Playing mini-sticks in his basement for hours, days and weeks on end, Virtanen would emulate his favourite player, Markus Naslund, his shot, his finesse, his everything. The only thing that stopped Virtanen from playing was his mom calling him for dinner, but even then, his dream to one-day play in the NHL never took a break.

Now, sitting in his new stall in the Canucks dressing room, Virtanen’s life is surreal. Beside him sit Henrik Sedin and Radim Vrbata and as he looks around the dressing room, he sees Daniel Sedin, Alex Burrows, Jannik Hansen and Alex Edler.

The players Virtanen grew up watching and cheering for are now his teammates, with the exception of Naslund. The two will be face-to-face, however, this coming Monday when the Canucks celebrate the West Coast Express as part of the 20th anniversary of Rogers Arena.

The trio of Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison will reunite in Vancouver for the first time in a long time.

“I have some great memories of watching them play,” said Virtanen. “They were unstoppable and they each brought something different to the line. As a kid, it was so fun to watch.”

The West Coast Express dared Virtanen to dream big and his tale to the NHL wouldn’t be what it is without them.

Born in New Westminster and growing up in Abbotsford, Virtanen spent his childhood playing hockey in the lower mainland wearing number 19, after Naslund, of course. With his parents having Canucks season tickets when he was young, he was able to attend Canucks games all the time.

One memory of the West Coast Express rises above all others for him.

”It was some of the nicest passing I’ve ever seen,” recalled Virtanen. “They seemed to just know where the others were and tic-tac-toe, the puck was on Naslund’s stick and he scored. They always made goals like that look easy, when they’re really hard. They were really something amazing.”