Canucks: One year later, NHL future brighter than dark COVID-19 past

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A year ago, the Vancouver Canucks were worried about managing their emotions on the ice.

In dire need of a solid stretch of games in pursuit of a National Hockey League wild-card playoff position, they managed a 5-4 shootout victory over the New York Islanders at Rogers Arena on March 10.

The next day, they left for back-to-back games in Arizona and Colorado — games that were never played.

The NHL season was put on hold March 12 as the novel coronavirus escalated and the World Health Organization deemed it a worldwide pandemic. Suddenly, all the angst about controlling emotions in a game that day against the Coyotes had shifted to concerns about family, health and an uncertain sporting landscape.

“When you talk about it being one year, it makes you realize it’s been a very long year for everyone around the world,” Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers said Wednesday. “I just remember it happening very quickly. We had heard some things about the NBA and quite a few of us were out for dinner in Arizona (on March 11) when we got confirmation of what was going on — and even then we really didn’t know what that meant.

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“A lot of us thought we’d be back two or three weeks later and, all of a sudden, we’re playing in a bubble in Edmonton in the summer. It threw everyone into some very strange times, and it’s still strange in looking back on it.”

The ominous signs were there.

Protocols at Rogers Arena shifted early during that fateful week. Customary morning-skate availability withplayers and coaches — the one-on-one access that reporters crave to separate themselves from the pack — gave way to hand sanitizers popping up in the press room and we were told to refrain from handshakes.

It quickly escalated to no room access and press-conference style availability because there was a looming crisis. People were getting sick and dying. Others had travel and livelihoods affected by quarantines and a plunging economy. Many even started panicking by stockpiling cleansers and paper goods, especially toilet paper.

Remember that?

On Wednesday, Travis Green recalled the challenges COVID-19 placed on him as a head coach, husband, father and concerned citizen. The Castlegar, B.C. native has an off-season home in Irvine, Calif., where the state would become a hot-spot for rapid spread of the virus, and in a sudden sports vacuum he became one of us.

He installed Netflix on his iPad. He started watching missed movies and reached out to those he had played with for a long-overdue thank you. He had more time for talks and walks with wife Sheree, daughter-in-law Jordyn and sons Blake and Brody. And more time to reach out and reconnect with people in his hockey and social worlds.

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However, his mind would wander back to the rink to think of when the season might resume and how to prepare — if the Canucks were going to advance to the post-season on points percentage.

It has been year like no other as a person and professional. The populace had to adhere to virus protocols and the Canucks have been restricted to hotel bubbles and playing before no fans.

“I don’t want to answer that half-heartedly,” Green said in trying to capsulize the difficult year. “To be honest, in going back to that time, it feels like so much has happened since then. From a professional standpoint, prepping over the course of the pause and getting into the bubble — and having a good run there — and then getting ready for this season, the professional part takes care of itself.

“Everyone’s personal lives really got turned upside down. Thinking back, it was a different time and bit of a scary time. A lot of question marks in your lives, and not just us as players and coaches who work in the NHL and are lucky to do so, but society in general. We were worried and justifiably so.

“We all tried to adapt and that’s one lesson we take from it. We’re strong and will come out of this and perseverance is important — not just in sports — but in life. Hopefully, we’re on our way out of this with the vaccines.”

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A return to more normalcy is a reasonable goal for the fall and a full 82-game NHL schedule would be the reward for COVID-19 awareness and action. There were no positive cases in the Edmonton and Toronto bubbles last summer. And even though the challenge has been greater with travel and personal diligence to avoid community virus spread, the future is starting to look brighter than a dark past.

The NHL reported zero positive tests in the fifth week of Phase 4 in the Return To Play program — 2,814 tests in respective 52-member travelling parties from Aug. 23-29 — and it drove home the cautious point that in being prudent there might be reason for optimism in how the 2020-21 season is conducted.

“It would be great to be in a room with all you (media) guys sitting in front of me,” said Green with a chuckle. “When and if we can get back to those times, it will be good.”

bkuzma@postmedia.com

twitter.com/benkuzma

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