FIN surprises 90-year-old Canucks superfan during socially distant tour

Sometimes all you need to get you through a lonely time is a house call from a fuzzy, tooth-bearing orca whale, even if it is through glass.

The visit from FIN was the perfect gift for Angela Lee's mother Jean, a 90-year-old Canucks superfan and longtime friend to the Vancouver Canucks mascot.
Jean had been going back and forth between her condo in nearby Burnaby, British Columbia and a long-term care facility before the COVID-19 pandemic. But once lockdowns went into effect, she moved into the facility full-time and wasn't allowed any visitors, except if they came to the window.
That just happened to play right into FIN's new venture. Jumping out of his personalized van for birthday parties, anniversaries, Christmas celebrations, gender reveals and shout outs, FIN has stayed busy since March 29, 2020 with 634 socially distant visits with fans, which he'll continue doing them through the offseason.

"(The Canucks staff) asked if it was a special occasion, and I said no, her 90th birthday was in September," Angela said. "But you know with the lockdown, no games, not getting to see FIN, this would be a nice surprise for her."
For Jean, it was a chance to see an old friend while Angela also kept her distance and took video and photos of the adorable scene, which took place in late January.
Jean, a retired physician who immigrated to Canada from China in the 1960s, got into hockey through her two kids, who grew up watching the Canucks. It was around the time Vancouver picked Trevor Linden with the second selection in 1988 NHL Draft.
"She always wondered when we were younger what we were watching," Angela said. "Then she started following hockey and she would watch it on TV with us. She had a hard time following the puck at first, and then she got so hooked on it, that she'd actually listen to the games on the radio. Then even when she had like, a dinner meeting, she'd record their game, and ask nobody to tell her what the score was."
When Canucks tickets were hard to come by, the family would take road trips to other cities like Anaheim, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Eventually Jean attended games regularly and even collected enough memorabilia to dedicate a whole room in her condo to the Canucks, coined the "Trevor Linden Room," as her favorite player's items accounted for many of the collectibles.
Jean also formed a friendship over 20 years with FIN after meeting him at one of the first games she attended in Vancouver.
"I took her picture with FIN, it was just happenstance, and after that she was just so happy," Angela said. "She loved him so much."
Jean would find him in the FIN Zone -- a rare elderly woman in line among children -- to get her picture taken with him. And he often found her in the stands to say hello and pose for more pictures. Once she needed to sit in the wheelchair accessible area, he knew exactly where to find her every time.
"He's very good at games," Angela said. "He'll walk by and mom will see him and she'll grab his fin and he'll bite her head. You know, it's a lot of laughs and she just loves it."

One night after a game in December 2019, he grabbed a puck off the ice and handed it to her, only to go into the locker room area to see the team's equipment manager looking for the same puck because it was the one forward Elias Pettersson used to score the game-winning overtime goal and also his 100th point.
When Jean and Angela learned they had Pettersson's puck, they were happy to give it back but with one request: Jean wanted to hand it to him herself.
"She got quite confused because he walked over and handed her a stick and she was like, 'What am I doing with this?' At the time she was 89 and her memory's not good," Angela said. "So I said, 'Give him the puck, I think he's giving you a signed stick.' And he did."

So Jean got one more item for her collection and a story to tell her friends, even if they don't follow her fandom.
"It's really funny because, you know, as she's gotten older, she tries to explain to her elderly Chinese friends and they're like, 'Why is this Chinese woman so into hockey?" Angela said. "But she enjoys it."
Angela says Jean has had trouble remembering things from time to time, but when FIN hopped out of that van and went up to the window, Jean lit up. He brought her some little gifts, including a stuffed version of himself that has since been hooked to her walker.
"He pulled up in his FIN van," Angela said. "Unfortunately, she couldn't hear the music because they were playing Randy Newman's, 'You've Got a Friend in Me.' But I recorded a video of him walking up and I got her reaction, and I took the photos. It was just a really nice surprise."