The 10 Biggest Events in BC Sports History

Originally published in Full Tilt in 2006

By Lucas Aykroyd

One of the nice things about living in British Columbia is that for most of our history, we’ve been fortunate enough to avoid the kind of cataclysmic events that make headlines around the world. No civil wars, no big terrorist attacks, no devastating earthquakes, no nuclear power plant meltdowns. This doesn’t mean we should complacently pat ourselves on the backs and assume that fate has chosen us to live charmed lives. But it does mean that when you pick out key moments in provincial history, it’s easier to focus on ones from the rink, the track, the mountain side, the playing field, and the hardwood. And that’s exactly what we’ve chosen to do in Full Tilt’s chronological list of the 10 biggest events in BC sports history.

1915: THE FIRST STANLEY CUP

The Pacific Coast Hockey Association is long dead, but some memories associated with this early 20th-century league will live forever. The Vancouver Millionaires were born under the supervision of the legendary Frank Patrick, playing their first home game at the old Denman Street Arena on January 5, 1912. Sparked by the offensive wizardry of Fred “Cyclone” Taylor, the Millionaires captured Western Canada’s first Stanley Cup in 1915 with a three-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators, as they outscored their opponents 26-6. (Daniel Alfredsson has a powerful motivational tool every time Ottawa comes to Vancouver now: “Remember what they did to us in 1915, boys!”) The team also made the finals in 1918, 1921, and 1992, but never hoisted the silver mug again.

1928: PERCY WILLIAMS SPRINTS TO GLORY

Nobody ever accused Percy Williams of using anabolic steroids or human growth hormone. Even if doping had existed in the 1920’s, this graduate of Vancouver’s King Edward High School only weighed 130 pounds in his prime. Williams had no expectations of Olympic success when he prevailed in the Canadian trials and went to the Amsterdam Games of ’28. But the 20-year-old shocked the world by capturing gold in both the 100-meter and 200-meter races, a feat later replicated by such track legends as Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis. That was the high point of his athletic career, even though he set a world record of 10.3 seconds over 100 meters in 1930 that stood for six years. Sadly, Williams committed suicide by gunshot at age 74.

1961: TRAIL SMOKE EATERS WIN WORLD TITLE

Only in 1977 did Canada begin sending NHL players to the World Hockey Championships, and even with top pro talent, it didn’t capture a gold medal until 1994. So the triumph of the Trail Smoke Eaters really stands out. This was the last Canadian amateur club to beat the best the Soviets, Czechoslovakians, and Swedes had to offer. Hailing from a small zinc mining town in the Kootenays, the Smokies featured star goalie Seth Martin and hard-nosed coach Bobby Kromm as they headed into the tournament in Switzerland in March 1961. They posted convincing wins over Sweden, West Germany, the USA, East Germany, and Finland, but due to a 1-1 tie with the Czechoslovakians, they had to defeat Russia by four or more goals in their last game to secure gold. Fortunately, Norm Lenardon’s third-period tally gave the Smokies a 5-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and they celebrated the victory in front of 12,000 fans in Geneva. It was Trail’s second World Hockey Championship, the first coming in 1939.

1968: NANCY GREENE, OUR DOWNHILL DARLING

Despite an illustrious skiing career that included 13 World Cup victories and two overall World Cup titles, it’s unlikely Nancy Greene would have been named Canada’s Female Athlete of the Century by the Canadian media in 1999 without her gold medal in the giant slalom in the 1968 Grenoble Olympics. The 24-year-old Rossland native, nicknamed “Tiger,” had strained ligaments in her right ankle in training a month before the Games began, and finished 10th in the opening downhill race. But with typical courage, she rebounded to claim silver in the slalom, and then beat out her nearest competitor in the giant slalom by 2.5 seconds on the Chamrousse course. The only other medal for Canada at those Olympics came in hockey (a bronze).

1979: WHITECAPS CAPTURE NASL SOCCER BOWL

Even if the current incarnation of Vancouver’s pro soccer franchise succeeds in getting a new downtown stadium built, it’s hard to imagine the sport getting any bigger in this town than in 1979. The Whitecaps presented a formidable challenge to their North American Soccer League opponents, fielding a roster that included Manchester-born striker Carl Valentine, 1966 England World Cup star Alan Ball, and current Caps director of soccer operation Bob Lenarduzzi, who had been named NASL MVP the year before. Vancouver edged Johann Cruyff’s Los Angeles Aztecs and Franz Beckenbauer’s New York Cosmos in the first two playoff rounds. In the finals at New York’s Giants Stadium, Vancouver beat the Tampa Rowdies 2-1 on goals by Trevor Whymark. The Whitecaps returned to Vancouver for a hero’s welcome from 100,000 cheering fans. Awash in red ink, the NASL was defunct by 1984, but this amazing feat is still fondly remembered.

1982: WHEN TOWELS WAVED AND RICHARD RULED

Expectations among Vancouver Canucks fans were modest heading into the ’82 playoffs, even though the team went unbeaten in its last nine games to claim second place in the Smythe Division. The hapless club had never won a post-season round in its 12-year NHL history. But head coach Roger Neilson, who took over behind the bench from the suspended Harry Neale late in the season, managed to instill a winning, defense-first attitude in his troops that magical spring.

A three-game first-round sweep of the Calgary Flames was highlighted by an overtime winner from Dave “Tiger” Williams in Game Two. Goalie “King Richard” Brodeur was the hero in Round Two versus Los Angeles, lunging and flopping for numerous saves as the Canucks advanced in five games. This was also the series that saw “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)” inaugurated as a hockey anthem at the Pacific Coliseum. Brodeur’s goaltending, Thomas Gradin’s finesse, and Stan Smyl’s grit led the way in the conference finals against Chicago. Jim Nill silenced a frenzied Chicago Stadium with his OT goal in Game One, and Neilson’s mock surrender to referee Bob Myers in the next match kicked off “Towel Power.” Vancouver supporters waved white towels to bid farewell to the Hawks in the closing two games at the Coliseum.

In the finals in May, the Canucks just couldn’t handle the firepower and experience of the New York Islanders led by Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, and Denis Potvin. They dropped 6-5 and 6-4 decisions on Long Island (the former loss due to a bad Harold Snepsts giveaway to Bossy in OT), and New York shut down the Canuck offense with 3-0 and 3-1 wins in Vancouver to claim its third straight Stanley Cup.

1994: CANUCK HEAVEN AND HEARTBREAK

Just a few players from the 1993-94 Canucks were still active NHLers last season (Trevor Linden, Martin Gelinas, Bret Hedican, Jiri Slegr). But that team’s run to the Stanley Cup finals was so incredibly memorable that sometimes it feels like it happened yesterday. As usual, nobody expected the Canucks to go anywhere, despite Pavel Bure’s league-best 60 goals. They had sputtered down the stretch, playing roughly .500 hockey and landing the seventh seed in the Western Conference.

Facing Calgary in the first round, the Canucks fell behind 3-1 in the series before rallying to draw even on overtime goals by Geoff Courtnall and Linden. Game Seven went to sudden death as well, and goalie Kirk McLean made an unbelievable pad save on Robert Reichel before Bure scored the winner on a breakaway pass from D-man Jeff Brown.

The Russian Rocket also dominated the next two series versus Dallas and Toronto. He tallied twice in Game Two against the Stars and also knocked out goon Shane Churla with a flying elbow. The Canucks, aided by a Sergio Momesso OT tally in Game Four, won the second round in five games. Highlights of the conference finals against the Leafs included Bure’s two-goal performance in Game Three, back-to-back shutouts by McLean, and the Greg Adams sudden-death goal on Toronto’s Felix Potvin in Game Five that put the Canucks into the finals for the second time.

Much like in the first round, the Canucks fell behind 3-1 in the series to the New York Rangers, featuring Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, and Mike Richter. But a 6-3 win at Madison Square Garden and a dominating 4-1 effort back home tied it up for the West Coasters. In Game Seven in New York, the Canucks lost 3-2, with Trevor Linden scoring twice and Nathan LaFayette heartbreakingly hitting the goalpost late in the third. The night got even worse in Vancouver when a downtown riot caused $1.1 million in damage.

1994: LUI’S GREY CUP THRILLER

Lui Passaglia accumulated 3,991 points as pro football’s all-time leading scorer, but three of those points the veteran BC Lions kicker earned on November 27, 1994 are particularly special. Facing Baltimore in the Grey Cup at BC Place Stadium, the score was tied 23-23 with no time left on the clock when the 40-year-old converted a 38-yard field goal to give the home team the title. The drama was heightened by the fact that Passaglia had missed at 37 yards just a minute earlier. Considering the Lions had beaten both Edmonton and Calgary by just one point apiece in their preceding playoff tilts, it’s indisputable that Passaglia’s heroics capped off one of the most exciting CFL championship runs in history.

2003: AN OLYMPIC-SIZED FEAT

On July 2, 2003, the place to be in Vancouver was GM Place. The arena exploded with joy when the International Olympic Committee announced that BC’s biggest city had been awarded the 2010 Winter Games, barely edging out Pyeongchang, South Korea 56-53 on a second-ballot vote. Salzburg, Austria was eliminated after getting 16 votes on the first ballot. It was the culmination of years of work by VANOC leaders John Furlong and Jack Poole, as well as their staff and innumerable community, business, and political figures. With less than four years to go, the challenge is now to successfully stage the biggest winter sports event on the planet.

2006: IS YOUR GAME MVP LIKE STEVE NASH?

The section title is a line from Nelly Furtado’s recent hit song, “Promiscuous.” The reality is that no one who isn’t a certified NBA legend can answer “Yes” to that question. Other back-to-back or multiple MVPs of the world’s top basketball league include Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Tim Duncan. It’s incredible that someone like Nash, raised and trained in Victoria (not known as a hoops hotbed), could join that list. But the starting point guard for the Phoenix Suns has proved his ability over and over again, leading the NBA in assists in 2005 and 2006. For this year’s MVP award, he beat out LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers by a 924-688 margin. If he can lead Phoenix to a championship, his legend may never be equaled by another Canadian.

RESPECT FOR TEN RUNNERS-UP

1925: Victoria Cougars become last non-NHL team to win Stanley Cup
1955: Penticton Vees regain World Hockey Championship from Soviets
1964: BC Lions win their first Grey Cup
1978: WHL’s New Westminster Bruins win second straight Memorial Cup
1994: Victoria hosts Commonwealth Games
1998: Ross Rebagliati wins Olympic snowboarding gold despite pot scandal
2000: Victoria’s Simon Whitfield wins Olympic triathlon in Sydney
2000: Surrey’s Daniel Igali earns Olympic wrestling gold
2002: Burnaby’s Joe Sakic wins Olympic hockey title with Team Canada
2006: Vancouver Giants make run to Memorial Cup