I lucked into a pair of tickets to the Heritage Classic at BC Place yesterday where the Canucks took on the Senators. A fantastic concept, this whole idea of doing games in stadiums they weren't meant to be played in, and the best part wasn't actually watching the game but all of the peripheral stuff surrounding it. Some of that stuff was actually fluff - cotton fluff that I didn't realize was not real snow until earlier this morning when I was told it was cotton.
There were a LOT of people inside that stadium
First off, the awkwardness between our "star" goalie, Roberto Luongo, and our backup goalie, Eddie Lack, who started for us in a bizarre decision by Canucks coaching staff. I get that Lack was on a streak or whatever but I saw this game as being the single most interesting and meaningful game in the club's history (if we had won a cup, that winning game would be the most interesting, but this tops it for me), but not starting the main event at the main event seemed disrespectful. I cringed when people "Luuuuu'd" every time Lack's name was mentioned or his face came on the jumbotron, but I felt for the guy as it wasn't his decision to get started.
Kinda awkward
Second, the cute little zambonis! More like ride-em lawnmowers, two of them tag teamed the ice between periods, and a team of shovel-wielding dudes cleared away the snow they dumped right outside the ice. Apparently the surface can't withhold the larger ones, so they use these ones.
Tiny zambonis
We had really sweet seats (more on that in a moment) and at one point a journalist who was sitting next to me (who I will not name) pointed out that Trevor Linden was in a suite a couple down from ours. As I begun to take some creeper photos of him I noticed that Gino Odjick was sitting in front of him. It was awesome to see him smiling and having a great time. It looks like he's doing well. Oh, and I believe that's Dave Babych in the foreground. A trio of 1994 Canucks stars awesomeness!
“Hey, is that dude shooting a photo of me standing in this doorway?”
So the "sweet" suite that we were in was thanks to Pepsi Canada who are launching a new drink today: Pepsi Next. They brought in a bunch of folks to watch the game and sample their new drink which is actually using stevia as a natural sweetener in addition to sugar (in the end it's Pepsi with 30% less actual sugar, and it tastes just like regular Pepsi). My favourite cola lately is Zevia because they use 100% natural stevia to sweeten it, and I find it really cool to see the huge brands starting a shift towards putting out healthier products. Every single person in BC Place was given a certificate to try Pepsi Next when it comes out today - that's more than 54,000 cans.
Product placement
Lastly, the Green Men! No Canucks experience - heritage or not - would be complete without a photo of these weird dudes.
Thanks again to Pepsi for hosting us in their sweet suite!
