As the Canucks embark on the second half of the season, the noise is going to get louder.
No, we鈥檙e not talking noise as in the roar of approval the 19,005 in attendance at Rogers Arena on Thursday night gave the Canucks after they defeated the Arizona Coyotes by a score of 2-1.
We are talking about the noise away from the rink.
As the Canucks continue to defy pre-season predictions and meet every challenge in front of them, more and more people are noticing on a league-wide scale - whether it be fans or the media.
With that comes a lot of attention and pressure.
For most of the players on this team, it鈥檚 uncharted territory.
The only meaningful games that the likes of Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko have played in was in 2020 when Vancouver was part of the NHL bubble in Edmonton due to the Covid epidemic. The three playoff rounds that Canucks participated in were in the cold and sterile environment of Rogers Place with no fans attending and obviously no travel taking place.
Of the current core group, only J.T. Miller has some true playoff experience, participating in the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals with Tampa Bay.
If the Canucks want continued success, this group will have to remain focused which reminds me of a great story that Troy Aikman once told us about his Dallas Cowboys and his first-ever Super Bowl appearance with America鈥檚 Team against the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII.
At the start of that week, Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson walked into the locker room with a 2x4, threw out on the floor, and then asked how many players could walk across it. Of course, every player raised his hand. Johnson then asked who would walk across the same 2x4 if it was between two buildings ten stories high. Needless to say, there weren鈥檛 as many hands being raised.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e been walking across this 2x4 all year long,鈥� Johnson proclaimed. 鈥淏lock everything else out and just keep doing what you are doing.鈥�
If the Canucks are going to continue at the level at which they are playing at, they will need to adhere to that principle.
鈥淚鈥檓 at the stage now where can this be a special team. I鈥檝e heard that word special. To be a special team, you have to do special things. That means discipline and (sticking to) the staples. We have to do those things consistently to be special. You come to the rink and don鈥檛 feel like practicing but special teams do. You have to do extraordinary things to be a special team. We are trying to strive for that,鈥� Tocchet explained.
What does bode well for this Canucks team is that it hasn鈥檛 bought into any of the hype of how good they are and is a group that continues to stay in the moment.
The players don鈥檛 look back nor do they look toward the future 鈥� it鈥檚 only about today according to Pettersson.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 all we can focus on and dictate - what we do today. I think the coaching staff has done a very good job with that and with the culture,鈥� he noted.
Tocchet and his staff coined the expression 鈥榚arn the day鈥� during training camp and that mantra will be tested as the games become bigger and the noise becomes louder.
鈥淚 guess that鈥檚 just down to the individual. We talk all the time about being day-to-day. Nothing has changed. We feel like our record is 0-0 - we go into every period like it鈥檚 0-0. I think it鈥檚 a great mindset for our group and it鈥檚 worked for the most part for us. We鈥檙e happy where we are at. It鈥檚 everything we worked for in the summer yet at the same time we haven鈥檛 achieved nothing yet. We鈥檙e not a satisfied group,鈥� said Miller.
鈥淭here has to be a maturity level鈥eing a professional鈥nowing what to expect from yourself and your teammates and also just focusing on what you need to do which is just doing your job,鈥� added Hughes.
As we mentioned in a previous column, this hockey club has a new mindset and if you ever need more proof of it, all you had to do was talk to some of them about the recent Eastern road trip in which the Canucks went 5-1-1.
鈥淚 think the thing with me is that I feel like we should have won every game. We should have gone 7-0,鈥� said Hughes, who went on to refer to how they could have won the first game in St. Louis and the last one in Columbus.
鈥淎fter that St. Louis game, no one was happy and we were all pretty pissed off but I thought we had a really good bounce back game (against New Jersey) and that kind of built that little win streak from there,鈥� added Boeser.
Tocchet is happy with the approach his team is taking but is even happier that it鈥檚 originating from the players themselves.
鈥淕uys were happy (about the trip) but I didn鈥檛 see guys pounding their chest. Guys were like 鈥榞reat win but we鈥檝e got to do this tomorrow.鈥� It鈥檚 that mantra right now, and honestly, it鈥檚 not like we鈥檙e pounding it down their throat. They鈥檝e taken that over. It鈥檚 a very even keel team,鈥� said Tocchet.
鈥淎ny time we lose, we try and learn from what mistakes we made in that game and try and be better in the next game. I just feel we have guys that aren鈥檛 satisfied with winning one and losing one. We just want to continue to win and keep driving the bus,鈥� noted Boeser.
OVERTIME
* Pettersson and Dakota Joshua scored for the Canucks while ex-Canuck Travis Dermott notched the only Arizona goal in a somewhat chippy affair that featured a fight between Vancouver鈥檚 Nikita Zadorov and Arizona鈥檚 Liam O鈥橞rien.
* Boeser was pretty giddy about his Green Bay Packers destroying the Dallas Cowboys 48-32 in the NFL playoffs last weekend. His enthusiasm was quickly tempered when asked how the Packers could beat the San Francisco 49ers this Saturday. 鈥淥h boy,鈥� he paused. 鈥淚 think the Packers should pray鈥nd hope that (Christian) McCaffrey doesn鈥檛 show up that day.鈥� As big of a Packer fan as he is, Boeser has never made the pilgrimage to Lambeau Field because of the obvious conflict but insists it鈥檚 on his bucket list.
* Montreal Canadiens Director of Pro Scouting Eric Crawford took in the game Monday night. The younger brother of former Canucks head coach Marc Crawford, Eric Crawford spent 16 seasons in the Canucks organization in several roles before moving to the Habs and is now based in his hometown of Belleville, Ontario.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob 鈥渢he Moj鈥� Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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