Towel Power

I guess it seems fitting that I start my first blog on the first day of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Being the first home game for the Vancouver Canucks means that "Towel Power" is in full swing.

Towel Power started with Roger Neilson in the 1982 playoffs against the Chicago Black Hawks in the Conference Final. (Hockey History Note #1: The Blackhawks were usually referred to as the Black Hawks until 1986 when they officially chose the Blackhawks spelling). It was April 29, 1982, the Canucks were losing game 2 of the series 4-1 to the Black Hawks. Roger Neilson was annoyed with the officiating in the game. He put a white towel on the end of a stick in "Surrender" to the referees. The players joined in, putting towels on their sticks when they were sitting at the bench. When the Canucks returned to Vancouver, fans brought their own towels to the game. Towel Power was born. The Canucks went on to win the next three games to win the series 4-1. The Canucks faced the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals. The New York Islanders had won the Stanley Cup the past 2 seasons, they would win again in 1982 and a fourth consecutive time in 1983.

I guess I will finish my first blog entry with a few history notes.

The Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup in 1925. They beat the Montreal Canadiens 3 games to 1 in a best of five series. All the games were played at the Patrick Arena in Victoria. The Patrick Arena (built by Lester & Frank Patrick) was located in Oak Bay at the corner of Cadboro Bay Road & Epworth Streets. The arena opened on December 25, 1911 and was the first artificial ice arena in Canada.

The Victoria Cougars are the last non-NHL team to win the Stanley Cup. The NHL took full control of the Stanley Cup in 1926 after the WHL folded. The Victoria Cougars would make it to the Stanley Cup finals in 1926, they lost to Montreal 3 games to 1.

When the Western Hockey League folded in 1926, two new NHL franchises each bought the rights to a now defunct WHL team. The Chicago Black Hawks bought the rights to the Portland Rosebuds and the team that we now know as the Detroit Red Wings bought the rights of the Victoria Cougars. The Red Wings franchise were called the Detroit Cougars from 1926 - 1930, they then changed their name to the Detroit Falcons and became the Red Wings in 1932.