From the tender age of three, she’s been a hockey fan.
And Chika Murugiah, 20, swears she could give most guys a run for their money when it comes to hockey trivia.
“She is the most knowledgeable about hockey out of anyone I know,” said Murugiah’s friend, Alex Hodgson.
It started when Murugiah was but a tot, living in Vancouver. Her father, a die-hard hockey fan, had the TV tuned to every Canucks’ game.
“It was kind of always a battle for the remote,” Murugiah said. “We used to fight him on it when we were three and four, but eventually we just gave up and started watching hockey with him and it became this thing where the three of us – my dad, my sister and I – we just bonded over it.”
Since then, Murugiah has moved to Victoria and studies at the University of Victoria. She hasn’t missed a Canucks game all season and has her “playoff nails” painted in blue and green. On her bedroom door hangs a huge Canucks flag and she sports her Ryan Kesler jersey religiously.
“On game days, I’m always walking around in my jersey,” she said. “I don’t really have a superstition, but I’ll go online and watch highlights from an old game and get excited.”
Hodgson, on game days, refuses to wear an article of clothing that she wore any time the Canucks lost.
After a win, the women swear their voices can drown out any others.
“A high-pitched (voice) is obviously louder,” Hodgson said. “When (the Canucks) won against the (San Jose) Sharks, were driving around in my car in the streets. We honked so much that I didn’t have a horn anymore – it didn’t work.”
The women are such fans they spent three days organizing, shooting and editing a Canucks fan video with another friend, Jeff Thompson.
It was shot Monday night at Sopranos Bar and Grill and involved 60 people singing a dubbed-over version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Dani California” karaoke-style.
The video features Hodgson, dressed as a referee, getting tackled by someone dressed as a Canuck, as well as a rap interlude dedicated to goalkeeper Roberto Luongo. It ends with two green men playing a guitar, one of whom does “the worm” and claps his feet together while standing on his hands.
The video can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMvJZbAxQPc.
That the Canucks are in the Stanley Cup finals is simply “unreal” to Murugiah and Hodgson. And should the green and blue bring home the cup, “Oh I can’t even describe the emotions that will go through me,” Murugiah said. “I will probably cry. I’ll be running around in the streets.”
ecardone@vicnews