Canucks take one for the Olympic team

Facing the mother of all road trips, the travel-weary Vancouver Canucks would typically be bellyaching about the 2009-10 NHL schedule served up Wednesday.

But the Canucks are riding the Olympic spirit, and team officials say that a 14-game epic over 40 days is simply the team doing its part as good hosts for the 2010 Games.

"We have no complaints regarding the schedule and are satisfied the NHL took into account the challenges we faced hosting the Olympics," general manager Mike Gillis said by e-mail.

In late January, the heart of hockey season, the Canucks will lose access to their home arena, General Motors Place, for the Olympic hockey tournaments. The Games will also shut down the NHL for two weeks.

The Canucks will depart on extended trips before and after the Olympic break. Vancouver has an eight-game journey heading into the respite, and a six-game trip after the interruption. In all, the team will go more than six weeks - Jan. 27 to March 13 - between home games at GM Place.

The entire NHL schedule is being compacted to accommodate the Olympics, and a strong case can be made that the Canucks are carrying the heaviest burden.

Assistant general manager Laurence Gilman said the blow was softened because the team knew of its Olympic commitment long ago, and because the NHL improved in meeting the team's travel requests. Aquilini Investment Group, the company controlled by the family that owns the Canucks, is an official 2010 Games supplier and has granted the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) use of the facility, which will be called Canada Hockey Place during the Olympics.

The Canucks claim to be the most travel-affected team in the league, and Gillis has undertaken sleep and time-zone studies in his 15 months on the job. The long-term goal is to ease the travel toll on Canucks players, and Gilman said that a schedule filled with extended trips works best.

He said the team would cover about 65,000 kilometres next season, which is better than when the team is asked to make shorter trips in greater frequency.

"Clearly there are challenges with it, but we're not bouncing all over the continent," Gilman said.

"It's more efficient to go out on the road and do long trips. If you were to count up the miles travelled by the Canucks this year, it's the most efficient it has ever been."

The first stage of the 14-game journey features only one back-to-back scenario, albeit one that requires a long postgame flight from Miami to Columbus. The second stage features two back-to-back situations in Detroit and Columbus, and Phoenix and Denver.

Vancouver also has two four-game road trips, and a five-game getaway, all before Jan. 2. But a schedule front-loaded with road contests also means that the team will play 10 of its last 15 games at home, and gets an eight-game home stand in December.

The Canucks regain the keys to GM Place on March 6, but the building will not be instantly equipped to host NHL games, according to Gilman, because of temporary changes required for the Games. For example, Olympic ice surface must be devoid of advertising, and some seating areas will be converted to press rows.

"Some of that will have to be undone," Gilman said. "It's a Herculean endeavour."

SIX WEEKS? Can you imagine Vancouver fans not seeing home games for six weeks during regular time? That's ridiculous!

Eight games before and six after... wow!

Wow ! No family for six week, it's amazing..

yeah they are probably too poor to bring 'em along...