Vancouver Finds Hero in Bure : Stanley Cup: High-scoring forward leads Canucks into Game 2 against Kings tonight.

Pavel Bure nodded politely and smiled with relief after the last question had been asked at the Vancouver Canucks’ practice facility Tuesday.

Bure took one, maybe two steps toward the parking lot and suddenly was surrounded by 10 or 15 pen-toting youngsters, seemingly coming from nowhere.

“Paaaavellll!” they screamed.

Moments later, Bure’s brother, Valeri, appeared with the getaway car. Pavel leaped in and they were off like a shot.

Other players were around, but the parking-lot teen-agers regarded them the way they would second-hand clothing. As center Ryan Walter, a former 38-goal scorer, signed an autograph on his hockey card for one, another asked, loudly and indelicately, “Who’s that?”

Since the Canucks joined the NHL in 1970, Vancouver has been starved for a genuine hockey hero and now, apparently, only Bure, a 22-year-old Russian, satisfies that hunger. His not-so-heroic predecessors were balding defenseman Harold Snepsts, a cult figure short on talent, and the gritty Stan Smyl, whose nickname, “Steamer,” says something about his style.

Trevor Linden, the Canuck captain, won the public’s admiration when he finished second in rookie-of-the-year voting to the Rangers’ Brian Leetch in 1988-89.

But when Bure arrived last season, Linden became the forgotten hero. Soon, fans were writing to him for Bure’s autograph.

Bure’s 60-goal, 110-point performance this season was a giant step up from his rookie-of-the-year totals of 34 goals and 60 points in 1991-92. And with his sensational on-ice presence and angelic face, the flashy right wing has become a one-man marketing tool for the Canucks.

He is the showcase star for the Canucks’ new downtown arena, scheduled to open in 1995. In three weeks, the Canucks sold out all 60 luxury suites and are expected to put 30 more on the market later. The sales pitch is: “Prepare for Lift-Off,” which plays off of Bure’s nickname, “the Russian Rocket.”

“There’s no question we didn’t have that sort of player,” said Pat Quinn, Canuck president, general manager and coach, after the club’s workout for tonight’s Game 2 against the Kings in the Smythe Division final.

“It was an unknown quantity here. He has that charisma, the thing that happens with some athletes. Now, there’s a lot of people who can’t afford to come to the games, but they are watching the games (on TV) and they’ve become fans because of him.”

Said Walter: “It’s not only the town that’s like this about him, it’s the whole league. Wherever he goes, Pavel is the hit. It’s God-given talent. It’s his speed and his quick hand movements. It’s none of those things you can teach.”

Bure is cooperative but guarded, perhaps because of the suffocating scrutiny and attention he gets here. He has had to move twice because fans found out where he lived and started showing up on his doorstep at midnight.

“It’s nice,” he said, diplomatically, of the attention. “Especially people in Vancouver, they really like hockey. I don’t mind signing (autographs). There aren’t as many problems right now because I get new building. It’s really nice. It’s got lots of security.”

At home in Moscow, he is not hassled during the summer.

“No, it is quite different,” he said. “Moscow is like New York.”

His family and his girlfriend help him handle day-to-day life in Vancouver.

“My girlfriend does the cooking,” Bure said.

Valeri, a Montreal draft choice in 1992, does the chauffeuring, now that his junior season with Spokane of the Western Hockey League has finished.

Vladimir Bure was the taskmaster for his two hockey playing sons. Vladimir, a freestyler on the Soviet swimming team, won four Olympic medals in the ‘70s. He introduced Pavel to hockey at age 6 and was unwilling to accept anything less than the best. It didn’t take long to get there.

“Seven years ago, he was the best for his age,” said King defenseman Alexei Zhitnik, who briefly played with Bure for the former Soviet Union’s national team. “Then he was the beston the national team. It’s no surprise.”

Pavel Bure is thankful his father never pushed him into the pool.

“I don’t like swimming,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s too boring.”

The excitement of skating fast, scoring goals and turning defensemen into fools--now that’s not boring.

King goaltender Kelly Hrudey was asked whether Bure had one truly scary move.

Hrudey laughed, saying: “When he raises his arms. I don’t like that. Everything else I can try to control.”

Bure raised his arms in celebration 60 times during the regular season and has done so four more times in the playoffs. It’s not stretching it to suggest he’ll do it more this spring.