VANCOUVER CANUCKS ALUMNI HISTORY

Despite the fact that Vancouver didn't enter the NHL until 1970, its Alumni was conceived in 1952 by the Canucks of the Western Hockey League. That's right; it's 53 years old this season! It was started by Hall of Famers Babe Pratt, Cyclone Taylor, Neil Colville and Clint Smith who organized a benefit game for a local amateur player whose wife had become seriously ill. This eventually grew into the BC Hockey Benevolent Association--a registered non-profit society--which was designed to assist former players and their families who had fallen on hard times.

So just what is the Canucks Alumni today? Well, it's a group of hockey people living mostly in the Lower Mainland that numbers nearly 100! It's unique in the fact that all former pros are welcome, not just ex-Canucks. So you have players such as Mark Lofthouse and Gary Nylund as card-carrying members, even though neither ever played for Vancouver. Lofthouse actually made a name for himself with Washington by scoring his only career hat trick against the Canucks, here in Vancouver, no less! And Nylund enjoyed an 11-year career with Toronto, Chicago and the New York Islanders. They're both, however, BC boys; Lofthouse was born in New Westminster and Nylund in Surrey.

The bottom line is that the Canuck Alumni has the luxury of being able to ice not just one, but two teams at any given time. This, in part, is a tribute to the city of Vancouver being such a desirable Canadian retirement destination. But it's history, as well.

Over the next four decades, the group expanded into a much larger body which, in time, became a part of the Vancouver community fabric. Via benefit hockey games, golf tournaments and a variety of other fundraisers, the Alumni has raised over $2 million for charity! But there's more, much more.

For nearly a decade, Orland Kurtenbach, the Canucks original captain headed up an Alumni committee which provides scholarship opportunities (four per year at $2,500) for hockey playing youngsters from the BC Junior League to attend the University of British Columbia. Kurtenbach was a natural to spearhead this initiative, having coached several years in the BCJHL with Richmond and Chilliwack. Recently, Kurtenbach has handed over the reins to fellow ex-Canuck Gerry O'Flaherty, while taking on the task of BCJHL marketing director. He works alongside another Canuck alumnus, John Grisdale, who is the League Commissioner. Over the years, more than 20 youngsters have graduated from the BCHL to pursue scholarships to UBC.

Another scholarship program was initiated in 1996 in the name of Larry Ashley. Ashley was the longtime athletic trainer of the NHL Canucks who died of cancer in 1995. Widely recognized as a leader in his field, Ashley's name now lives on via the Larry Ashley Scholarship Program. It provides scholarship funds of $2,500 per year to qualifying BC students pursuing post-secondary studies in the fields of sports medicine and/or athletic training. A major contributor of funds to sustain this program is the annual Larry Ashley Golf Classic, a tournament which features the presence of a wide variety of ex-Canucks and other celebrities.

With both Ashley and former Canuck GM Jake Milford succumbing to cancer, the Alumni has embraced many initiatives relating to the ongoing battle against this disease. Alumni players annually visit cancer-stricken kids at Camp Goodtimes, a facility in the Fraser Valley operated by the Canadian Cancer Society. They also donated a new, specially-equipped van to Canuck Place, Vancouver's hospice for children with life-limiting illnesses.

The highest-profile Alumni activities, however, are the games they stage throughout B.C. Most years, they play upwards of a dozen charity contests and find their way to the farthest reaches of the province. In the past few winters, they've entertained in Kitimat, Smithers, Port Hardy, Rossland, Grand Forks, Comox, Victoria and Merritt. And entertain, they do. Slapshots and hitting are no-no's but pretty well everything else goes. Pies-in-the-face, buckets of water thrown on the opposition bench, bribing the officials, a Superman sighting...all are part of the Alumni's schtick. Oh yes, and like the Harlem Globetrotters, they usually win!

In return for their performances, the Alumni receives expense money for travel or accommodation (if applicable) plus a modest stipend which goes directly into the scholarship maintenance program. Any funds over and above are left in the community in which the game is played and go to minor hockey or other local causes.

The Alumni is quietly but ever-so efficiently guided by Gerry Sillers, who has been its President for the last 17 years. Sillers, a former WHL Canuck, concurs that the kinship provided by the games and practices is a vital ingredient to the overall success of the group. “The camaraderie is the real benefit that accrues to the players. They can socialize with people who've gone through the same things they've gone through,” he says.

Canucks management recognizes the contributions of the alumni and shows its appreciation of its strong community commitment via provision of an alumni suite at General Motors Place. On any given night during the hockey season, look up at Suite 501 and you'll often see the likes of Richard Brodeur, Orland Kurtenbach, Kirk McLean, Darcy Rota and many other prominent ex-Canucks. For the Canuck Alumni relishes its place on and off the ice in British Columbia.

« Visit the Canucks.com Alumni page