The most beloved team in Vancouver has joined forces with the most beloved team on the North Shore.

The Vancouver Canucks released a video this week featuring players Alex Biega, Brendan Gaunce and Derrick Pouliot joining North Shore Rescue volunteers for a rescue simulation in Mount Seymour backcountry.

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“We just got approached by the Canucks and they wanted to do something to engage their players with the community, and we talked about delivering a safety message and they were totally onboard,” said Mike Danks, North Shore Rescue’s team leader.

The video was shot in December and posted online Thursday evening. The players drove from Rogers Arena to the top of Seymour. Defenceman Pouliot volunteered to be the “rescue subject,” with his teammates trying to spot him from a Talon helicopter.

“Of course before we did that, we put them through their paces with all the safety briefings about the aircraft and going to avalanche terrain, making sure that they had their avalanche safety equipment,” Danks said. “I was a little hesitant not knowing how they were going to carry themselves but they were super approachable and really keen to be there and they were hungry for information, actually. We were starting to feed them a bunch of stats and telling them about what we do and it seemed like they were really blown away.”

Unbeknownst to Danks, NHL player contracts typically restrict the athletes from doing anything even remotely risky that might lead to an off-ice injury, meaning they would have very little reason to be in the North Shore Mountains otherwise.

“They’re not even allowed to go skiing so I think this was a really neat experience and it was all about their reactions to the terrain that we were getting into and how beautiful and big the backcountry is on the North Shore,” Danks said. “Those guys have never been up the mountain, let alone in a helicopter.”

Danks said the Canucks were most shocked to learn that NSR’s members are volunteers, not paid professionals.

“We’re one of 80 teams in the province that are all-volunteer and we really want to make a point to not make this just about North Shore Rescue but to support your local team throughout the province.

It was something of a learning experience for both teams, Danks said.

“It’s kind of funny because I am not a sports guy at all so I didn’t know who any of those guys were,” Danks said. “I feel like I’ve got a bit of a connection, especially meeting these guys. Now I watch the games and I can relate to speaking with them and knowing who they are behind their Canucks uniform.”