DENVER — Luca Sbisa disappointed his mom again.

The Vancouver Canucks' defenceman doesn't get to play in front of his mom, Isabella, all that often. But when he does it seems he often ends up in a fight. And he hardly ever fights.

Sbisa's mom arrived in Vancouver from her home in Italy a few days early for the current Canucks mothers’ trip. So she was able to watch the Canucks play the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

That game included a fight between Sbisa and Flames winger Micheal Ferland.

"She hates it," Sbisa said. "I got into my first fight in my second game in juniors and she was there for that one. I don't fight much, but every time I do my mom's in town. It's so weird.

"She has probably seen 60 per cent of my fights.

Every time, she's like, 'I am going to have a heart attack out there,' and I'm like, ‘Sorry mom, trust me, I don't like doing that stuff.' "

Sbisa knew he was in trouble when he went to meet his mom after the Calgary game.

"I walk out there and she's like this (shaking her head)," a smiling Sbisa said. "I knew exactly what she was pointing at."

Sbisa said he and his teammates are delighted to have the mothers along for this two-game road trip. He also said it's funny how some of his teammates change when their moms are around.

"Some guys, they change from one person to the other," Sbisa said. "We make fun of the guy and say, 'be yourself, be yourself.' And their moms look at them like, what are they talking about."

Many of the mothers of Vancouver's European players did not make the long trip over, but Sbisa said his mom was determined to be part of it. His mom and dad recently moved to Verona, Italy from Switzerland.

"To get over here, it is a bit of a hike," Sbisa said. "Her total travel time was 23 hours. She went Verona to Rome, where she had a five-hour layover, and then to London and Vancouver.

"It's nice to have her around. It's something special."

ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: There was a higher than normal turnout of Canucks at this morning's optional skate at the Pepsi Center.

You could call it an altitude adjustment. The players like to get a feel for Denver's thin air before they play in the actual game.

"That was my thinking for sure," said Vancouver winger Alex Burrows. "Otherwise the first period or the first few shifts can be tough. I think just to get used to it might give you a little edge."

Burrows joked that when he plays in Denver he often wishes he was a left-winger, not a right-winger.

"When you are on the right wing, for two periods you have the longer change," Burrows said with a chuckle. "When you are on the left wing it's easier to come back to the bench. You notice it if you get caught out there for a long shift."

bziemer@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/bradziemer