The Day The Music Died

Not content on just winning the 94 Stanley Cup, he decided to basically
take over the whole team identity in his quest to destroy Linden forever.

There have been many embarrassing moments for the True Canuck Faithful (if you were born after 1990 you're not one of them).  Heck, all you have to do is watch any Gretzky milestone video and there's a group of Canuck pylons sharing the ice for eternity with the Great One.

Even Mario Lemieux picked Gary Lupul to be his first of what was to be less-than-stellar career in beating up small people.

But there has been no greater embarrassing moment for the True Canuck Faithful than this catastrophe that happened in the summer of 1998: Mark Messier standing victorious over the Vancouver media, basking in his crushing defeat of the Canuck logo/brand.  He may as well have arrived via fighter jet and had a 'mission accomplished' sign behind him.

It still hurts...

In a move akin to making Godzilla mayor of Tokyo, it was Orca Bay's first headlining move after seizing control of the franchise from Arthur Griffiths Jr.  Probably because 1994 was the last time owner John McCaw was sober and he had just taken his head out of his giant pile of money to find he now owned an NHL team.  A Canadian based team at that that had forged a bit of an identity through years of dedication by Stan Smyl and Trevor Linden.  Therefore he had to crush it.  I don't know why.  Maybe because he liked to crush people's dreams.  

At least this one fought injustice.

So, being an American, he hired other American advisors to create a team that America would like because, you know, America.  New logo, new coach, new captain.  It was the worst betrayal since Pope Clement V handed over the Knights Templar to the King Philip.  


And the rest has never been the same.