News Article: Canucks send struggling players out to "ruin [themselves] for the night" in-season(?)

[Tobi Wan Kenobi]

The Canucks are cool now

 

[FroshaugFan2]

He literally said "20 pints the night before". So....

Uh, no he didn't.

“So they send him out, drink 20 pints, go off with a couple of women, whatever he wants. And come back the next day. That’s the way they live. It’s the culture, what they believe in, letting off steam like that. I don’t know if they look at the science behind it.â€

Nowhere does it say the next day is a gameday.

 

[MS]

He literally said "20 pints the night before". So....

Watch 24/7 with Rangers/Flyers. One scene has Gaborik on "his 4th beer" the night before a buffalo game (may have been a joke and friendly rubbing, idk) and Boyle/Del zotto/Dubinsky/Callahan being pretty blitzed at Brad Richards Christmas party. Of course grown ass men drink, my argument is where I don't believe management is encouraging them to do it to get off the Schneid like the article states.

He doesn't say the night before a game. He just says that the player is supposed to come back the next day with a new attitude, not necessarily on a game day.

When was Chin here? I remember Scott Oake interviewing him during an HNIC game a couple weeks back. If it overlapped with our week-long break, that might make a little more sense if guys were using that break to re-set.

 

[m9]

It sounds to me like he has taken some stories from another North American major sport, baseball, and applied them to over here to hockey.. at least in regards to the last part. Whether or not he researched it or someone told him a story, who knows.

Baseball players are well-known for doing stuff like this. It's also not uncommon for players to get games off in the middle of the year even when they are healthy, unlike hockey players. Add to that the terms used (calling it a "change-up", referring to the guy leading the team as a "manager") and you have even more baseball-related stuff.

 

[Bro Horvat]

It sounds to me like he has taken some stories from another North American major sport, baseball, and applied them to over here to hockey.. at least in regards to the last part. Whether or not he researched it or someone told him a story, who knows.

Baseball players are well-known for doing stuff like this. It's also not uncommon for players to get games off in the middle of the year even when they are healthy, unlike hockey players. Add to that the terms used (calling it a "change-up", referring to the guy leading the team as a "manager") and you have even more baseball-related stuff.

Managers are what they call coaches in soccer, I'm assuming its the same in hurling and he's just trying to use relatable terms for the Irish audience.

 

[thepuckmonster]

He doesn't say the night before a game. He just says that the player is supposed to come back the next day with a new attitude, not necessarily on a game day.

When was Chin here? I remember Scott Oake interviewing him during an HNIC game a couple weeks back. If it overlapped with our week-long break, that might make a little more sense if guys were using that break to re-set.

If it's even true, Gudbranson hasn't played for months and he references him saying "yeah who cares?" In regards to playing the next day.

 

[MS]

It sounds to me like he has taken some stories from another North American major sport, baseball, and applied them to over here to hockey.. at least in regards to the last part. Whether or not he researched it or someone told him a story, who knows.

Baseball players are well-known for doing stuff like this. It's also not uncommon for players to get games off in the middle of the year even when they are healthy, unlike hockey players. Add to that the terms used (calling it a "change-up", referring to the guy leading the team as a "manager") and you have even more baseball-related stuff.

What we call a 'coach' is referred to as the 'manager' in soccer and most other team sports in the UK.

 

[TruGr1t]

Baseball players are well-known for doing stuff like this. It's also not uncommon for players to get games off in the middle of the year even when they are healthy, unlike hockey players. Add to that the terms used (calling it a "change-up", referring to the guy leading the team as a "manager") and you have even more baseball-related stuff.

Those are common terms in a lot of European sports. I think it's far more likely he mistakenly used local terminology to describe hockey than took terms from baseball.

 

[m9]

He doesn't say the night before a game. He just says that the player is supposed to come back the next day with a new attitude, not necessarily on a game day.

When was Chin here? I remember Scott Oake interviewing him during an HNIC game a couple weeks back. If it overlapped with our week-long break, that might make a little more sense if guys were using that break to re-set.

And here's the other part.

Alumni game was Sunday the 19th. Alumni lunch was Monday the 20th... all mentioned in the article.

Canucks had their bye week and didn't play until the 25th.

So yeah, story doesn't add up.

 

[Kickassguy]

If it's even true, Gudbranson hasn't played for months and he references him saying "yeah who cares?" In regards to playing the next day.

Article does note that Guds was injured at the time.

Phrasing is poor but it reads as though he asked a "teammate of Gudbranson's" if he was playing tomorrow, and said teammate made that reply.

 

[FroshaugFan2]

If it's even true, Gudbranson hasn't played for months and he references him saying "yeah who cares?" In regards to playing the next day.

That's with regards to having a beer at lunch with the coaches, not a "change up".

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

I blame Kyle Wellwood

 

[Hinterland]

I doubt they really expected anyone in Vancouver would ever really pick this up. I doubt the NHL is overly popular over in Ireland. Owen Nolan aside.

Doesn't sound like the guy intended it to come across as overtly negative -- he mostly just saw it as a cultural divide.

This wouldn't be particularly concerning if it was 1970, but...

It's actually surprisingly popular over there. I used to live in Ireland. Setanta sports shows at least one game per day plus extensive highlights. They also cover most playoff games. They have exclusive rights for all games they cover. Gamecenter isn't gonna get you very far...lots of blackouts...especially during the playoffs. You also see lots of NHL caps in the streets.

I was really surprised. Maybe that's because hockey, not ice hockey, is pretty popular in Ireland or because of all those Irish born players in the NHL. I don't know. But there's definitely a certain amount of interest.

About the story I guess that was just a prank. Somebody made a joke and he was naive enough to believe it

I wouldn't be surprised to hear about NHL players drinking the day before a game. That said, there's no way a manager would encourage a player to drink the crazy amount of 20 beers. Not with all the negative publicity the NHL faced in recent years.

 

[m9]

Article does note that Guds was injured at the time.

Phrasing is poor but it reads as though he asked a "teammate of Gudbranson's" if he was playing tomorrow, and said teammate made that reply.

The lunch he was referencing was on Monday the 20th, and the team wasn't allowed to practice until the 24th. Next game was on the 25th.

Maybe something was lost in translation, but whatever. Whole lot of nothing.

 

[polarbearcub]

I absolutely do not believe ( if it's true) it's a team mandated thing. 100 percent it's a players initiative with each other.

 

[mathonwy]

Delete.

 

[thepuckmonster]

Also I have a really tough time buying that Sedins - who are known for their dedication to physical fitness and health - would ever condone something like management telling guys to "re-set" by binge drinking. Having a couple pops on the day off to relax? Sure, they're adults and can consciously decide what to do with themselves. But to go as far as to say Benning and Co advocated getting **** faced and having a harem of women or whatever to blow off stress is where I'm going "hahaha okay sure not likely".

 

[m9]

This is the time frame that Lee Chin is talking about and to the player's credit, they didn't crap the bed on the 17th.

Still though.... this article doesn't reflect well on the team whatsoever.

That's not the correct timeframe. It was during their bye week in February and into their Superskills contest weekend.

 

[Peter Griffin]

I stopped reading after this:

"The Wexford hurler spent a week training with the Vancouver Canucks last month, one of the top teams in the professional NHL"

Clearly this article has no basis in reality....

 

[rune74]

My god the way some of you have latched on to this like a dog on a bone....seriously, you don't think this would make news if it was happening on all the time?

It logically makes no sense so it must be true.

 

[mathonwy]

That's not the correct timeframe. It was during their bye week in February and into their Superskills contest weekend.

Sunday game and then a Tuesday game.

With alumni also in town.

Which dates are you thinking specifically?

 

[thepuckmonster]

The Sedins wouldn't.

But the Sedins have never been vocal locker room leaders. The locker room was Bieksa and Kesler.

So who's it now? Probably Sutter. Yep. It's gotta be Sutter. Foundational culture carrying Sutter.

I sure am getting tired of all of this winning Jimbo has forced upon us...

To be fair none of us know how the Sedins lead now. Also it's kind of a fallacy to immediately put credence into a hearsay article saying some pretty ridiculous stuff with no evidence to back it up.

Sorry, this is my wheelhouse professionally (nutrition) and I can almost guarantee that no professional sports team would ever condone negatively impacting their conditioning and health. I don't care if you think Benning still hasn't realized how to make fire or whatever, it's legitimately so ridiculous I can't believe people actually think management of any professional tier team would allow it.

I'm sure they don't babysit them and if a player wants to have a few beverages they're not going to stop them. But to go so far as to say they encourage it is literally farcical. Maybe they said it in jest and Chin didn't take it that way but seriously.

 

[FroshaugFan2]

Sunday game and then a Tuesday game.

With alumni also in town.

Which dates are you thinking specifically?

He might have meant the superskills and alumni game on Feb. 26th. He was with the Canucks at that time.

The Canucks played Detroit on Tuesday the 28th.

 

[MS]

Yeah, if he was here during the bye week, everything makes a lot more sense then.

I have zero doubt that a few guys took that as an opportunity to go out and get loose for a night or two, and it wouldn't be totally unreasonable for a struggling player to go out and blow off some steam. Irish guy probably wouldn't realize that a mid-season break like this is highly unusual.

 

[Roberto Lu bongo]

Sunday game and then a Tuesday game.

With alumni also in town.

Which dates are you thinking specifically?

Lee Chin participated in the super skills with the canucks as M9 stated which took place feb 26.