a shell which exploded near him in the trench."^[2] He is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Davidson was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950.

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotty_Davidson

************Now for the Game Day Thread**********

 

Overview

Having won both their scheduled losses over Edmonton Oilers, many Canuck fans are asking themselves, "maybe this m-f management team knows what they are doing!" Will it be three in a row for the Orcas to open the season? Magic 8-ball says "Hell Yes". The last time the Canucks went 2-0 to start the season was when Free Willy was coaching and a has-been Bo Horvat led the club with 20 goals and 52 points. For those wondering, the best opening sequences the Canucks had was in the 2016-2017 season when they opened with 4 straight wins before collapsing to finish the season with a 30-49-9 record (incidentally, the Canucks managed to open with 4 wins in the 1992-1993 season).

 

The Canucks have gone 3-0 out of the gate only 5 times so this will be #6.

 

With Tortorella behind the Flyers bench, the game promises to be equally entertaining on the ice as it will be off the ice - especially if Tocchet starts everyone over 220 lbs as the starting lineup. Flyers, like the Canucks, desperately want to make the playoffs this year having missed the past three. Of the two, the Orcas seem to have the inside track on doing so although it has been a very small sample size so far. The Flyer fans are almost as passionate about hockey as the Canuck fans are and have no problems expressing themselves politely to anyone within earshot - especially the opposing team. Looks to be a fun game.

 

This is the first of two games that the Canucks play the Flyers with the second one coming October 28 at home. So plenty of time to get under Torts skin with a blowout win setting up for a barn burner of a game in less than 2 weeks.

 

Player movement to watch:

Carson Soucy skated in a red no contact jersey last practice and made the road trip with the team. While not playing in Edmonton, there is a chance he may slide into the lineup tomorrow. Let's see how the practice goes.

As Tocchet said both Blueger and Brisebois were definitely week-to-week this would mean Studnicka sticks. 

According to Dhaliwal on an Oct 10 Podcast, Mikheyev was "a week away", which would bode very well for the road trip as that just adds more jets to the forward line.

 

Quote of the day:

 “Mikheyev, every day he’s getting there… there’s a good possibility he will play on this road trip. I don’t know which game, obviously the latter, but he’s progressing,” Tocchet told reporters in Philadelphia. “[Soucy] had a good practice today, so he’ll be a game-time decision.”

 

By the Numbers

Vancouver is 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs Philadelphia (2-3-0 in their last 5).
The Canucks have a 36-72-13-4 all-time record in 125 games against the Flyers. Vancouver owns a 21-40-1-2 record on the road in Philadelphia.
Among active Canucks skaters, J.T. Miller leads the team in career points vs Philadelphia with 13 points (8-5-13) in 24 games.

 

Media

As usual, buying a ticket to the game is best followed closely by swilling beer at your favorite watering hole while throwing chicken bones at the screen. If none of these are an option, then we have the following:

 

TV: SN Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

Streaming: go see Reddit and do a search, there is always someone streaming a game live

 

Matchup Info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for Some Fun Stuff

Gino Saying Hello to Lindros

 

Canucks Flyers in the 70's

 

Canucks - Flyers, Hits and Rough Stuff in 1984

 

Edited October 17, 2023 by Rocket-68

[Rindiculous]

Win 3 of 98 coming up

[Rip The Mesh]

9 minutes ago, Rindiculous said:

Win 3 of 98 coming up

Good Thinking !!!

[Nucker67]

I hope they play every team the same this year, regardless of how good the other team is. If they play PHI like they did EDM, they should win pretty easily. If they let up, because of a lesser opponent, then that could spell trouble. No mercy, full effort every game.

[Rip The Mesh]

Wonder if they're over things yet?

 

 

[Bob Long]

maybe someone can hit Bo's cousin, now that Bo's been traded 

[BROCKNROLL]

55 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

Wonder if they're over things yet?

 

 

Love it!!!!!!

[footsteps]

Dude with the 'tude is 2-0. Time to go for the hat-trick. 
 

[Joshua.Guy]

1 hour ago, Bob Long said:

maybe someone can hit Bo's cousin, now that Bo's been traded 

 

Especially after this bullshit. Punk.

 

 

[PhillipBlunt]

Destroy these chumps. Introduce Konecny to some serious pain. 

[Mando27]

Feels like its been a week since our last game.

[DANJR]

Let's goo.o!

[Wing]

We should be able to win this game, but I wouldn't take flyers lightly. It's almost like a trap because they're a team in full rebuild mode. 

 

It is the consistent effort that I'd like to see from the team this yr. I am a believer that with our current line up and performance we saw in the first two games, the 60-min efforts will translate into a lot more wins than losses. 

 

I'm looking forward to our third game already. Such a different state of mind compare to the past few years. Go nucks go!

[Gawdzukes]

In the last number of years I've really started to enjoy following teams like the Flyers to start the year. They've pretty much committed to a rebuild, sent a bunch of vets away, signed a couple new guys and promoted a lot of youth. These teams are fun to watch out of the gate, They can be terrible as expected but often these teams put forth a great effort and surprise some teams.

 

Let's go boys!!! 3-0 

[OldFaithfulcap]

1 hour ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Destroy these chumps. Introduce Konecny to some serious pain. 

 

Kill him like bruce on o'hara.

 

If this wasn't a mid-week game i would have driven up.

Edited October 16, 2023 by OldFaithfulcap
x

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

 

[Huggy Bear]

55 minutes ago, Wing said:

We should be able to win this game, but I wouldn't take flyers lightly. It's almost like a trap because they're a team in full rebuild mode. 

 

It is the consistent effort that I'd like to see from the team this yr. I am a believer that with our current line up and performance we saw in the first two games, the 60-min efforts will translate into a lot more wins than losses. 

 

I'm looking forward to our third game already. Such a different state of mind compare to the past few years. Go nucks go!

Agree we can’t take them lightly. They have Couturier back, and the freedom of low/no expectations.

 

Good to see Soucy back, and Mikheyev seems close!

[Dom]

This is one we should win - which means we won't. 

 

Prove me wrong, boys. 

 

4-1 Flyers. 

[Captain Hughes]

Me vs flyers? I say score is 4-1 Hughes!

[wai_lai416]

Please get garland off the top line.. he drags the line down 5v5.. swap him and beauvillier or something.. beauvillier at least knows his role on the line.. win battle go straight to the net look for the tip or pass.. garland on the other hand grabs the puck skates around the net until it gets knocked off instead of driving to the net with 2 playmakers/shooters on his line 

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

 

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

As mentioned above, I can't see the Canucks choosing to send back Hirose with the rest of the road trip still part of the equation. They will likely go 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, until Mikheyev is ready.

Which makes a lot of sense that they are desperately looking to trade Garland. 

[DrJockitch]

12 minutes ago, CRAZY_4_NAZZY said:

 

This is wrong. As soon as a skater returns, independent of position, Studnicka has to go back because he is emergency call up. 

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

2 minutes ago, DrJockitch said:

This is wrong. As soon as a skater returns, independent of position, Studnicka has to go back because he is emergency call up. 

 

I think that is what Patrick Johnston is saying, that if the team wants to keep Studnicka on roster, his emergency recall would revert to being simply a regular call up however, Hirose would have to be sent down in order for that to happen. 

 

Would be a simple paper transaction while sending Hirose down. 

[Canucks-12]

Gonna be another tough one as it’s the home opener for the Flyers. 
 

Just need to keep playing the same way.