Once again, a section of Scott Road turned into a Canucks post-game playoff party on Sunday evening (April 21).
By around 10 p.m., hockey fans filled the intersection at 72 Avenue after Vancouver won Game 1 at Rogers Arena in their opening-round series with Nashville Predators.
For the Canucks, it was their first home playoff game in nine years.
For fans of the team, Sunday’s win meant a return to the unofficial celebration place on the Surrey-Delta border, with lots of cheering and honking car horns.
• RELATED: Joshua nets 2 as Canucks roar back for 4-2 win over Nashville in playoff opener.
Canucks regain Scott road 👍 pic.twitter.com/Jo0UzkWX5K
— DEEP SANGHA (@sanghasahab) April 22, 2024
Scott and 72 in Surrey celebrating the #Canucks game 1 victory over Nashville in the #StanleyCup Playoffs pic.twitter.com/WzoiaKkJ0J
— Raja Shergill (@Sher_Raja) April 22, 2024
Local police urge Canucks fans not to gather at the Scott/72 site, to no avail. The tradition dates back years, reaching a peak during the team’s run to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, and nobody really knows why.
Four years ago, in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, police estimated crowds of up to 1,500 and hundreds of vehicles celebrated the Canucks’ first-round victory over St. Louis Blues, when playoff games were played in a “bubble” in Edmonton.
The City of Delta will be hosting free viewing parties in North Delta for the duration of the Canucks’ playoff run, at Social Heart Plaza (11415 84th Ave.). The gathering was planned following a unanimously-endorsed motion by Coun. Dylan Kruger on April 8 “that Delta make plans to host Canucks playoff viewing and celebration areas at appropriate location throughout our community.”
– with files from James Smith, North Delta Reporter