December 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\nIorio didn\u2019t grow up in North Vancouver, he was more east side Vancouver, but he got to know the Celebrinis, especially older brother Aiden Celebrini well.<\/p>\n
Iorio chatted with San Jose Hockey Now about growing up a Canucks fan, being at the USA-Canada men\u2019s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2010 Olympics, and more. It sounds like he has 40-plus people coming today.<\/p>\n
Vincent Iorio, on tonight\u2019s game in his hometown and how many people are coming\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019m pretty fired up. 20 tickets I\u2019ve got. And then I\u2019m probably expecting another 20. I don\u2019t know, actually, to be honest. There could be way more that just haven\u2019t texted me.<\/p>\n
On whether this was a dream of his as a kid\u2026<\/p>\n
Oh yeah, for sure. I had season tickets. Section 108 \u2013 it was either 108 or 119. I was looking up today at the stands because I remember I was always on the left side of the blue line. We had season tickets when I was young, and I used to come to games all the time.<\/p>\n
On his favorite defender when he was young\u2026<\/p>\n
I loved Alex Edler. We got to meet him a couple times on the ice, just skating with my skating coach back here. Alex Burrows was a big one for me. I loved Alex Burrows. I was 14 growing up. So that was the reason why I wore 14. I remember my first game I watched, he had a hat trick. And I was like, \u201cOh, this guy\u2019s really cool.\u201d When he slayed the dragon against Chicago in the Western finals, that was pretty cool too.<\/p>\n
On the year Vancouver made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011\u2026<\/p>\n
Cup year was really cool. I remember my mom was at game seven. Dad and I were in Winnipeg for a spring hockey tournament. Looking back at it, I wish I went to game seven. Maybe I would have had better luck. But it was just a lot of really cool memories here with my dad, grandparents, mom, sister, cousins, just coming to the games and going to Triple O\u2019s as a kid, like the burger joint, White Spot and Triple O\u2019s and the ice cream and popcorn and churros. Crazy.<\/p>\n
On wearing jerseys to games\u2026<\/p>\n
Yeah, I would wear jerseys. Edler, Burrows, Sedins, Luongo. I had a Luongo jersey from the Olympics. That was also really cool, because that was here too. So Luongo is a big part of my life as well. Just the whole team, Kesler, Jannik Hansen, Mason Raymond, all these guys, Rick Rypien too, a lot of Canucks guys who I grew up watching.<\/p>\n
On if it\u2019s still cool to see the Sedins around\u2026<\/p>\n
Oh yeah, for sure. I\u2019ve heard a ton of stories of how fit they are still and how often they run the Grouse Grind and stuff. I haven\u2019t met them, but they\u2019re first class people. They\u2019re royalty in Vancouver, and they\u2019ve done so much for this city.<\/p>\n
On his Grouse Grind time\u2026<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t even know. I haven\u2019t done the Grind in a while. You have to ask Mack what his is. He goes. He does the Grind all the time. I gotta ask him. I know when Aiden (Celebrini) \u2013 because I skated with Aiden yesterday \u2013 he did the Grind. Because the Canucks do the Grind for camp all the time. I think it was for rookie camp he did it and he just crushed everybody, he crushed all the other rookies. Yeah, he\u2019s good at that.<\/p>\n
On his memory of the Olympics in Vancouver\u2026<\/p>\n
I was actually at the gold medal game. That was really cool. I was a little bit younger, so I don\u2019t remember too much of the Olympics, but I remember we were at the very top row. It was 300 level or 200 level. So that was really cool. It was just a blur, honestly. I remember watching, obviously being there, watching the game, with my grandparents, and the popcorn stuff, and as soon as they scored, it was deafening. It was so cool. And then obviously the streets, the whole Olympics was just bumping.<\/p>\n
On Macklin Celebrini potentially going to the 2026 Olympics\u2026<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t talked to him about it. I might take him to the Olympic torch. We might go walk there. So I don\u2019t know. He\u2019s been locked in, he\u2019s been really, really prepared, and I\u2019m hoping to hear really good news. He\u2019s not going to hear anything until, I don\u2019t know when. So, yeah, I\u2019m really excited for him.<\/p>\n
San Jose Sharks (17-17-3)<\/p>\n
Yaroslav Askarov will start.<\/p>\n
Iorio will come in for Nick Leddy, while Adam Gaudette will slot in for Ethan Cardwell, who was sent back to the San Jose Barracuda.<\/p>\n
These are how lines looked at morning skate:<\/p>\n
Eklund-Celebrini-Chernyshov
Graf-Wennberg-Toffoli
Skinner-Dellandrea-Gaudette
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Reaves<\/p>\n
Ferraro-Mukhamadullin
Orlov-Klingberg
Dickinson-Iorio<\/p>\n
Askarov<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that line gave us a little push there in the third [at Vegas] and then it gave us a different look. Gives us some pace,\u201d head coach Ryan Warsofsky said about promoting William Eklund to the top line.<\/p>\n
Power play groups looked similar.<\/p>\n
PP1: Klingberg-Eklund-Celebrini-Toffoli-Wennberg
PP2: Orlov-Skinner-Gaudette-Graf-Chernyshov<\/p>\n
Vancouver Canucks (15-18-3)<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how the Canucks will line up, per NHL.com<\/a>:<\/p>\nEvander Kane \u2014 Elias Pettersson \u2014 Kiefer Sherwood
Jake DeBrusk \u2014 Marco Rossi \u2014 Brock Boeser
Drew O\u2019Connor \u2014 David Kampf \u2014 Conor Garland
Liam Ohgren \u2014 Max Sasson \u2014 Linus Karlsson<\/p>\n
Marcus Pettersson \u2014 Filip Hronek
Zeev Buium \u2014 Tyler Myers
Elias Pettersson \u2014 Tom Willander<\/p>\n
Thatcher Demko<\/p>\n
Where To Watch<\/p>\n
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks is at 7 PM PT at Rogers Arena. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.<\/p>\n
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