Rob The Hockey Guy

The other day I was going through one of the blogs that I read on a semi regular basis, Pass it to Bulis, and I came across this. It was a list of 50 people to follow on Twitter for Canucks fans. Now, just like any good self centered blogger, I of course immediately looked for the mighty @RobTheHockeyGuy account. To my dismay, it was nowhere to be found!

Now, to their credit, the guys over at Pass it to Bulis qualified their list by saying that it wasn’t necessarily a “must follow” list or something like that, but come on. We all know what’s going on here. Rob The Hockey Guy was snubbed!

So rather than sulk about this omission from one of Vancouver’s most read hockey blogs, I have decided to snub Pass it to Bulis right back! That’s right, I’m coming up with my own list. But not a list of Twitter accounts, that’s been done already. I need something more random.

Ladies and gentlemen, don’t pass it to Bulis. Why not? Because his name’s not even that cool. Jan Bulis… Come on. Here’s my list of the top 50 Canuck players with cool names, past and present (listed in alphabetical order):

1. Dave Babych

Babych is a funny name, but his nickname ‘Babs’ is even better. He’s one of my all-time favourite Canucks, and his name is the cherry on top.

2. Jozef Balej

Pronounced “ballet”, he only played 1 game for the Canucks in his career, notching an assist. That’s a point per game player, a considerably better percentage than Jan Bulis.

3. Robin Bawa

He played only 2 games for the Canucks and broke a pane of glass in one of them. I believe that ties him for the all-time record with Trevor Linden.

4. Byron Bitz

We all remember Byron Bitz don’t we? You ought to, he was on the team last year. Funny name and he scored a goal once.

5. Lonny Bohonos

One of the great names and call-ups of the mid 90s, Lonny Bohonos was Harold Druken before Harold Druken was Harold Druken (more on Druken in a bit).

6. Per-Olov Brasar

Never heard of him? Me neither. Apparently he played 181 games for the Canucks in the early 80s. More than Bulis.

7. Martin Brochu

Ok, I’m not going to lie, Martin Brochu wasn’t very good. But he had a funny name. And he is the punchline to many a Canuck joke. As I type this, I’m smiling.

8. Jiri Bubla

Hilarious.

9. Garth Butcher

What a tough hockey player… and his name is Butcher? Fabulous.

10. Sven Butenschoen

No explanation needed here. Ironically, he’s not from Europe.

11. Frank Caprice

They named a night club after him on Granville Street. True story (may not be true).

12. Enrico Ciccone

Super Italian names are fun to say.

13. Craig Coxe

He had one of the most famous fights in Canucks history.

14. Harold Druken

Harold liked to party a little too much. But he had a sweet name and scored a rather big goal to send the Canucks to the playoffs in 2001.

15. Neil Eisenhut

I have a soft spot for mid-90s Canucks call-ups.

16. Bob Essensa

Back-up Bob was great. And I don’t think anyone is quite sure on the correct pronunciation of his last name yet.

17. Fedor Fedorov

If your last name contains your first name, you get on this list. Simple as that.

18. Larry Goodenough

Larry was good enough to play 113 games for the Canucks in the 70s.

19. Sheldon Kannegiesser

It’s just fun to say.

20. Zenith Komarniski

See above.

21. Orland Kurtenbach

Now that’s a name for a blog.

22. Frantisek Kucera

Fun fact: he won a gold medal for the Czech Republic in 1998.

23. Jyrki Lumme

One of the best defencemen in Canucks history, Lumme’s skating was as smooth as his name.

24. Marek Malik

I always called him “Big Smooth” when he was with Vancouver, and he still has the best shootout goal in NHL history.

25. Dean Malkoc

Funny.

26. Cesare Maniago

If your name is Cesare, and you’re a goalie, you deserve to be on this list.

27. Mario Marois

No explanation needed here.

28. Hubert “Pit” Martin

As if Hubert wasn’t already funny, he was better known as “Pit”.

29. Alfie Michaud

I find the name Alfie funny.

30. Tomas Mojzis

I’m not sure what his nickname was with teammates, but it was probably “Moj”.

31. Sergio Momesso

Big Serge was a mean piece of business and a key member of the 1994 Stanley Cup finalist team.

32. Evgeny Namestnikov

Another mid-90s call-up, he won my heart with all of those consonants.

33. Roman Oksiuta

So much to like about his name, wish I could say the same about his hockey playing ability.

34. Rosaire Paiement

He was one of their top players during the early years. They called him Rosie.

35. Michel Petit

Did you know that “petit” means “little” in French? True story.

36. Dan Ratushny

He played in only 1 game and got an assist for the Canucks. Those are Jozef Balej numbers!

37. Leif Rohlin

Fun to say.

38. Jarkko Ruutu

Ruutu gets bonus points for his smirk.

39. Vadim Sharifijanov

Brian Burke once gave up a 2nd round draft pick to get him, probably because of his name. It’s the only explanation.

40. Petri Skriko

One of the best Canucks in the mid 1980s.

41. Peter Skudra

One of the worst back-ups in team history (he had bouncy pads like Antti Niemi).

42. Darryl Sly

I don’t know him, but with a name like that, I don’t trust him either.

43. Garth Snow

Thank goodness they traded Garth Snow. I couldn’t take anymore lame newspaper headlines involving some snow pun.

44. Esa Tikkanen

I think Finns have an unfair advantage for this list.

45. Lubomir Vaic

Remember him? He played in 9 games for the Canucks in the late 90s. He was also 5’8″.

46. Ossi Vaananen

Again, the Finns have a huge advantage here. I need to learn Finnish.

47. Herbert Vasiljevs

The only Latvian on this list, Herbert played in 18 games for the Canucks in the 2001-02 season.

48. Dennis Ververgaert

Bonus points for that smile, those sideburns and that mustache.

49. Mike Weaver

I called him the dream weaver, but there was nothing dreamy about his play. Just a good hard nosed defenceman.

50. Harry York

Remember the Messier glory years? Well, they also contained Harry York.