Andrew Gross: Islanders-Canucks game goes deeper with connections among players
Islanders captain Bo Horvat once captained the Vancouver Canucks. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The hockey ties that bind stay bound. They certainly did on Tuesday night at UBS Arena.
It’s why an early-season interconference game between the Islanders and the struggling Canucks that certainly seemed like much less than a marquee matchup — after all, the teams are separated by approximately 3,000 miles and three time zones and play just twice a season — felt strangely significant.
It certainly was to new Islanders captain Bo Horvat, who wore the “C” in Vancouver from 2019 until his midseason trade to Long Island in 2023. And it certainly was to Brayden Schenn and his brother, Luke, a Canucks defenseman, who relish any opportunity to be in the same NHL arena at the same time whether as teammates — as they were with the Flyers from 2012-16 — or opponents, as they have been much of their long careers, including in the playoffs.
The NHL is very often a cut-and-dried, win-or-lose proposition. But human beings breathe life into the league and the hockey world is a small one with myriad connections.
Which is why matches such as Tuesday night are compelling even if it’s easy to dismiss the Canucks, who entered the game having lost four straight and having been outscored 17-5 over the first three games of a six-game road trip, as a lesser opponent.
“It was a childhood dream together, playing in the NHL, playing against one another,” said Brayden Schenn, at 35 one year younger than his brother. “I think if you’d ask either one of us, we’re each other’s biggest supporter and have been in each other’s corner since Day 1. That’s what makes the whole ride special is you have a brother along to do it with you, whether it’s the summer training or the in-season grinds of the ups and downs. We’ve always kind of leaned on each other. It’s been important for both of us.”
The brothers and their families — each have three children — were together on Monday night, playing mini-sticks with their father and Islander defenseman Logan Stanley, a teammate of Luke Schenn’s with both the Jets and the Sabres.
“You definitely don’t take it for granted,” Luke Schenn said. “It’s special we’ve been able to do this for as long as we have. We understand where we are in our careers and how long we’ve been around in the league.
“When you’re on the bench and he’s having a shift, you’re kind of, just out of habit, keeping an eye on him. It was the same thing in Philadelphia and I played with him. You’re watching the game but you’ve kind of always got an eye on him.”
There are not many players left on the Canucks from Horvat’s time in Vancouver but he, too, still keeps an eye on his former teammates. Horvat called Brock Boeser’s wedding this offseason a nice reunion of the old Canuck crew.
“It’s definitely weird playing against him sometimes,” said Horvat, who played in his sixth game against his former team.
“When I was a young guy, he helped and he’s a guy I could look up to and talk to about stuff,” Boeser said. “He’s just such a good leader in that way and I definitely miss him. I’m just honored to be his friend.”
Horvat is still growing into his new role as Islanders captain after Anders Lee, who wore the “C” for a franchise-tying eight seasons, left for Utah via free agency.
Now 31, Horvat brings a bit more maturity to the captaincy as opposed to his time as the Canucks captain.
“It’s a full-circle moment for sure,” Horvat said. “It’s always cool to say you’re the captain of two NHL teams. It’s super humbling and I’m very grateful for that.”
Horvat certainly led the Islanders by example with a five-game point streak (four goals, including three on the power play, and two assists) to start the season.
“I got to know Bo at the Olympics and through training camp,” said coach Pete DeBoer, a Team Canada assistant during February’s Winter Games. “But you never know until you see him interact with his teammates, the reverence they hold him in and the respect he has in the room.
“I told Bo the other day I thought his game against Tampa (Saturday’s 5-3 loss at UBS Arena) was elite. He led the way for us all over the ice with his detail, his work ethic. It was all the other things away from the play that I loved about his game. That’s really going to define our group. If your captain and your best players play that way, that’s when you’ve got something special.”
Tuesday night’s game certainly didn’t present itself as anything special on paper, just a weekday match against a struggling opponent.
But dig deeper. Examine the ties that bind.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
