Rogers Arena has been celebrating 30 years all season long, and on\u00a0the\u00a0Vancouver Canucks\u2019\u00a0Fan Appreciation Night, the team delivered\u00a0yet another\u00a0big surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barb Korenkiewicz\u00a0thought she was just running a little late to meet her sister before\u00a0puck\u00a0drop on Tuesday night. Instead, she walked straight into a moment\u00a0she\u2019ll\u00a0never forget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As she arrived and went through security, the routine quickly turned into something surreal. Confetti and streamers burst into the air, and suddenly she was surrounded by Canucks legends Stan Smyl and Kirk McLean, along with FIN\u00a0and\u00a0little\u00a0FIN.\u00a0
\u00a0
That\u2019s when she got the news that she was the 50 millionth fan to walk through the doors at Rogers Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just in total shock,\u201d\u00a0Korenkiewicz said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had Stan on one side and Kirk on the other, and\u00a0they’re\u00a0handing me these big, giant, like certificates to hold and I was so excited about it I started cheering \u2018Go Canucks Go\u2019 and they all started cheering with me.\u00a0I’ll\u00a0never forget\u00a0it,\u00a0it was so special.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still processing it all, she was handed a sign marking the milestone and presented with an even bigger surprise: a ticket to every event at Rogers Arena for the next year,\u00a0including\u00a0Canucks\u00a0and Warriors games\u00a0as well as\u00a0concerts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s\u00a0just this means so much to\u00a0me, because\u00a0I just love the Canucks and I bleed Canuck\u00a0colours\u00a0from the bottom of my heart. To have something like this happen just\u00a0means so\u00a0so\u00a0much to me,\u201d Korenkiewicz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For\u00a0Korenkiewicz, the moment meant even more given her long history with the team.\u00a0She\u2019s\u00a0been attending Canucks games since the building\u00a0first\u00a0opened as GM Place in 1995, even recalling doing a tour of the building before the grand opening.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the day, they used to put the goal\u00a0judge\u2019s\u00a0box behind the nets in the stands,\u00a0and I have a picture of me sitting in that box.\u00a0That’s\u00a0the first time that I\u00a0came\u00a0here,\u201d Korenkiewicz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the years,\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0built countless memories inside the arena, with a couple of\u00a0favourites. Being in the building\u00a0for\u00a0Alex Burrows\u00a0slaying\u00a0the dragon in the Canucks\u2019\u00a02011\u00a0playoff run\u00a0was one of the most incredible sports experiences\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0been a part of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think about it, I still get goose bumps.\u00a0The energy and intensity in the building when it all released and everyone was going\u00a0crazy,\u201d\u00a0Korenkiewicz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trevor Linden was\u00a0her\u00a0favourite\u00a0player\u00a0growing up, and attending his retirement ceremony\u00a0remains\u00a0one of her most cherished experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so emotional to celebrate\u00a0him and\u00a0having gone on his entire journey with him since he was a\u00a0rookie\u00a0to when he retired.\u00a0That\u00a0was special,\u201d\u00a0Korenkiewicz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Korenkiewicz\u00a0plans\u00a0to share\u00a0her once-in-a-lifetime prize with\u00a0family and friends, including her partner Sharon, her sister, nephew,\u00a0and\u00a0niece,\u00a0who already\u00a0has her eye on upcoming concerts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s going to be fun,\u00a0so fun to share this,\u201d Korenkiewicz said.\u00a0“My niece\u00a0is all about K Pop, so she\u2019s definitely going to get those, and\u00a0Sharon, myself, my sister and\u00a0my\u00a0nephew Anthony are all diehard Canucks fans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the next year, Korenkiewicz will get to make even more memories in a place\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0already meant so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rogers Arena has been celebrating 30 years all season long, and on\u00a0the\u00a0Vancouver Canucks\u2019\u00a0Fan Appreciation Night, the team delivered\u00a0yet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5128],"tags":[894,5,4,893,27,5313],"class_list":{"0":"post-556577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver-canucks","8":"tag-canucks","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-vancouver","12":"tag-vancouver-canucks","13":"tag-vancouvercanucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116436020172041829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}