Vancouver Canucks

Darcy Rota talks Towel Power, Canucks close home sked with Fan Appreciation
April 8, 2017, 12:23 PM ET [151 Comments]
Carol Schram
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Saturday April 8 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers - 7 p.m. - CBC

Vancouver Canucks: 80 GP, 30-41-9, 69 pts, seventh in Pacific Division
Edmonton Oilers: 80 GP, 45-26-9, 99 pts, second in Pacific Division

It's Fan Appreciation Night as the Vancouver Canucks close out their home schedule for the 2016-17 season with the first game of their season-ending home-and-home with the Edmonton Oilers.

Draft lottery odds are the most important thing for the Canucks to play for at this point, so tonight's focus will be primarily on the special event celebrations and the team awards.

As you've probably heard by now, the centrepiece of Fan Appreciation Night tonight is a Budweiser promotion: the first 13,000 fans of legal drinking age through the doors tonight will receive a special edition Budweiser-Canucks Goal-Synced glass. Younger fans will receive a red bracelet—and everything will light up in unison each time the Canucks score a goal tonight.

Budweiser has been running its Red Light promotion for several years now. This is the first time that their technology will be engaged live in venue during a game.

"The glasses will light up when the Canucks take the ice for the period starts and also for each home goal," former Canucks winger Darcy Rota told me when we spoke earlier this week."Hopefully they score some goals and make an exciting last game and very exciting Fan Appreciation Night for the last regular season home game for the Vancouver Canucks."

Who does Rota see as the players who will carry Vancouver's offensive torch going forward?

"You look at the Sedins over the years, they've been fantastic. And now with people like Horvat and Baertschi, Boeser. These guys look like they're the next group coming forward.

"Bo Horvat, I really hope will take the next step offensively. He's scored 20 goals so far this year; I'm hoping he can bump it up to 70-plus points next year and really take the next step because it's in transition, as you mentioned. Guys like that have to jump to the occasion.

"Granlund's hurt right now but he looks like he could have a real positive year next year offensively, too."

Rota was in his third season with the Canucks when they went on their storybook run to the Stanley Cup Final in the spring of 1982—a run that included the birth of Towel Power—a fan initiative that lives on, 35 years after it was first introduced.

"It's hard to believe that it's been 35 years," marvelled Rota, when I asked him to remember back to how it all began. "In the Stanley Cup playoffs, we were playing in Chicago. In Game 2, we were losing the game 4-1 and Roger Neilson, our head coach, was upset with the officiating—Bob Myers—and grabbed Jim Nill's stick and grabbed a towel on the bench and raised it.

"It just was amazing, how this has just taken off. I remember sitting on the bench kind of wondering 'What's going on here?' Watching Roger and a couple of the guys, Tiger Williams, Stan Smyl, Gerry Minor did the same thing. Of course, Roger got thrown out of the game.

"We came back, for Game 3. The series was tied 1-1. From the airport to when we arrived to the game, the white towels. It's still exciting to look back on that and think about that because it wasn't part of sports. And now it is part of sports. Many teams in the National Hockey League have picked up on it. Other pro leagues have picked up on the towel waving."

Rota sees a parallel between that towel waving and how the Goal-Synced glass promotion will go down tonight. "It's going to be very exciting, and maybe a tradition will start on Saturday night. I'm encouraging fans to come out and support this last game and who knows, maybe down the road this Budweiser-Canucks Goal-Synced glass will be something that will be very special and people can say 'I was at that game, when it all started.'"

Rota says that 1982 group was something special. "People thought we were a team that kind of backed into the playoffs, but if you look at the regular season—the last nine games of the season, we went six wins, no losses and three ties. They weren't playing overtime back then during the regular season.

"We went in the playoffs feeling really good about ourselves as a team; really confident, of course, led by Richard (Brodeur) in goal, he was fantastic. We had great skill down the middle—guys like (Thomas) Gradin, (Ivan) Hlinka, (Ivan) Boldirev. We had great on the fourth line with Gerry Minor and Gary Lupul. We had skill on the wings, we had toughness on the wings. On defense we were a team that had a lot of grit, character.

"That's what I remember most about that group. We were a team that—it didn't matter if you played one shift or played 25 minutes—it was all for one and one for all, and Roger created that. The White Towel Power was something that just makes it even that much more special. It was a special group of guys. Any time we see each other today, 35 years later, it's a special bond we have with each other."

Team Awards will also be handed out tonight. "I've had the opportunity in the past to present different awards at the final game of the year," said Rota. "It's an exciting time also for the players to receive an award. I remember many years ago receiving the Most Exciting Player for a season. It's something I still treasure to this day."

In addition to Most Exciting, fan-voted awards include Most Valuable Player and Best Defenseman, as well as the Leading Scorer—currently a tight race between Bo Horvat and Henrik Sedin.

Who are your picks for the awards?