The fly-by. Five guys skating by the bench for high fives after a goal. Ubiquitous in NHL arenas. When did it begin? I wanted to find out, so I called Darcy Tucker. Wed heard that Vancouver Giants head coach Don Hay has said he thinks the three-time Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers – his former team – may have started the trend in the early 90s. Tucker remembers doing the fly-by, but not starting it. Ryan Huska, a former Blazer teammate and current Kelowna Rockets head coach, said the same. Drew Bannister played for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the 92 Memorial Cup final against Kamloops. He says the Hounds were already doing the fly-by themselves, as were other OHL teams. Square one. I turned to my colleagues. Ray Ferraro figured it was a thing by 2000, but not a thing he warmly embraced. "I hated it," he wrote in an email. I watched old tapes. The fly-by was definitely happening by 2000. I found examples as early as the 95/96 season, like this one: Saku Koivu in his rookie year. Young players were more likely to do it than old, which is consistent with the widely held belief that junior hockey players were doing the fly-by before NHLers. It trickled up. "It was totally a junior thing. I think it started close to my first year – 95," said Jeff ONeill, who shares Ferraros distaste for the fly-by. "I hate it." But he did give me my first solid lead. "I may be wrong, but I think the Peterborough Petes may have started it." I called Jeff Twohey. Twohey is the GM of the Oshawa Generals, but was with the Petes for 30 years. He started as a scout in 1980, and was general manager for 17 seasons. "I think we were the first team to ever do it," says Twohey. "My gut was that we started it. We had such a tight-knit group back in the early 80s." Definitely smoke. But fire? I asked around. "It was not done when I was in junior from 81-84," wrote Dave Reid in an email. "Late 80s is probably close." Andrew MacVicar played from 86-89 with the Petes. He remembers doing the fly-by, but only on big goals or in the playoffs. "It was supposed to be something really special," says MacVicar. MacVicars specific memory that teammate Billy Huard began doing the fly-by more often and earlier in games as a way to get under the skin of Petes opponents was a dead end, too. Huard has no recollection of doing it at all, let alone having a hand in its evolution. MacVicar thought Jamie Hicks (86-90) would remember. He doesnt. He also thought Mark Freer (85-88) might remember. Freer does, vaguely, but he named Kris King as the possible creator of the fly-by, and King has no memory of it. King then suggested that Twohey might have something to say on the matter. This is about the time I got dizzy. I called Corey Foster, who played in Peterborough from 86-89. He says the Petes were definitely doing the fly-by in his final year with the team, when they went to the Memorial Cup. I went back to the tape library. No Petes games. But we do have the final, and I found a fly-by. Scott Scissons, playing for the Saskatoon Blades. Its a beta version of the fly-by – instead of flying past the bench, the players sort of turn around and just stand there – but it counts. Thats the earliest video evidence we have. It seemed unlikely that the Scissons goal was the fly-bys big bang. I was getting nowhere, so we put the question to twitter. Curious theories poured in. One suggestion had it that the fly-by grew out of Brian Propps unique and unusual guffaw goal celebration. Propp says no. Others blamed Hollywood. I knew the Top Gun hypothesis was a joke, but I watched all of D2: Mighty Ducks and Slap Shot before I realized those were probably tongue-in-cheek suggestions, and references to the Flying V and Steve Hanson. "Bring the kids. We got entertainment for the whole family." Plenty of people figure the fly-by started at the World Juniors, but we cant find any examples of it before 1991. In Red Deer in 1995, Team Canada was doing the fly-by in its current form: all five players skating by the bench. Before that, the video evidence is less compelling. There are solid signs of it at the 94 and 93 tournaments. In 92 and 91, we know that the goal-scorer on at least a few occasions did the fly-by, though in most cases we cant tell if his teammates joined in, and in some cases we know they did not. (As in this goal by Paul Kariya, for example). Did it start with the Montreal Canadiens? For a brief time, the Habs bench would empty for every goal: everyone celebrating on the ice together. When a rule was implemented to end that practice, the theory goes, the team began the fly-by. Mark Napier, a Canadien from 1978-84, said no. Did it start with the Edmonton Oilers in the mid-80s? Napier (84-86 with the Oilers) said no again. As did Paul Coffey, adamantly. "Why do (the fly-by)? Whats the point? Just celebrate with the guys on the ice, and go line up." That sounds suspiciously like Jester talking to Maverick: "Get your butts above the hard deck and return to base immediately." Maybe I should revisit the Top Gun theory. At this point, I got a tip that the fly-by started in Moose Jaw in the mid-to-late 80s. Lorne Molleken – an assistant coach in his first season with Moose Jaw in 89 – remembers it. He thinks. "What sticks out in my mind is moreso the players high-fiving the fans," said Molleken. The Moose Jaw Civic Centre – or the Crushed Can – had unusually low glass beside the benches, says Molleken, and at some point players got the fans involved in goal celebrations. "We came out of our end and there were piles of kids hanging over the glass," recalled Scott Reid, who played in Moose Jaw from 88-90. "No one else was doing it at the time that I can remember." "Wed do our whole bench and fans from the bench to the hash mark," said Jerome Bechard, a Warrior from 85-90. "We probably skated 20 or 25 feet." But not everyone shares that memory. "I dont remember that," said Theo Fleury, who played four seasons in Moose Jaw. "You just didnt do that," said Fleury, laughing. "If you wanted to start a brawl, you did it." Fleurys last season with the Warriors was 87/88, which means the earliest the fly-by was a thing in Moose Jaw is the following season, 88/89: the same time it was probably happening in Peterborough, and the same time it definitely sort-of happened by seasons end in the Memorial Cup final. Clear as mud. Which brings us to the oddest and most intriguing theory of all: the fly-by was born on a French Canadian television drama about a fictional Quebec City hockey team. Lance et Compte (which roughly translates as He shoots, he scores) aired from 1986 to 1989 in its first incarnation, and, sure enough, theres the fly-by in Season 1, Episode 5, albeit with just the one skater and not the full team. "I remember that the director at the time wanted that shot because it was easy to shoot," says Rejean Tremblay, who wrote on the show. "One camera, five guys skating in front of the beach, you could make it in less than ten minutes." Is it possible that the origin of the fly-by was the brainchild of a cost-conscious French Canadian director? It seems unlikely, but really, its about as likely as anything else. Discount Air Max Plus Nz . Chris Heisey followed with a two-run triple and Billy Hamilton added an RBI double, all but sealing Cincinnatis fourth straight victory and seventh in eight games. 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Three days after falling to Hamilton, Abbotsford scored three goals in 53 seconds en route to a convincing 5-1 win over the Bulldogs Saturday in American Hockey League play.VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks arent used to this feeling. After five straight playoff appearances -- including a Stanley Cup final Game 7 on home ice just three seasons ago -- the clubs miserable 2013-14 campaign was finally taken off life support Monday. It wasnt pretty on the ice or in the stands. John Gibson made just 18 saves to record a shutout in his first NHL game as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the listless Canucks 3-0 to officially eliminate Vancouver from post-season contention. "Not a very good feeling," said defenceman Kevin Bieksa. "Not too familiar. Its been a while. Were disappointed for sure. The last few weeks have been very disappointing." The Canucks played a decent opening 20 minutes on Monday, but couldnt muster anything through the final two periods with their season on the line. Once the hottest ticket in town, the lower bowl at Rogers Arena was dotted by hundreds of empty seats throughout the game, and many of the fans who did show up started heading to the exits long before the final buzzer sounded. The night ended with some in the half-empty building chanting for Canucks president and general manager Mike Gillis to be fired. Gillis seemed to criticize the style of first-year head coach John Tortorella in a radio interview last week, saying that he wanted the team to get back to the type of game that got it to the 2011 final against the Boston Bruins. But its clear many blame Gillis for the teams current plight. "(Fans) paid big money to come to these games. Its their prerogative how they handle themselves," said Tortorella. "As far as fans are concerned, thats their call. "They pay money to come see the games. Theyre not happy. They can voice their opinion how they like to." Bieksa said the players heard the chants with the clock and their playoff chances winding down. "Personally I dont think its the right thing to do, but at the end of the day the fans come and they can do whatever they want," he said. "Put it this way: were all going to take the blame for this. Its not just one or two guys. Its the whole team. Were going to take what we get, move forward, push through this." Daniel Winnik, Kyle Palmieri and Matt Beleskey had the goals for Anaheim (51-20-8), which is in a dog fight with the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division. Eddie Lack stopped 20 shots in his 19th straight start for Vancouver (35-33-11) since the Olympic break. The Canucks post-season hopes had been reduced to a mere mathematical possibility in recent weeks and it was fitting they were finally knocked off the cliff by an Anaheim team that looks primed for a long playoff run. Known for his outbursts during other coaching stops, Tortorella has been on his best behaviour in Vancouver and that didnt change despite Mondays disappointment. "It doesnt do anybody any good right now to be critical," said Tortorella. "Obviously we didnt play well enough, but Im not going to criticize the hockey club at this stage." Down 1-0 after giving up a short-handed goal in the first, the Canucks came out inexplicably flat in the second, registering just three shots in a demoralizing effort that saw Anaheim grab a 2-0 lead on Palmieris 14th of the season at 17:03. Prior to that back-breaker, the Canucks had a couple chances to at least direct pucks at Anaheims rookie netminder, but both Jannik Hansen and Daniel Sedin passed up shooting opportunities on separate 2-on-1 breaks. Vancouver had just nine shots to Anaheims 18 through two periods, with a smattering of boos just a prelude of what was to comes as the teams headed to the locker-rooms.dddddddddddd "We just didnt execute very well. We had a good first period," said Bieksa. "They capitalized on our power play. Its not the end of the game. Were still feeling good. Second period just wasnt very good at all. "If I could pinpoint it, we just werent executing. We werent making tape-to-tape passes. We were creating our own problems for ourselves." The Ducks -- who sit three points ahead of the Sharks for top spot in the Pacific Division and have a crucial home date against San Jose on Wednesday -- basically put things on autopilot in the third to help snap a two-game slide that included Sundays loss to the Edmonton Oilers. "The team played really well in front of me and made my job easier, I only had to make regular saves and if there was rebounds they cleared it out," said Gibson, who became the youngest goalie to earn a shutout in his first start since Daren Puppa in 1985. "Everyone knew it was a big game." Anaheim made it 3-0 against the sleepy Canucks 1:20 into the third when Beleskey finished off a pretty passing play for his seventh of the season. Gibson didnt have a lot to do on the night, but did make a huge save on Niklas Jensen to preserve the shutout with about eight minutes gone in the third. "He looked so much more calmer than a 20-year-old kid playing his first NHL game," said Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau. "It was like Ho hum. After my first game when I scored a goal you couldnt shut me up, I was so happy I was jumping up and down, and he was just Ah, here we go again. "I think its a demeanour that a goalie has to have." Coming of a spirited 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night that kept their minuscule playoff hopes alive, the Canucks didnt seem ready off Mondays opening faceoff. Lack stopped Cogliano on a breakaway 15 seconds into the first period, but the Vancouver goaltender couldnt bail his team a second time after another gaffe a few minutes. With Vancouver on the power play, Winnik jumped on a mistake by Canucks captain Henrik Sedin and moved in alone to rip his sixth of the season at 6:26. Vancouver had a couple of chances later in the man advantage, including a scramble in front of Gibson that saw the puck dribble off the post and stay out. Alexander Edler then ripped another shot off the iron that fooled Gibson, who is seen by many as Anaheims goalie of the future. Those two instances would be among the only highlights for the Canucks, who must now regroup with three meaningless games remaining on their schedule. "We keep preparing as we always do until the seasons done," said Tortorella. "Obviously were out of the playoffs now, but I still believe you go about your business until the last day of work and thats how were going to approach it and I believe the team will too." Notes: The game marked Teemu Selannes final visit to Vancouver as a player. Set to retire after the post-season, 43-year-old has said repeatedly that the city is his favourite stop in the NHL. The Canucks honoured Selanne with a brief scoreboard tribute in the first period. ... The Ducks are 10-1-2 in the second of back-to-back games this season, including two wins against the Canucks. ... Anaheim now has a 110 points in 2013-14, which tied a franchise record set in 2006-07 when the club won its only Stanley Cup. ... Gibson led the United States to gold at the 2013 world junior hockey championship. ... The Canucks host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. ' ' '