For most Vancouver Canucks fans, their favourite memories of Gino Odjick was of the terrifying fighter whose pride and joy in dropping the gloves to protect Pavel Bure and the rest of his teammates frightened even the league’s toughest goons.
That’s not my recollection of Odjick, who died over the weekend at the age of 52.
Instead, my favourite memory of the pride of Maniwaki, Que. and the inspiration to so many Indigenous and non-Indigenous athletes alike, was the best hockey performance of his career.
Eighteen months before the Canucks went on that amazing 1994 spring run to the Stanley Cup finals, I saw my first NHL game and Gino (feels stupid to call him Odjick – he’ll always be just Gino to Canucks fans) played the game of his life.
It was Monday, Nov. 23, 1992, and the Canucks were hosting the mighty Chicago Blackhawks at the old Pacific Coliseum. The Blackhawks had made it to the Stanley Cup finals earlier that spring but lost to Mario Lemieux’s Pittsburgh Penguins. That night, Hall of Fame goaltender Ed Belfour was in the net for the Blackhawks while the Canucks gave Kirk McLean the evening off in favour of Kay Whitmore.
It didn’t look promising, but the Canucks took a 1-0 lead to the dressing room after the first period, thanks to a Petr Nedved goal. Gino got an assist.
The magic started in the second and I had a perfect view from my seat nine rows off the ice in the corner, with Belfour now in my end.
Trevor Linden scored on the powerplay early in the period to make it 2-0 and I joined the fans around me in taunting Belfour with shouts of “Ed-die, Ed-die.” Five minutes later, Gino scored. We cheered both the goal and the move by Blackhawks coach Mike “Captain Hook” Keenan to bench Belfour immediately afterwards.
Ten minutes after that, Bure scored a beauty on the power play. Nedved threw a cross-ice pass that Bure, in the faceoff circle right in front of me, one-timed into the net so fast that I never saw the puck but the sudden bulge in the back of the net told the story.
What a night. A 4-0 Canucks lead after 40 minutes.
But the best was yet to come.
At 11:13 of the third period, Bure passed it to his pal Gino, who scored his second of the evening. The place went bananas.
For the rest of the game, I joined with the fans in chanting “Gi-no, Gi-no” every time he took the ice and Bure spent the rest of the night doing his absolute best to set Gino up for the hat trick that wasn’t to be.
When Gino was announced as the game’s first star, the entire arena erupted, and he flashed that legendary grin as he returned to the ice to acknowledge the fans.
That night was the first and only time in his entire NHL career Gino posted a three-point game, although he did have two more two-goal games, both in the following season. In fact, Gino’s two goals on that November night were half of the goals he would score for the entire 1992-1993 season.
The game was also unusual for Gino for one more reason.
Despite the fact Gino had many scraps over the years with Chicago’s Stu “The Grim Reaper” Grimson, that night wasn’t one of them. If they had dropped the gloves, Gino would have recorded the “Gordie Howe” hat trick (goal, assist, fight) instead.
I never got the chance to meet him but if I had, I’m sure he would have been delighted to recall the night he was feared more for his goal-scoring prowess than he was for his fists.
Thanks for the memories, Gino. Rest in peace.
