Google Trends data indicates that online interest in the Abbotsford Canucks remains steady, but this past year failed to reach the heights achieved in 2023.
The American Hockey League club recently celebrated the third anniversary of the team declaring itself as the Abbotsford Canucks.
The franchise made that official announcement back on July 14, 2021.
Search data examined by The News over the three years since indicates the largest spike in the history of the search term remains the week of April 30 to May 6, 2023. The Canucks were taking on the Calgary Wranglers in the Pacific Division semifinal that year. That week received a relative score of 100, with the week before also scoring a 94.
The searchability of a topic is scored by Google on a relative scale of 0 to 100.
The largest spike in 2024 occurred from April 28 to May 4, with the relative search term score set at 61. The Canucks were taking on the Colorado Eagles in the first round of the AHL playoffs and also opened round two against the Ontario Reign over that week.
The Canucks also had scores of 41 on Oct. 22 to 28 and Nov. 5 to 11. The October week was shortly after the team's home opener, while the November week was in the middle of a four-game home stand.
The high point of the inaugural season was the week of Oct. 17 to 23, 2021 when the team was hosting its first-ever home game.
Looking at where the searching is coming from, Canada is by far the most common country to look for information on the team. Latvia, home to Canucks star goalie Arturs Silovs, is second and Sweden is third. Nigeria is the region with the most interest outside of Canada or Europe.
British Columbia has the most interest within Canada and within B.C. cities the top-five most interest through Google searches are Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Langley and then Maple Ridge.
Interestingly, the United States ranks sixth despite the fact that many of the teams the Canucks play are from that country. Washington State has the most interest within America and the top individual cities are California cities Palm Springs and Bakersfield (both cities have AHL teams).
The News again compared social media numbers year-over-year of the Abbotsford Canucks with the four other largest professional sports franchises in the province – the BC Lions, Vancouver Canadians, Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Whitecaps.
Here are those updated numbers and the amount they have increased since:
Facebook Likes/Followers:
Vancouver Canucks – 972K (+4 per cent)
Vancouver Whitecaps – 282K (+2.1 per cent)
BC Lions – 158K (+.6 per cent)
Vancouver Canadians – 22K (+4.7 per cent)
Abbotsford Canucks – 11K (+50.6 per cent)
Instagram Followers
Vancouver Canucks – 721K (+23.8 per cent)
Vancouver Whitecaps – 185K (+12 per cent)
BC Lions – 81.9K (+31.4 per cent)
Vancouver Canadians – 30.1K (+19.4 per cent)
Abbotsford Canucks – 30.7K (+30.6 per cent)
Twitter Followers
Vancouver Canucks – 1.1 million (no change)
Vancouver Whitecaps – 331.5K (-3.6 per cent)
BC Lions – 131.3K (+1.1 per cent)
Vancouver Canadians – 30.1K (+3.7 per cent)
Abbotsford Canucks – 19.3K (+13.5 per cent)
Despite dips in Google searches, the Abbotsford Canucks again saw significant growth in social media reach. The team's Facebook following went up by over 50 per cent year-over-year and the team's Instagram followers has now surpassed those of the Vancouver Canadians.
Instagram, in general, saw significant increases for all teams, especially the Vancouver Canucks. The NHL club had 582,000 followers on Instagram last July and that number ballooned to 721,000 in one year.
Twitter continues to show marginal or very small growth. Abbotsford was the only team of the five listed to see any sort of notable increase from last year.
The Abbotsford Canucks return to the Abbotsford Centre for the 2024-25 regular season when they host the San Diego Gulls on Friday, Oct. 25.
