'That was wild': Fans bring the party to watch as Canucks win Round 1

The Rogers Arena roof didn't come off on Friday evening, but a lot of rivets were under tremendous pressure after the Canucks scored with 99 seconds left to win their first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"And there weren't even players on the ice, that was wild!" Donnie Chartrow said as he left the packed viewing party for the Canucks' Game 6 clincher.

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Outside, delirious fans high-fived each other and chanted "Silovs, Silovs, Silovs," in honour of the Canucks' rookie, third-string goalie Arturs Silovs who'd just posted a 1-0 shutout.

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Fans thronged Global News reporter Troy Charles as he tried to file his postgame report under a giant pillar with gargantuan photos of Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko; it's hard to believe his viewers at home could hear him.

It was a party atmosphere that began with a bang — the Canucks' pre-game presentation on the state-of-the-art scoreboard set the scene, followed by O Canada sung by Emma Currie and 18,000 fans exploding in noise at the opening face-off.

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Dave Babych, a Canucks alumnus who was on the team that lost in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, had cranked the siren to begin the viewing party and between periods he couldn't move more than a metre or two through the concourse before another handful of fans wanted selfies with him.

"This is amazing," Babych said. "When the Canucks asked me (to do the siren), I thought there might be a couple of thousand fans show up. This just shows the fan support this team has."

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The club estimated the 50/50 might go as high as $250,000, a number they usually hit for home regular season games; Friday's total was $312,740. Alcohol sales were down compared to live-game nights, according to servers, but the fact tickets cost $15 and puck drop was 4 p.m. meant it was very family friendly.

When the Lion King song Circle of Life came on and fans were asked to hold their young ones up high, there must have been at least 300 babies and toddlers lifted, while the arena concourse has probably never seen so many dads toting tiny pink backpacks for their little girls at a playoff game.

"I've been a club-seat holder for 35 years and the vibe in here is as good or better than any game in Club 300," said Pete Morrish between the first and second periods, at the viewing party with his family after his 24-year-old son Henri bought the tickets.

"This is pretty cool," Henri said. "It's great to see so many fans come out. And the tickets were cheap."

For Robin Morrish, it was her first viewing party: "I'm going to come to every single one I can get tickets to from now on," she said, "because it's like being at an actual game."

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Ajit Bhatti was there with a large contingent from Surrey, which included his four- and two-year-old children.

"We're big fans. It's a great introduction for the kids to become fans, and 4 o'clock is a great start time, before the kids get tired."

A Canadian flag so big it makes the Husky station Maple Leaf look like a shoulder patch made its way around the lower bowl, people did the wave, it was easy to forget you were watching TV, that there were no players on the ice below.

The only sad note was Kieran Liversidge won't get to use his Game 7 tickets now.

Standing with a friend in Nashville Predators jerseys, fans good-naturedly booed as they passed by between periods with the game still on the line.

"I'm a huge Pekka Rinne fan," Liversidge said, referring to the former Predators goalie who was an all-star for Nashville. "If it goes to Game 7, I can be the villain again."

Instead, Silovs and goal-scorer Pius Suter were heroes and thousands of Canucks fans went home happy, ready to attend a Game 3 party in the next round when the Canucks will travel to Edmonton.

gordmcintyre@postmedia.com

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