Stevenson has not yet received a response from anyone in Canuck management, but general manager Mike Gillis said late Thursday he understands the passion of the team’s fans.
“I think people are frustrated, not unlike us, we’re also frustrated,” Gillis said. “I think everyone around the game is frustrated to a certain measure. It gets played out in a variety of different ways.
“Our season-ticket holders are extremely important and we value their opinions at a very high level. It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances, but we have passionate fans and passionate people will display their emotion in a variety of ways.”
Gillis said Canucks, who have a lengthy season-ticket waiting list, have had “a limited number of season-ticket cancellations.”
Stevenson said the tickets were costing her family nearly $11,000 a year, plus as much as $8,000 for playoff tickets. They had put down roughly $3,700 towards this season’s tickets, which will now be refunded.
“Our season-tickets are a big investment for us,” Stevenson said. “It always hurt a little bit when those payments came due. I think that’s also why it feels a little bit liberating to be honest.”
She’s not sure what her family will do with that extra money.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It will probably all be going on our line of credit.”
Stevenson knows she and her husband have lots of company in being frustrated fans. One of her friends, West Vancouver video game producer Steve Rechtschaffner, on Wednesday started a petition that asks fans to boycott the NHL and all of its products for three years unless hockey is being played by Christmas.
Like Stevenson, Rechtschaffner feels like fans just don’t have a voice.
“I guess the word would be frustration,” Rechtschaffner, himself a former Canuck season-ticket holder, said when asked why he started the petition. “I think a lot of people feel like they are frustrated by the whole situation and have no leverage, don’t have a dog in the fight.
“And I thought I am willing to commit to the idea that if these people really don’t make an effort to get it solved and get it going by Christmas I want to let them know that I am willing to commit to not spending any money on their product for three years.”
His petition only had a handful of signatures on Thursday, but Rechtschaffner thinks numbers will swell with some media exposure and word of mouth.
“If you’re a fan of NHL hockey and are feeling disrespected and taken for granted, this is a way to let the owners and players know that there will be long- range damage to them, that they should take into account before blowing this entire season up,” Rechtschaffner’s petition says.
A link to it can be found at www.change.org/petitions/n-h-l-and-n-h-l-p-a-end-the-lockout-by-xmas-or-you-won-t-see-my-money-for-the-next-3-years.
bziemer@vancouversun.comtwitter.com/bradziemer
