CALGARY — While reporters crowded around two fuzzy-cheeked Vancouver Canucks about to make their National Hockey League debuts, eagerly seeking perspective from young players who have little, Adam Cracknell quietly went about preparing for the first opening-night game of his career.
The 30-year-old from Victoria hadn’t played on the NHL’s first night until he dressed for the Canucks’ opener Wednesday against the Calgary Flames.
A 279th-overall draft pick of the Flames in 2004, Cracknell never came close to playing in Calgary. He didn’t play an NHL game until he was 25 and in his fourth professional season, with the St.