Vancouver Canucks' win streak a boon for local fans and bars
Credit to Author: Stephanie Ip| Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2020 22:08:45 +0000
Game on and bottoms up! The Vancouver Canucks’ seven-game win streak is a win-win for everyone, including local bars and pubs.
The team’s most recent victory came Saturday in a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers. Before that, the Canucks beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-5 and, last weekend, downed the Calgary Flames 5-2. Earlier in December they also beat the Vegas Golden Knights, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings.
The win streak has fans talking, and bar and restaurant owners celebrating. While opening a small business is no small feat, opening during a good hockey run also doesn’t hurt.
Matt Thompson is the owner of Alphabet City, a Mount Pleasant eatery that opened last month in the former Splitz Grill location. The new establishment features a plentiful beer list in addition to a decent sports-fan clientele thanks to the bar’s many TVs.
“It’s been good, it’s been really good. The Canucks are definitely helping a lot; people seem to be into it again,” Thompson told Postmedia News.
The restaurateur also owns three other bars — Five Point, Commercial Drive’s Cannibal Cafe and Park Drive, all equipped with TVs — and can attest to the boon that comes with good Canucks play.
“I’ve owned a couple of places over the years and it’s been pretty flat for the last four, five years and now, people are all over it. They love it,” he said. “You’re starting to see jerseys come out again, people are cheering and if they make the playoffs, it’ll be fantastic.”
As a fan, Thompson is loving the current season.
“It’s great. It’s fun to watch. They’re young, they’re going to be good for a long time,” he said.
If the Canucks defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning — a team that’s also on a seven-game win streak — on Tuesday night, they’ll boast an eight-game win streak, an achievement this franchise has managed just twice: in April 2009, and over the holiday season of 2010-11, the latter a streak from the future Stanley Cup finalists that also lasted, coincidentally, through Jan. 7.
Canucks fans were mixed about whether the current win streak will continue.
Ryan Stewart said the Canucks’ run to the Final of the 1994 Cup was particularly memorable for him because he was a high school student working in the kitchen of a fish-‘n’-chip shop in White Rock owned and operated by former Canucks goalie Kirk McLean’s aunt and uncle.
Stewart initially said he had no idea whether the Canucks would beat Tampa Bay. But after relentless questioning, he caved:
“My projection: the Canucks will be up by one in the dying seconds of the third. I’ll predict a Canucks win by no more than two goals,” the Burnaby resident said. “It’s not a very educated guess but I’ll say 3-1. I suspect I’ll live to regret it.”
Simon Cumming has been what he called a “long-suffering fan” who was able to see games in the late 1970s when his father had Canucks season’s tickets. He said this year’s team reminds him of the great 1994 team with stars Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure, and key role players that made it to the Cup Final.
He’s confident the Canucks will beat Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say they’re going to make it eight,” said the Surrey resident. “I’ll call it 3-2 Canucks. No overtime, a straight-out victory.”
Jugpreet Bajwa is a blind Canucks fan who really started following the team in 2008 and ’09. While he thinks the Canucks can squeeze into the playoffs this year, he thinks Tampa Bay will be a difficult test.
“It would be nice to win eight … but I think they’ll (the Canucks will) lose in overtime,” he said from Delta. “It’ll be a bittersweet loss.”
The seven-game win streak is just the ninth time that the Canucks have gone on such a run in their 50-year history. The last time they achieved the feat was from Dec. 1 to 14, 2013.
— With files from Harrison Mooney
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