Coach Roger Neilson started the tradition of waving white towels at Canucks playoff games.

The roll that the Canucks were on to finish the season continued into the playoffs.  Though there were fewer than 12,000 witnesses (the only non-sellout in Vancouver for these playoffs), the Canucks took it to the Flames in Game 1, with their top line doing most of the damage.  Thomas Gradin set up Stan Smyl for a goal eight seconds in and shortly afterward Curt Fraser manhandled Willi Plett to set the tone for what would be a chippy affair.  The final was 5-3. Goals would be at a premium in the second game, with Richard Brodeur and Pat Riggin surrendering only a goal each through regulation time.  At the 12:53 mark of overtime, Dave Williams, who was being tackled to the ice by Greg Hindmarch, slid the puck through Riggin's pads and across the line and then skated, no, ran to the other end of the rink where he was finally caught by teammates and mauled.  In the third game, at Calgary's Stampede Corral, it was once again a goaltending duel between Brodeur and Riggin.  Again, Williams broke a 1-1 tie with a huge goal (after earlier punishing Lanny McDonald with a devastating check) and Brodeur took things from there.  Gradin added an empty-net goal to seal the victory, and the Canucks had won a playoff series for the first time in franchise history.

In the second round, the Canucks would take advantage of a huge upset, drawing the Los Angeles Kings as opponents instead of Edmonton.  The teams would split the games in Vancouver, both games by 3-2 scores.  The Canucks won the first, thanks to two power-play goals by Ivan Hlinka and C Gary Lupul's third period tiebreaker, and then the Kings won the second on Steve Bozek's goal in overtime.  Game Three at the Forum would be eventful in that D Colin Campbell, who had gone goalless in 54 regular-season games, tallied to open the scoring and then scored again in overtime to give the Canucks a 4-3 win.  The real hero was Brodeur, though, who stopped 41 shots in victory and stopped 33 two nights later in a 5-4 win.  The Canucks now lead the series 3-1 and had the opportunity to claim the series at home on April 21. Late in Game Five, with the Canucks leading 4-2 and Los Angeles calling a time-out, organist David Foster began piping out the chorus to Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Good-Bye, a long-forgotten single by the Swedish group Steam.  The crowd of 16,413 began "Na"ing, "Hey"ing and "Good-Bye"ing along with him, and a new Vancouver playoff tradition was born. The singing changed to deafening cheers as the time ran off the clock on a 5-2 victory.  The Canucks had advanced to the Campbell Conference Finals.

Richard Brodeur playing against the Chicago Black Hawks.

The Canucks had done well so far, but how would they react to the playoff crowd at Chicago Stadium for the first two games?  Anthemist Wayne Messmer had the crowd whipped into a frenzy before the first game started, and the Canucks would have to come out flying to settle them down.  What would settle them down, though, would be Richard Brodeur.  Everything the Hawks threw at him, he handled.  Equally as impressive was Tony Esposito in the Chicago goal.  Only Thomas Gradin, on an excellent set-up by Fraser, and Terry Ruskowski exchanged goals through sixty minutes, which meant that game one would be settled in overtime.  Twenty minutes came and went without a goal, despite some excellent scoring chances, especially for Chicago.  That trend continued into the second overtime until Harold Snepsts stopped a Chicago clearing attempt almost nine minutes into the period.  His long shot was stopped by Esposito.  However, Jim Nill swooped in on the rebound and roofed it, winning the game for the Canucks.  The goal came at 28:58 of overtime and the game still stands as the longest in Canucks history.  Two nights later was memorable for different reasons.  The game was fairly evenly played, but the Canucks did not get any breaks from the officiating.  The Canucks had a goal called back that would have closed the score to 3-2 because of a questionable penalty call, and on the ensuing power play the Hawks scored to put the game out of reach.  Roger Neilson was incensed.  "Why don't we throw all of the sticks on the ice?" asked Tiger Williams to his coach.  "No, I've done that before," Neilson answered, "Let's surrender."  So Roger took a white trainer's towel, propped it onto a spare stick and waived it in the air in mock surrender.  Several players followed suit.  Referee Bob Myers was first going to ignore the incident, until captain Stan Smyl turned him in the direction of the bench to make sure he understood what his team thought of the officiating.  Neilson was ejected from the game (and later fined by the league), but on his long walk across Chicago Stadium ice he was congratulated by several players, the last being Brodeur, who ruffled his hair with his big catching mitt before the coach departed through the gate behind the net.  Of course, this latest event was ripe for exploitation.  A killing was made on white towel sales outside the Coliseum to jubilant fans waiting to get inside the building.  Once inside, the sight and sound of 16,413 fans waving towels and screaming was really something to behold.  This game, the Black Hawks thought themselves the victims of the officiating.  Denis Savard drew a Match Penalty for spitting at referee Andy van Hellemond, ending the series for Savard and basically for his team as well. The Canucks won both games in Vancouver by 4-3 and 5-3 scores and the fans in Game Four once again began singing good-bye to the visitors.  This time, "Chi-ca-go" was cleverly inserted in place of "Hey-Hey-Hey".  The Canucks could now wrap up the series in Chicago and had little difficulty doing so.  The Canucks won 6-2 and were forced to dodge the debris coming from the crowd in the closing minutes.  After the game had been won, Smyl and Snepsts hoisted the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl and the players then retired to their dressing room, where Freeze Frame was blared out while the team celebrated.  There was no time to return home, it was straight from Chicago to New York for the opening of the Stanley Cup Final.

Harold Snepsts and Stan Smyl hoisting the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl.

Who would have believed it?  The Vancouver Canucks were in the Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately, the three teams they had beaten to arrive here would have been easy pushovers for the Wales Conference representatives; two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion New York Islanders.  The first game on May 8 was played loosey-goosey for two periods, with each team scoring four goals.  Things tightened up in the third, though, as neither team wanted to make a mistake that would put them behind.  Finally, at the 13:00 mark, Ivan Hlinka intercepted a pass and fed Jim Nill, who scored to give the Canucks a 5-4 lead.  Fans across BC went crazy.  Could the Canucks take a one game lead on the mighty Islanders?   The Isles started pressing hard, with Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier on the ice almost all of the last seven minutes.  With under two minutes to play, some miscommunication at the side of the Vancouver goal created the opportunity for Bossy to swoop in and knock in a loose puck for his second goal of the game. Though dejected at squandering a golden chance to win the game, it was headed to overtime, which is a desirable position for underdog teams in such a situation.  The overtime period was played similar to the third, very conservatively.  The few chances all went to the Isles, but Richard Brodeur was sharp when he needed to be.  The last face-off occurred outside the Vancouver blueline with twelve seconds to play.  Trottier won the draw back to Denis Potvin, who drilled the puck in behind the Vancouver goal.  Harold Snepsts went back to retrieve, but Trottier was in right after him and tried to hook the puck away from him.  Not wanting to risk coughing up the puck to Trottier, Snepsts decided to fire it down the ice and kill of the remaining time. Unfortunately, he misfired.  Bossy knocked the puck down and slapped a perfect shot off the post and into the net behind a stunned Brodeur.  The time of the goal was 19:58.  The Canucks again had a chance to earn a split on the road two nights later, when they lead 3-2 after two periods. Unfortunately, Bossy, Trottier, and company went to work again in the third period, scoring four times and earning a 6-4 victory. 

Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders attempting to score on Richard Brodeur.

The series now shifted to Vancouver, and what a reception the Canucks got when Air Canuck touched down at Vancouver International Airport!  The fans, undeterred by the two-game series deficit, chanted "Na-Na-Na-Na, Na-Na-Na-Na, New Yo-ork, Good-bye" as they greeted their heroes.  It took the team bus over an hour to move two miles from the airport to the Arthur Lange Bridge, as the streets were packed with rabid Canucks fans.  The reception inside Pacific Coliseum was no less moving.  The team received a standing ovation and as they skated out for the pre-game warm-up and the towels didn't stop waving until well into the first period.  A lesser opponent may have been rattled.  But these were the champions.  The Islanders had seen it all before, and executed their plays with workmanlike efficiency in the two games in Vancouver.  The Canucks fought hard, but could not muster many scoring opportunities.  The third game was scoreless after one, 1-0 New York after two, and was 2-0 until Bob Nystrom put it away with an empty-netter for a 3-0 final.  Game four was played similarly.  Butch Goring gave the Isles an early lead, but the Canucks fought back, thanks to some furious forechecking by Stan Smyl and Darcy Rota.  The "Steamer" forced the puck past Billy Smith into the net on sheer will power to tie the score.  The game remained tied through most of the second period, but two late power-play goals by, who else, Mike Bossy gave the Isles a 3-1 lead with a period to go.  The Canucks didn't even get a sniff.  Playing team defence to absolute perfection, the Isles did not permit the Canucks to gain possession in the attacking zone at all.  The run was over.  It was a four-game sweep for the Islanders for their third straight Cup.

The city, proud of its team nonetheless, threw a parade in the Canucks honor, and an estimated 100,000 fans lined the streets on May 17 to give their heroes one final touching salute.  The spring of 1982 was a magical ride for British Columbians, and it was hoped that the momentum from these playoffs would carry over into something big in the years to come.