Lars Lindgren, whom the Vancouver Canucks hired as a European scout earlier this month, accomplished a lot of fine things during his playing career. The big Pitea native was a two-time Swedish League all-star defenseman and a mainstay on Vancouver’s blueline during the club’s 1982 march to the Stanley Cup finals. Unfortunately, as Steve Smith […]

This weekend, I’ll bring HockeyAdventure.com readers some reports from the Vancouver Canucks training camp in Victoria. The BC provincial capital also happens to be where I grew up, and the Canucks and Los Angeles Kings both held camps in Victoria in the late 1980’s and early 90’s at the old Memorial Arena (now replaced by […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006
By Lucas Aykroyd
On October 20, 1986, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced that all nations would be permitted to use professional players at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Canada. “There are no restrictions,” IIHF President Dr. Gunther Sabetzki said. “Canada can use Wayne Gretzky if it wants to.”
Yet the […]

Originally published in Full Tilt in 2006
By Lucas Aykroyd
Vancouver has changed drastically over the last 10 years. Back in 1995, there was only one Skytrain line, no giant Future Shop downtown, and no wireless Internet access at Blenz. Nobody had heard of Nickelback, leading restaurants like West and Feenie’s didn’t exist, about 50,000 fewer people […]

Originally written for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey Program
By Lucas Aykroyd
They say politics and sports should never mix, but in the 1980’s, the Cold War between capitalism and Communism sometimes cast a shadow over international athletic events. Two famous examples were the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the retributive Soviet boycott […]

Originally written for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey Program
By Lucas Aykroyd
Nobody would deny that hockey is a team game. But success in a short, intense international tournament can sometimes hinge on a brilliant individual performance. Whether you’re talking about setting the stage for things to come or actually clinching a championship, this pattern has […]

Originally written in 2005
By Lucas Aykroyd
The first time Canada played the USA at a World Junior tournament, the Montreal Canadiens were the reigning Stanley Cup champions, Dark Side of the Moon was the hot new album from Pink Floyd, Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada, and Richard Nixon was the President of […]

Originally published on HockeyCanada.ca in 2005
By Lucas Aykroyd
Ten years before stars like Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf, and Corey Perry made the 2005 version of Team Canada the strongest-ever World Junior entry, there was another gold medal-winning team that thrilled the host nation when the tournament was held in Red Deer, Alberta. Three members of that […]

Originally published on HockeyCanada.ca in 2005
By Lucas Aykroyd
While interest in the annual IIHF World Junior Championship is enormous in Canada, some hockey fans elsewhere in the world don’t get as pumped up about it. Their attitude is, “Hey, these are just kids.” But frankly, anyone who loves Olympic hockey should keep close tabs on the […]

Originally published on HockeyCanada.ca in 2005
By Lucas Aykroyd
When you survey hockey history, few players can rival Wayne Gretzky as the best of all time. But Bobby Orr is one of them, and while Gretzky has been preoccupied recently with coaching the Phoenix Coyotes and picking the Olympic team, as well as family matters, the […]