First For Vancouver

The first ever NHL Heritage Classic comes to Vancouver and who would have thought that snow would be the talk of the day on the way to BC  Place.

The first NHL Winter Classic was held in 2008 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York and was featured Buffalo taking on Pittsburgh.

For the first five years the Classic only featured American teams, but starting in 2014 it offered a new “twist” as the first Canadian team took part.

This featured the Toronto playing against the Red Wings and prior to this year the Winter Classic has been played in the US.

While controversy might surround the game with the discussion of the tickets for the minor teams from the discussion that the Canucks are playing Ottawa of all teams.

Regardless of what some might think this Classic is well worth the wait, especially for fans in BC and surround area.

The Canucks host the Senators in hopes of renewing a new rivalry that once saw the Vancouver Millionaires play the Ottawa Senators in a series sweep dating back to 1915.

This game is the second game of the season that the Canucks play the Senators where the Canucks won the first game by a 5-2 score and from the conversation around the press box, the Senators are looking to rebound from the earlier loss.

This game will feature the Canucks wearing the “dated” Vancouver Millionaires sweaters, while the Senators will also wear retro sweaters in a tribute to the 1915 Stanley Cup, where the Canucks won the best of five series.

The throwback sweaters are very popular with the fans and teams and quite often the teams continu to wear them after the Winter Classic is over.

The Penguins and Blackhawks made their Winter Classic sweaters their alternates the following season, while the Flyers made their 2010 Winter Classic sweaters their permanent road sweaters at the start of the 2010–11 season.

The Sabres were using a variation of their throwback sweater prior to their appearance and adopted an updated version of the sweaters as their main uniform in 2010–11.

While the Canucks continue to juggle the roster, today’s game has all the implications that changes could be made in the roster that the Canucks are dressing or have been dressing.

Eddie Lack gets the start, while some question why Luongo rides the pine in another game and when you ask the fans most will tell you “Luongo deserves the start in this Classic event.

The last game saw Lack stop 20 shots thrown his way and has the stigma of being the first Canuck goalie to collect three shutouts in their rookie season of play.

When you look at other players it’s interesting to see that Raphael Diaz has registered  points in his first two games after coming over from Montreal and playing in his first game February 4th in Boston.

While some might question what the motivation is for Ryan Kesler he is tied for 11th for the most game winning goals this season, while Corey Perry holds the lead with nine.

It should be noted that John Tortorella is in his 14th season in the NHL as a Head Coach and first with the Canucks.

He is looking for another win in this game and has the team motivated to play strong and aggressive in both ends of the ice.

He has a record of 438-364-37-76 to date and ranks first among US born Coaches in all-time in the NHL and on January  10th he became the 27th Head Coach in the history to reach 900 career games.