Tickets had sold out within minutes. The people came in droves and the energy in the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre was absolutely electric last night as the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames had a sold-out pre-season game here in Victoria for 7,006 fans.
The Canucks limbered up goaltending prospect Michael DiPietro for his first start of the year. Scanning the names on the back of the Canucks’ sweaters, the horseshoe revealed that a handful of NHL regulars were sparsely scattered through a list of prospects and minor leaguers. But we don’t often see hockey of this calibre in Victoria, so enthusiasm didn’t waver.
Only one problem—once the puck dropped, the Canucks disappeared.
For most of the night, the ice was heavily sloped in favour of the Flames. Through 50 minutes the Canucks were badly outshot. The scoreboard showed 4-1 for the visitors, and with three minutes to play, impatient fans started for the turnstiles.
It’s pre-season hockey, so the storyline is found between the lines. While the veterans tune up for the season, prospects and journeymen fight to show that they belong in the bigs. The box score highlighted the dominant performance of Austin Czarnik, who sniped a pair of goals, but in the eyes of local hockey fans the night belonged to Flames prospect Matthew Phillips.
Phillips, the former Victoria Royals captain, returned to his former home rink for what was likely the last time. In an absolute class act, a three-minute video tribute was met with a standing ovation as local fans thanked Phillips and wished him the best of luck in his professional career. The Royals single-season record-holder for goals, assists, and points was credited with an assist on the first goal.
A quick survey of the crowd would prove that the event was a huge success. It’s incredibly rare to see that many people smiling at once. Children had been dancing and cheering all night, completely oblivious to the fact that Elias Pettersson wasn’t in the building. With three minutes left, it was past their bedtime and eyes were drooping. If it had ended then, everyone would have left happy.
But with the clock ticking down the Canucks took over. With blue sweaters buzzing around the net and the Flames unable to clear the zone, rookie Josh Teves popped one with just over two minutes to play, bringing the crowd back to their feet. Bo Horvat would add another, but at 4-3 the Canucks were unable to tie it up.