Canucks hitting the road
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver in a couple of weeks, so the Canucks are leaving now — on a 14-game road trip.
And they won't return again until mid-March.
While security fences and Olympic banners went up and roads were closed amid the din of constant construction around General Motors Place the past month, the Canucks have been busy packing for an NHL record trip that began Saturday in Toronto.
"You definitely have to pack more underwear, socks, shirts — everything," defenseman Christian Ehrhoff said. "And you really have to think about what you pack."
Further complicating the Canucks' Olympic Odyssey is a two-week break: The NHL will go on hiatus for the 2010 Games because many of its players will represent their countries.
Unlike the Calgary Flames, who went on an 11-game trip during the 1988 Calgary Olympics, and the Philadelphia Flyers, who were displaced by an ice show for 11 games in 2005-06, the Canucks view it as two trips.
They start with eight games over 18 days leading up to the Olympics and return from the break to play six games in nine nights shortly after the closing ceremonies.
"I get a chance to play a couple days in between here with a different team but it's going to be a tough stretch to be away that long, said Ehrhoff, who will represent Germany for a third time at the Olympics. "First of all it's tough being away from home that long, and then the travel isn't easy as well."
The opening ceremonies aren't until Feb. 12, and hockey doesn't start until four days later. But with media coming from all over the world, and more teams competing than there are locker rooms, the local organizing committee took the building over early.
So hours after wrapping up a four-game homestand Wednesday, the Canucks logo had already been scraped from beneath center ice and sponsor ads were removed from the boards as the transformation from General Motors Place to Canada Hockey Place began.
It's all part of a deal that earned the Canucks' ownership an $18.5 million payment up front and a rental fee of $110,000 a day.
The cost is the Canucks do not play a home game for 44 days. But for a West Coast team that went on a seven-game road trip and two six-game treks last season, the idea of traveling 12,500 miles over the next six weeks seems less daunting.
"We're used to traveling. I know a lot of people are making this to be a big issue, but it's just a road trip and we'll be fine," coach Alain Vigneault said, pointing to a 6-3-1 record the last 10 away games.
