On January 17, 1989, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Philadelphia Flyers in Vancouver. 11 months later, the Berlin Wall fell. The Flyers haven’t lost in Vancouver since. Does that mean anything? Of course not, especially considering Paul Holmgren was head coach, not general manager back in 1989. That doesn’t mean it’s not fun to mention, though.
Sticking with more recent history, something eventful always seems to take place when the Flyers meet up with the Canucks. A year ago, it was that horrible loss at Wachovia Center that led to the firing of John Stevens a night later. The entire team looked terrible, they hadn’t scored a goal in over two games and a decent guy lost his job as a result. That, perhaps, was rock bottom for the 2009-10 Flyers.
The Flyers beat the Nucks in 2008-09 by an uneventful 3-2 score, but in 2007-08 at GM Place, Jesse Boulerice did this:
As you can see in the video, the Flyers won that game in dominating fashion, but Boulerice went down as an all-time scumbag in my book after that. Not that I was particularly fond of him before that, but that’s some nasty stuff there. That incident still embarrasses me as a Flyers fan, because his intent is just so blatantly obvious. Terrible.
Luckily, that’s all behind us. I’ll gladly take a similar score tonight, though.
