Rally towels’ history traced

Fans entering General Motors Place on Sunday found rally towels on each seat, suitable for waving and creating a blizzard-like effect to support the home team.

That’s not unusual in itself. What’s noteworthy is that Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the day that spurred Canucks fans to make the towels so popular.

While playing the Blackhawks on April 29, 1982, in the second game of the conference finals, Canucks Coach Roger Neilson became convinced referee Bob Myers was biased against his team. After yet another call went against the Canucks, Neilson grabbed a white towel, stuck it on the blade of a spare stick and began waving it in mock surrender behind his team’s bench at Chicago Stadium.

Several Canucks players joined him, making their point very clear. Although Neilson was fined $1,000 by the NHL, the towels were a hit back in Vancouver. A local businessman printed up and sold several thousand towels -- with the proceeds going to a charity -- and fans snapped them up for the next home game. And the next, and the next.

Towel power got the Canucks through that round, but they lost to the Islanders in the Stanley Cup finals. Neilson died in 2003.

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Teemu Selanne hasn’t done much since Game 1, and he went without a shot on goal in more than 19 minutes of ice time, drawing the ire of Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle.

Carlyle said Selanne wasn’t chasing after the puck and often waited for it to come to him.

“He was circling,” Carlyle said. “I told him. He was circling and he wasn’t stopping on the pucks. In playoff hockey, a lot of situations you get yourself into, you’ve got to stop and get pucks.

“Any loose puck, you’ve got to stop and go get it. I talked to him on the bench about it. He shook his head at me. That’s the way it is.”

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Vancouver defenseman Sami Salo returned after sitting out the first two games because of what was called a torso injury by Canucks officials.

Salo was also bothered by flu symptoms, although he appeared to have hurt his hip in Game 7 of the first round against Dallas. On Sunday, the veteran logged 20 minutes 25 seconds on the ice and had one shot on goal.

Defenseman Kevin Bieksa has yet to play in the series as he continues to be hampered by flu, according to Canucks officials.

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With the retirement of Scott Mellanby, Vancouver’s Trevor Linden and the Ducks’ Selanne are now the two longest-serving current players who have failed to win a Stanley Cup.

The 37-year-old Linden has played in 1,323 regular-season games, having spent the equivalent of 15 NHL seasons with the Canucks over two tours of duty. Selanne, 37, has played in 1,041 games over 15 seasons.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

eric.stephens@latimes.com