Lunar New Year is just days away, but the Vancouver Canucks are already dressed up.
The team sported new red and gold jerseys fit for a king or, in the case of Lunar New Year, a tiger.
The Year of the Tiger begins February 1, so when designing the team’s warm-up jerseys, Vancouver artist Trevor Lai took inspiration from the apex predator, transforming the classic Canucks orca into a tiger.
“It’s inspiring to imagine an orca transforming into a tiger, symbolizing that we can become anything we want to be, including a better neighbor and ally to each other,” Lai said.
On the shoulder patch, Lai incorporated Millennium Gate into Vancouver’s Chinatown.
“The Chinese name for the Canucks is 加人队 (jia ren dui) and I imagined the characters would fit perfectly into the catwalk,” he said.
The words at the top of Millennium Gate read, “remember the past and look to the future”, and Lai felt it was important to include this vision.
“We all want to look to the future, but we have to learn from our past to improve together,” Lai said.
The Lunar New Year warm-up jerseys will be auctioned off to benefit #Elimin8Hate, a local community organization fighting for racial equity and an inclusive society for all Asian Canadians.
