Chris Tanev has made a name for himself in the National

Hockey League as a quiet, confident defenseman whose best attribute may just be

the way he processes the game and executes calmly under pressure. Very little

rattles the 26-year-old. That’s the ‘hockey’ Chris Tanev that Vancouver Canucks

fans have come to know and appreciate.

Put

Tanev in front of a television watching his beloved Toronto Blue Jays grind out

an extra inning win to advance to the American League Divisional Series as they

did on Tuesday night and it’s a different story. That calm demeanour and those

mild manners go out the window as quickly as Edwin Encarnacion’s three-run walk-off homer left the park.

“A few of us were watching the

game and me and Burr are always high and low,” Tanev said with a laugh after

practice at Rogers Arena on Wednesday. “There were a few times where they had

runners on and couldn’t move them or cash them in and we were getting on them

for that. But their pitching was awesome and then Edwin came up and did his

thing.”

Seeing

the Jays deliver on offense is something Tanev witnessed in person on occasion

throughout his off-season back home. He’s a partial season ticket holder at

Rogers Centre and figures he got to the ball park on a dozen occasions this

summer.

“I share season tickets with my

buddy’s dad,” he explains. “I used my tickets quite a few times and gave the

rest to my brother and family and friends. We sit behind home plate in the 28th

row. They’re pretty good seats. If you went five rows lower they’d probably be

perfect, but these are pretty good seats.”

Born and

raised in Toronto, Tanev was still in diapers when the Jays won their two World

Series titles in 1992 and again in 1993. So he was alive, but he wasn’t old

enough to recall those glory years. Since becoming a hard core fan as a kid,

Tanev has suffered through two decades of mediocre baseball with far more lows

than highs.

That

changed last year when the Jays advanced to the AL Championship series before

bowing out to eventual World Series champion Kansas City in six games. With the

Blue Jays back in the mix again, Tanev is now allowing his mind to wander to a

place where his favourite team wins it all.

“It would be awesome,” he says. “Being

from the city and knowing how they weren’t very good for a long period of time,

I think it’s great how the city has rallied around them. They’ve been good for

a couple of years now and it’s great to see the fans get so excited.”

The

Jays are a team that boasts big bats and even bigger personalities in the form

of Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson. However, and perhaps not a

huge surprise given his understated manner, Tanev finds himself drawn in a

different direction when he watches games.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Naturally,

he appreciates the Jays defense.

“I’m a big (Troy) Tulowitzki fan,”

he says of the shortstop that committed only nine errors all season. “I just

like the way he goes about his business. He’s a true professional. You never

see him make a mistake. He’s always doing the right thing to help his teammates

and his team.”

Tanev and the Canucks are in

Toronto for a Saturday night game on November 5th. If it’s needed,

Game 7 of the World Series is scheduled for the Tuesday of that week. Tanev’s

not getting ahead of himself, but he liked the idea of being back in his

hometown for a championship parade if things go the way he hopes they do.

And

after watching his team come this far, he believes the Blue Jays can win it

all.

“If their starting pitchers can

pitch like they have the past couple of weeks, I like their chances,” he says.

Advertisement - Continue Commenting Below

As the hockey season cranks up,

Chris Tanev has a job to do and that’s to get ready to help the Vancouver

Canucks. When he’s at the rink, he’s a professional athlete. Away from it, he’s

a fan – and a passionate one at that — pulling for his favourite baseball team

and wishing he was in Row 28 to cheer them on in person.





