After learning that he was joining the Canucks from the St. Louis Blues in a multiplayer trade on March 5, 1991, Ronning, a Burnaby native and former New Westminster Bruins standout, recalls, “I was really excited, but I was also really nervous.”
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I was aware that I would either drown or swim. I was aware that I would be returning to a setting where fans might occasionally be highly individualized.
It’s another indication of how much more intense the attention is in a Canadian city in the NHL, and how it has been for a while.
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The Canadians who are currently under scrutiny are Thatcher Demko, Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller, and Elias Pettersson. And social media is the sole reason it has become worse over time.
According to Ronning, 59, “listening to Dan Russell, the original dean of sports talk radio in Vancouver, was the only way you could find out what was going on the street back in my day.” Everyone has an opinion, which is the one drawback of operating in a Canadian market. Blocking out the noise is the most important lesson I could teach the young Canucks players right now. To help your team win, keep everything in the dressing room and concentrate entirely on giving it your all. The noise from outside only depresses you.
Cliff Ronning in the Canucks’ news
In 2018, Cliff Ronning was photographed at his Burnaby residence. Richard Lam/PNG photo
“I performed in Nashville.” When you put on a good show, the people are happy. It’s all about winning with Canadian teams. How you win is irrelevant to them. It could be a 10-9 game or it could be dull.
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Many people will criticize you because they have strong opinions. I simply discovered that the fans would leave you alone and move on to other players as long as I put in my best effort during each shift.
Ronning had put up 89 goals and 197 points with the New West Bruins in his last season of junior hockey in 1984-85, but NHL teams fretted about his 5-foot-8, 170-pound stature, and he was only a seventh-round choice in the draft by the Blues the season before.
Ronning had moments in his four seasons with the Blues, but has yet to find a genuine fit there. Ronning was in Hartford getting ready for a game when he and wingers Sergio Momesso and Geoff Courtnall and defender Robert Dirk were summoned in together by team leadership and told that they all were being moved to the Canucks. Defenceman Garth Butcher and centre Dan Quinn came to the Blues from the Canucks in return.
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