The Vancouver Canucks Tickets : The Team Has Advanced Twice To The Stanley Cup Finals

The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver

, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play their home games at Rogers Arena, (formerly General Motors Place) which has a capacity of 19,300.

The Canucks joined the league in 1970 as an expansion team along with the Buffalo Sabres (the 13th and 14th teams to join). In its NHL history, the team has advanced twice to the Stanley Cup Finals but lost both times (to the New York Islanders in 1982 and the New York Rangers in 1994). The Canucks have also won seven division titles, including their most recent during the 2009/10 NHL season.

The initial owners were Tom Scallen's Medicor group. In 1972, hints of impropriety were circulating about Scallen. He was charged with stock fraud (Though he still insists that he did nothing wrong) and spent the last two years of his Canuck ownership in prison.

In 1974 Scallen and Medicor sold out to Frank Griffiths. From 1988 to 1997, the Vancouver Canucks were owned by local businessman and philanthropist Arthur Griffiths, who had inherited ownership from his father, Frank. However, he was forced to sell his majority interest in the Canucks after overextending his resources trying to build a new arena, GM Place (currently known as Rogers Arena). As a result, he sold his majority share to American billionaire John McCaw, Jr..

On November 17, 2004, the Anmoli Investment Group, headed by Francesco Aquilini, purchased a 50% share in Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment (the owners of both the Canucks franchise and Rogers Arena) from John McCaw, Jr.. Prior to the sale, Aquilini and two business partners, Tom Gaglardi and Ryan Beedie, had negotiated with Orca Bay for several months without concluding an agreement.

In January 2005, Gaglardi and Beedie filed a lawsuit against Aquilini and Orca Bay, alleging that Aquilini and Orca Bay had acted in bad faith in concluding a deal using information obtained from their joint offer.On November 8, 2006, Aquilini, along with his brothers Roberto and Paolo, purchased the remaining 50% of the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena from McCaw.

In May 2007, Gaglardi and Beedie's civil lawsuit over Aquilini's purchase reached the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The court ruled for Aquilini, on January 10, 2008. The court held that there was no legal partnership between Aquilini, Beedie, and Gaglardi, and that McCaw was free to sell the team to anyone he wished.On January 29, 2008 the company responsible for operating the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, changed its name from Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment to Canucks Sports & Entertainment.

After a relationship with CKNW stretching since the Canucks joined the NHL in 1970, the Canucks entered into a new radio broadcast deal in 2006 with The Team 1040 ,an AM sports/talk station. John Shorthouse continues to call the play-by-play, as he has since 1999, though with his role on the Canucks' television broadcasts becoming more prominent in recent years, he is replaced for approximately 35 games per season by Rick Ball. He is joined with colour commentary by Tom Larscheid, who has been with the broadcasts since 1977.

On July 28, 2010, Larscheid announced that he will be retiring at the start of the 2010/11 season. He will call one final game, the season opener, before being replaced by Dave Tomlinson. The games air on 14 stations across British Columbia. In addition to national TV broadcasts on Hockey Night in Canada and on TSN, the Canucks also have arrangements with Rogers Sportsnet Pacific to air 47 games (as of 2007-08 season).

These games are called by Shorthouse and former Canucks goaltender John Garrett. In the past additional games aired on pay-per-view, which were radio simulcasts. On Friday, May 25, 2007, the Canucks and Sportsnet signed a multi-year contract that will keep the channel as the club's primary broadcaster.

Under the agreement, Sportsnet Pacific aired 47 games in the 2007/08 NHL season and beginning that year select games were broadcast in HD for the first time ever.For the 2010-11 season, Canucks pay-per-view was discontinued, as 13 regular season games and 2 preseason games will air on Rogers Sportsnet's new sister network, Rogers Sportsnet ONE.Additionally, Rogers also owns the naming rights to the team's home arena, Rogers Arena.

The Vancouver Canucks' mascot is an anthropomorphic killer whale (orca) named Fin Orca or Fin the Whale. He is often seen banging a First Nations drum, or skating around during intermission firing t-shirts out of the Boston Pizza compressed air cannon. On occasion, "smoke" also comes out of the "blowhole" on his head. Fin has his trademarked "chomping" where he "bites" the heads of fans.

by: Amanda Harrison

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