The triumphant return of the two most famous Canucks fans was so perfectly timed, it’s like they planned it down to the whistle of a penalty call.
Those bodysuit-wearing Green Men went missing from Rogers Arena eight years ago, after terrorizing opposing players who sat in the penalty box during the Vancouver team’s best years, a decade ago.
Adam “Force” Forsythe, the larger guy in the lighter green, and Ryan “Sully” Sullivan are pals who became folk heroes among hockey fans for their sign-waving arena antics, then quietly tucked away those skintight outfits and got on with their lives.
Staff in the Canucks’ game-presentation department had pitched the idea of the Green Men returning for a game, for the nostalgia trip, and it finally happened Saturday, Feb. 24, during an overtime win over old foes from Boston.
“At the start of the season we saw the Bruins game on the calendar, and that was tempting,” Forsythe recalled. “So we said to them, ‘We don’t want to be paid, we’ve never been about that, but would you fly Sully out?’ So they (the Canucks) covered the flight and hotel, and it all fell into place.”
The Green Men are SO back! 🟢
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) February 25, 2024
Welcome home, @TheGreenMen! pic.twitter.com/7QuT0zExiW
Sullivan now lives with his young family in Saskatoon, while Forsythe and wife have their own busy lives in Surrey, where he was born and raised.
“When we started this, we were both single and had lots of time to do whatever we wanted,” Forsythe noted. “Now people are saying, ‘Oh, you’re just bandwagoners,’ because of how good the Canucks are again. No, I go to games a lot, just not in the green suit. I just want to get that out there — I’m a hardcore Canucks fan and don’t miss games.”
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That was an epic night! A HUGE thank you to every single fan that welcomed us back. We can’t even begin to describe the feeling.
— Green Men (@TheGreenMen) February 25, 2024
What a win! Canucks fans… you were the difference makers! Let’s keep it rocking in to the playoffs! pic.twitter.com/fBfQYs94k9
Their Green Men reunion was so hush-hush, they only told family members about it.
“We wanted to come back the right way, in grand fashion like we did, with the lights and the Stone Cold wrestling music,” Forsythe beamed. “We had the Al Murdoch intro, the voice of God (announcing). We weren’t sure it would all work, but then it worked perfectly, with the Bruins taking a penalty just when we were about to enter (the lower bowl of the arena).
“I never get nervous in the green suit, but my mouth went dry, the curtain opened and adrenaline took over,” he added. “The person holding the curtain says, ‘Oh, I think the Bruins just took a penalty!’ You see in the video, I sprinted down the stairs to the penalty box and Sully’s high-fiving people. I can’t really see out of the suit but apparently JVR (Bruins forward James van Riemsdyk) was laughing. It was awesome.”
Then the waffles started flying.
Wait, waffles?
“Full credit to Sully, our most famous bit was the waffles back before the 2011 run (of the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final),” Forsythe explained. “I told him it wouldn’t work, but it did, and now it’s the GIF that comes up if you search ‘Green Men’ (on the internet). The Maple Leafs were horrible in that era, and a fan in Toronto threw a waffle on the ice. To this day, nobody knows what that meant — maybe a form of protest because they’re losing.
“And then a week later we went to the game against the Leafs, and we decided to buy a box of waffles at Costco and throw them, and it went off,” Forsythe continued. “We didn’t really even know what it meant. So then because it was our most famous bit, we had to do it again (during the Bruins game Saturday). We had all our props lined up but then 20 minutes before, we needed waffles and ran across the street to Costco and got them. We’re still waiting for that sponsorship angle, for them to hook us up with waffles.”
Forsythe met Sullivan at broadcasting school, and the Fleetwood-raised South Surrey resident now works in media relations. On Tuesday nights he can be found hosting Green Man Trivia at Clayton Pub on 188 Street.
“It’s straight-up pencils and paper, always general questions that I come up with,” he noted. “I don’t do theme nights, and a lot of people show up here every week, which is great.
“It wasn’t my idea to call it Green Man Trivia, and I don’t wear the green suit, no,” Forsythe added. “It’s fun, and the casuals who come in ask about it, and yeah, that’s me, the guy who wears the green outfit to Canucks games.”
Not surprisingly, that green bodysuit fits a little more snug eight years later.
“We started this when we were 21, and we’re both fairly fit,” Forsythe said. “Sully is around five-five, 140 pounds, born with a six-pack. He eats a diet consisting of fast food and doesn’t gain a pound. Meanwhile, I’ll have a sip of this water and gain five pounds. It’s just the way it’s always been, so standing next to him, it’s a bad look from the jump.
“Last week I was in Mexico, and the whole time I’m thinking, ‘OK, I want to enjoy myself but I know I have to fit in this freaking suit.’”
Sadly, the Bruins game will probably be a one-off reunion for the Green Men, given their locations and busy lives.
“It was so fun, and totally just a nostalgia thing, yeah,” Forsythe said with a smile. “My wife was a collegiate softball player in the States from, like, 2011 to 2015, and she never really experienced Green Men, so that was also motivation of wanting her to see it live, not just all the videos on the internet.
“It’s funny because we go to parties and meet people and then the host would introduce me, ‘Oh, this is one of the Green Men,’ and I’d have to explain it, and she didn’t really get it. Well, now she gets it.”