By: Trent Leith / March 26, 2021 Well, we are only 2 days into the Canucks week off and it feels like an eternity, and even longer if we’re counting good Canucks games. While the Canucks take a week off the ice, we at StadiumChinatown.ca thought we would also take it off the ice too. We have compiled a list of the top 7 follows of Canucks Twitter. Why 7? Well, because it’s a lucky number, and whether the Canucks make a playoff push, or are sellers at the deadline, it feels like fans will need luck on their side.
We made this list with the idea in mind, that if you only followed these accounts you would still get a very well-rounded experience with fun and informative Canucks content. This list is not ranked in any particular order, and of course, is missing tons of quality people and creators, but in a vacuum, this list is sure to make any Twitter Feed a home run.
Mr. Booth – @MrBooth_7
We’re starting with an absolute tap-in, a breakaway pass on an empty net, Zibanejad against the Flyers. Mr. Booth is a legend around the NHL, let alone just Canucks Twitter. When you call someone a “troll” it has a negative connotation, especially since the 2016 American election, but Mr. Booth takes being a troll back to 2009. Mr. Booth on Twitter is like watching your friend’s older brother nail a prank phone call.
Canucks Twitter and the Canucks Subreddit have a reputation of chaos, and impeccable memes and Mr. Booth is “the straw that stirs the drink”, to quote someone else on this list. Mr. Booth is the king of faking out high-ranking media members into believing fake trades and news. Some of those media members are on this list as well.
No one is safe from Mr. Booth’s wrath. Watching him tweet is like watching da Vinci paint, like watching Elvis sing, even like watching Loui Eriksson hunt down an empty net. He has such a perfect pulse on the market and knows how to hit a home run every time he hits send. He knows how to push bottoms and get accounts with well over a million followers to eat out of his palm.
Thomas Drance – @ThomasDrance
To swing this list to the professional side of things, Thomas Drance used to write for CanucksArmy back in the day, before taking a PR position with the Florida Panthers. In the last few years, he circled back to Vancouver to cover the beat for the Athletic Vancouver and has been an absolute ace in the market. Drance always has good analysis, great writing and even a really cute dog.
Drance was a part of the hires that the Athletic did in the wake of the late Jason Botchford, and he has done a great job in helping the market push through a tough time. Drance continues to help fans turn the page on a new chapter while honouring the previous one.
Thomas has taken some flack online for being “too negative”, but don’t read too much into that. Thomas has some very well thought out, and well-articulated opinions, he is not negative as much as willing to be realistic about the state of the team. Drancer is a great follow, with great writing, a great podcast, and he even has jokes.
Rick Dhaliwal – @DhaliwalSports
Rick Dhaliwal is unrivalled, the go-to source for breaking news. You don’t get the nickname Scoops if you aren’t The Guy for updates on the trade deadline, new contracts, and free agency for this team. Picture trade deadline Elliotte Friedman, but hyper-focused on the Canucks.
The only thing he loves more than working the phones is his Crown Royal. Dhaliwal has worked on all sides of the fence, most recently TSN1040, and prior to that Sportsnet 650. In the wake of the evil Bell Media layoffs, he has started up a new project called Donnie & Dahli – The Team, a new 2 hour TV spot on CHEK TV Monday through Friday, 10 am-12 pm with Don Taylor. I reached out to Rick for an idea of what to expect for his new show,
“Expect the same as radio – informative, entertaining, lots of laughs, good guests, fresh news. Just two guys talking sports”
If you have ever listened to Rick on the radio, then you know that this will be worth setting your PVR for every day, keep an eye out on April 5th for the first installment. For now, be sure to turn on his Tweet notifications to be the first guy in your group chat to break the news of the latest trades. If you can’t catch him on TV, the show will be available in Podcast form as well.
The Broadscast – @BroadscastPod
I could try and explain to you what the Broadscast is, and why it is important, but I would not be able to do justice, So I reached out to co-host of the podcast, Vanessa Jang and I asked Vanessa what they are all about:
I’d say a female-driven sports podcast covering sports in a non-traditional way. We dive into topics hardly covered in mainstream media, with the most important being the intersection of sports with cultural and/or societal issues. In terms of our role in the market, our goal is to advocate and represent #WomenInSports
The Broadscast took the world by storm when they came on the scene in 2020, and have been a force for equality in sports media ever since. They are also the ones the coined the famous Motte Girl Summer phrase. If you’re looking for a fun group to follow and to add some diversity to your Canucks Twitter feed, then these are the people you are looking for. They also make some absolutely killer merch. Plus, they just dunk on frat bros all day. If my endorsement isn’t enough, maybe check this out:
Jeff Paterson – @PatersonJeff
Batman and Robin, Spongebob and Patrick, Jpat and Drancer. Jeff Paterson has been covering this team since the dawn of time as far as I am concerned. Jeff Paterson’s coverage of the Canucks is a must on any one’s Twitter feed.
Jeff was very close and almost synonymous with Jason Botchford after their market-changing Patcast. Not only is Jeff a great reporter, radio personality and podcaster, he is also a great force for up and comers in the market.
Jason Botchford was known for taking up and coming journalists and bloggers under his wing and helping them develop into some of the best writers in the market. When Jason Suddenly passed away, Jeff took immediate action making sure that Jason’s legacy lived on by being heavily involved in The Botchford Project.
“The Botchford Project will present three more writers with the opportunity to spend a day following in Jason’s footsteps by covering a Canucks game live from Rogers Arena and having their paid article published on Canucks.com/BotchfordProject” – Canucks.com
Not only is Jeff a great writer, but all signs also point to him being a great guy too.
Wyatt Arndt – @TheStanchion
Wyatt Arndt is someone who has taken being a fan and made it his job. Literally. His Twitter handle is even inspired by the famous Kevin Bieksa Stanchion Goal.
Wyatt also has close ties to Jason Botchford. (See what I mean by taking up and comers under his wing?) Wyatt often covered for Jason’s famous Provies and Athletties, a fan favourite postgame article series that felt more like a cult newsletter than a postgame recap. After Jason passed away, Wyatt has carried on the legacy of Jason’s with the Armies, a deep-cut reference to a saying Jason used to say, “it takes an army”.
The Armies are chaos, not Tyler Myers level chaos, but chaos none-the-less. In the best way. Starting to read the Armies would be like jumping into a TV show in the middle of the third season. With long-running jokes, nicknames and references that you only understand the longer you have read it. The Armies always feature countless embedded tweets that fans wear as a badge of honour when one of their tweets makes the cut.
Wyatt is hilarious on Twitter and is a force, as far as generating nicknames for players and generally pulling fans from all sides of the #BitterBro vs. #BenningBro battle into one safe space to make childish jokes, and compare Thatcher Demko to sparkling water.
Tommy Kippes – @TommyKippes
I really don’t know where to start with Tommy. Really, he tweets and he eats. That’s really why you should follow him. His tweets are always fantastic and his eating is truly awful, in the best way.
Tommy seems to feel the pain and suffer from being a Canucks fan more than anyone, mostly because he inflicts extra pain on himself. The Thing about Tommy is he takes the way your heart feels about the team, and he translates that into eating gross stuff, really fast to music.
All artists have their canvas, and Tommy’s canvas is shotgunning a jug of milk, or a can of corn. It’s sick, it’s twisted, it’s something I watch every time. He is a must-follow if only to try and reach out and offer him help. Seriously, who brushes their teeth, for the sole purpose of shotgunning a jug of orange juice? A true fan, that’s who.
Bonus Follow
Like any good superhero movie, if you stick around to the end you get just a little more. The new kids on the block, the buy-low candidates, yours truly, StadiumChinatown.ca. We are a Canucks site run by myself, Trent Leith and co-creator Brayden Fengler. We are always tweeting like fans during Canucks games, and are both proud to say that we are in the Included in the Armies club, and even our website’s Twitter page has been featured. We are relatively new on the scene, but you better get used to us, because we are going to be here a while.