There’s still a little bit of magic left in Brock Boeser’s season. The Canucks winger was on-pace to set new franchise records for goals and points as a rookie, but fell victim to some truly atrocious luck, colliding back-first with an open gate at the bench.
Since losing their leading scorer, the Canucks have struggled to find the back of the net with any consistency. They have just 17 goals in the ten games since Boeser’s injury, including a three-game stretch with no goals at all.
But even though Boeser can’t score any more goals this season, he still had one more assist, helping out Canucks superfan Michael Buble with his intro video for the 2018 Juno Awards.
The intro was magic-themed, with traditional magic tricks — a popped balloon transforming into a dove — mixed with more modern day video editing trickery, like the donut that Buble tossed to a poster of a goaltender that made the save on the flying pastry.
Buble recruited boeser for a simple gag: the Vancouver crooner looked into a mirror and, instead of his own face, saw Boeser’s handsome mug and long flowing locks. Then Boeser ran his fingers through the flow and gave a wink and a smile to the camera.
So that sound you heard last night was most of the women in Vancouver, and some of the men, letting out an involuntary gasp at Buble and Boeser on screen at the same time.
Boeser was also in the crowd for the Juno Awards themselves, getting a bit of screen time later in the show.
It’s not surprising that Buble would turn to a budding Canucks superstar while hosting the Juno Awards in his hometown. Buble is an enormous Canucks fan and was even ever-so-briefly a member of the team, as he signed an honorary one-day contract during the 2011-12 season and skated with the Canucks at practice.
His version of “Santa Baby” even included the line “Santa buddy, fill my stocking with Canucks tix, for kicks. Throw me on the first line.” Though his lyric changes on that song didn’t go over super well with everyone.
He nearly ended up getting his wish, as he was slated to skate with the Sedins on the first line for the Bieksa’s Buddies charity game during the NHL lockout. He realized, however, that the team they were facing, the UBC Thunderbirds, could actually play hockey and he, well, couldn’t. So he bowed out.
We at PITB even have a bit of history with Buble. He was a good sport, donning a truly hideous knockoff Canucks poncho for us back in the day and even signed it with the #88 he wore when he was a Canuck for a day.
It was nice to see Boeser back on TV, even if it was just for a throwaway gag. Here’s hoping for a quick return to full health and a productive summer of training.
