A Canucks fan’s adventure as a Panthers season-ticket holder

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If you’re a Canucks fan, what can you buy for $173? A ticket to a game and a beer? Maybe?

A local lawyer and die-hard hockey fan found a better deal out there. Jay Adams (which is a pen name he uses when he writes for Cave Magazine) discovered during the lockout that he could get tickets to 24 NHL games, parking included, and a jersey for $173.

There was a catch, though: The team was the Florida Panthers and according to Google Maps, it would take Adams about 49 hours to drive to a game.

“I found the deal in Florida and it’s one of those things where you think, ‘I’m going to tell the guy in the cubicle next to me and we’re both going to have a laugh about it and forget about it,'” he tells News1130.

“I went home that night and I thought ‘I’m not going to forget about this.'”

“I thought, ‘Worst-case scenario, it’s going to cost me $173 and I’ll be able to tell people forever that I was a Florida Panthers season ticket holder.’ I wasn’t going to be the guy who said ‘Did you hear there was a deal?’ I’m going to be the guy who can actually talk about it,” he explains.

So, he bought the tickets.

He tried to give away most of them on Craigslist, but he didn’t have much luck. Four people took him up on the offer and only three of the tickets he passed along were actually used. Adams also tried to use his newfound power as a season ticket holder to improve his favourite team: the Canucks.

“I emailed the team and threatened to cancel my season tickets if they didn’t trade Jonathan Huberdeau, Erik Gudbranson, and a first-round-pick to Vancouver for Roberto Luongo,” he writes. “Nobody responded, but it was worth a try.”

Before long, Adams decided he was going to see his adopted team in person. Around the same time, he got a mass email from team president Michael Yormark.

Yormark was thanking season ticket holders for their support during the season, and Adams wrote him back to let him know about his trip. Yormark replied five days later and offered Adams his personal seats to the game.

“I think the most surreal thing was I was sitting in the arena thinking, ‘How did I possibly get here?'” he laughs.

“This started when I was sitting at my desk in the afternoon and here I am, three months later, sitting at the arena. That was one of those moments where I thought, ‘This is the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever had, but it was great.’ Can you imagine [Canucks GM] Mike Gillis giving you his seats?”

Adams still has his Florida Panthers jersey, and he gets a kick out of wearing it to ball hockey games.

“It’s just ridiculous,” he tells us. “Why would anyone have a Florida Panthers jersey?”

Jay Adams writes for Cave Magazine; click here to read his firsthand account of his Florida Panthers adventures.