Thatcher Demko gives the Canucks another goofy goaltender

Eddie Lack was a fan favourite in Vancouver for a few reasons. His on-ice play had a lot to do with it: he twice came into difficult situations to be the team's starting goaltender and performed remarkably well.

But where Lack will be missed the most is off the ice. Lack is an entertaining personality and a great person: his cheerful smile masked his competitive nature. His calm demeanour seemed ideal for a tough market like Vancouver. Then there was his oddball goofiness: the side of him that would put Swedish Chef on his goalie mask, tweet emoji-filled overtures to Roberto Luongo, and do a silly dance after every win.

Lack is a big loss for Canucks fans on the entertainment front, but there is some good news. There's another goofy goaltender on his way to Vancouver: Thatcher Demko.

I am by no means suggesting that Demko is a replacement for Lack, but he does have character and personality that people might have missed. He also has other elements of Lack's off-ice persona.

Demko is certainly internet-savvy -- it's how he learned to play goalie while growing up in California -- and, while his Twitter account isn't as entertaining as Lack's, he's still more active on social media than many hockey players.

As for being a good person, there's the story his dad tells of how he fell in love with being a goaltender:

“In mites when he started, there was a policy that every week a different player would play goal. There was a kid who was deathly afraid to play goaltender, and Thatch has a good heart, so he would volunteer to play in place of that kid,” he said. 

“It turned into him wanting to play every week.”

He also always gives flowers to his mom every mother's day:

This child. Giving flowers 4 years. Bcz of him I'm called mom #thebest #kidsonpoint #sentfromwhereverheis @tdemko30 pic.twitter.com/QBW8ccM4Xz

— Danielle Demko (@ddemko95) May 12, 2015

Yes, that's right, like Lack, Demko's mom is on Twitter. His dad is too, occasionally tweeting adorable pictures of Thatcher as a kid:

Back in the day. #loveforthegamestartedyoung #whoknew pic.twitter.com/ba0V5JLgYD

— Brenton Demko (@uggstown) June 18, 2015

But what we really want to see is goofiness, and Demko seems to have that covered. Witness his superb lip-syncing with Cole Cassels from development camp this week. Radio? Who needs the radio?

Work hard, play hard. At the end of another day of #Canucks Development Camp, sponsored by @naturespathorganic, we got @tdemko30 to forgo his pic of the day, for this dubsmash video. @colecassels19 with the assist. Beauties. #onmypath

A video posted by Vancouver Canucks (@canucks) on Jul 6, 2015 at 9:13pm PDT

Then there's his excellent dancing from a couple years ago, which isn't quite up to par with the Lack Dance, but has its own charm:




Not enough? Need that in gif form? You're in luck:

To cheer all Canucks fans up... here is a gif of Thatcher Demko dancing haha pic.twitter.com/NdftMDODpD

— Nadine (@Blame_Tanev) March 20, 2015

@Blame_Tanev pic.twitter.com/NCIMbEasa5

— Nadine (@Blame_Tanev) March 20, 2015

Of course, Demko won't really win over Canucks fans until he butt-punches an opponent with his blocker.

The main problem is that Demko won't be joining the Canucks for another couple years as he finishes up at Boston College and Ryan Miller plays out his contract. Until then, there's always Jacob Markstrom playing with his toys: