Some'n New Everyday

As I've mentioned before, Versus has improved immeasurably with regard to their coverage of the National Hockey League. For each broadcast, they've been plugging some excellent historical moments in hockey. During the second intermission of tonight's Montreal Canadiens/Philadelphia Flyers game, the moment centered on the 1982 playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks, and Roger Neilson's inadvertent birthing of what has become known as towel waving at professional sporting events. Highlights from this page of the Canucks Web site, after the jump. And in case reader interest in this tidbit has waned already, allow me to just say, "Hey, Pittsburgh -- y'all didn't invent squat!"

The guys had no idea what fury Roger Nielson had unleashed a night earlier in the old Chicago Staduim...Towel Power had struck, and struck hard...

...It all began late in the 1981-82 season. The Canucks were playing the Nordiques in the old Colisee...

...There was no glass separating the players bench from the stands back then, and when a heckling fan started in on head coach Harry Neale, a scuffle broke out. The Canucks bench quickly got involved and a melee erupted. Vancouver tied that game 3-3, but lost their coach and defenseman Doug Halward who were both suspended for the final six games of the season. The enigmatic Roger Neilson, an assistant at the time, stepped in and took the reigns. The Canucks went undefeated to finish the year and captured second place in the Smythe Division. Sensing that the brawl in Quebec had galvanized the team and that something magical was happening, Neale approached GM Jake Milford and urged him to let Neilson continue behind the bench in the playoffs...

...The Canucks couldn’t say out of the penalty box in that game and had fallen behind early. They were neck deep in penalties and trailing when it happened...

...“Bob Myers was the referee and he had given us four straight penalties,” said (Norm) Jewison. “And then when he signaled next one - before the announcement was made - Roger reached back and grabbed a spare stick and hoisted it up with a towel hanging off it.”

One, then two, then three players, all joined Neilson in the impromptu protest. Towel Power was born. The league fined Neilson $1,000 for the flag-raising, but just as the brawl in Quebec had brought the team together, so did The Towel...

...Butts (Giraud) sold 800 through his shirt stores, and the rest out front of the Coliseum as more than 1,500 people lined up for tickets to see game three. Butts pledged to donate the bulk of his profits to a local orphan’s charity, and in return, had the towel concept promoted on the local radio station. In the midst of a white terry towel storm, the Canucks won game three by a score of 4-3. By the time game four rolled around, there were more than 15,000 towels in the stands and the city was awash in white lint...

...Butts was so confident the Canucks would win, he ordered $8,000 worth of Stanley Cup finals pennants two days before Vancouver traveled to Chicago for game five...

...Towel Power was raging so strong that B.C.’s Ministry of Tourism attempted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records by producing the world’s longest towel, and had the entire B.C. Legislature sign it. The Canucks won game five in Chicago and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, propelled by their quirky coach and a wave of towels that could soak up the Fraser. By the time Vancouver finally bowed out to the powerhouse New York Islanders in the finals, the city was covered in towels. Giraud sold 30,000 in total and raised $23,000 for charity. Exactly 25 years later, Towel Power is still one of the most recognizable playoff traditions in sport, and a symbol of Canucks pride everywhere.

Pretty cool story, especially considering everything that Neilson contributed to the game of hockey, let alone this ravenous behavior that's found everywhere in sporting arenas today. It's also cool because Norm Jewison and Butts Giraud should be nominated for Name of the Year candidacy if they haven't been already.