A Major Voice in a Silent Sort of Way
By Greg Douglas
Mike Hall received a late afternoon phone call this past July 24, 2026, from Vancouver Canucks Alumni President Bob Murray.
“I had no idea what to expect,” Hall would say later. “His words left me speechless. I really didn’t know how to react.” Murray was cheerfully informing Mike he’d been named the 2026 recipient of the prestigious Jake Milford Award for Service and Dedication to Hockey in British Columbia, an annual honour that dates back to 1986.
The soft-spoken Hall will quietly celebrate his 30th anniversary with the Vancouver Canucks during this coming 2026-27 NHL season and 25th year as an active member of the Canucks Alumni Association.
Why quietly? Because that is the man’s nature. He prefers to discreetly operate in the background and enjoy watching the reaction of others when his work is done.
“That’s what television and video and event producers do,” Hall says, looking back on his career with the Canucks that began in 1996.
He certainly wasn’t a stranger on the Vancouver hockey scene, having produced BCTV’s weekly Canucks show ‘Winning Spirit’ that included the team’s memorable run to the 1994 seven-game Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers.
Hall’s job description at BCTV expanded into the station’s Sports Producer before the Canucks came calling for him to engage in everything from live broadcasts to the production of in-house programming acknowledging retirements, Ring of Honour inductions and ongoing ceremonial events.
Among that list of visual gems were the 40th and 50th anniversary celebrations that revisited former Canucks whose historic moments, achievements and milestones would be a key part of Sportsnet and Pay Per View television programming throughout those NHL seasons.
As is his custom, Hall is quick to credit and acknowledge the Canucks’ Game Entertainment & Community Engagement personnel within the organization. “It has always been and will always be a collective team effort,” he says.
His role today is that of Game Entertainment consultant and key contributor to all things relating to the Vancouver Canucks Alumni Association and Canucks Alumni Foundation.
“Whenever there’s an idea brewing for one of our major events, we call on Mike for his input,” says executive director Robin Wyss. “With his background, we can always count on his creativity and video production talents, not to mention his contacts in the industry.”
They are contacts that go back to his youth growing up in Toronto playing hockey and football. His dad was an executive at CFTO Television and would regularly take him to NHL games at Maple Leaf Gardens. He was a starry-eyed 12-year-old the night Orland Kurtenbach, in his only season as a Leaf, got into a slugfest with Montreal’s Terry Harper.
“Through the Leafs’ community program with youth teams in Toronto, I occasionally got a chance to skate in the early morning hours at the Gardens,” Mike recalls with obvious delight. “It was the morning after the fight that I had a chance to skate to the blueline where Orland delivered his final blow, and there was still blood in the ice. I just assumed it wasn’t his.”
Mike graduated from Ryerson University in radio and television arts and became an original employee of CKVU-TV in Vancouver three weeks prior to the station launching in 1976. He was the video editor for the daily ‘Vancouver Show’ and quickly moved into the sports department, where he took on a major role in the blockbuster introduction of ‘Sports Page’. Over the next 17 years, in addition to his sports duties, his credits at ‘VU expanded into lifestyle, entertainment and documentary productions.
BCTV beckoned in 1993, then the Canucks in ’96.
And 30 years later, Mike Hall continues to go about the business he so dearly loves, without a lot of fanfare but with definite impact. That lack of fanfare will increase considerably on September 14, 2026, at the annual Jake Milford Charity Golf Tournament at Northview Golf & Country Club.