By NORM JEWISON
In the summer of 2002, it was announced that Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth was coming to Vancouver for a Royal Visit as part of her Golden Jubilee Tour commemorating 50 years as the Commonwealth’s reigning monarch.
One of the highlights of her local agenda was attending a Canucks game to perform the ceremonial opening faceoff.
The Canucks’ organizing committee immediately set about inviting “hockey royalty” to join her at centre ice. The list included Olympians Ed Jovanovski from Vancouver’s NHL roster and Cassie Campbell, captain of the Canadian national women’s team for its gold medal performances that year at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Fittingly, also invited was hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, executive director of the 2002 men’s Olympic champs.
What many did not realize at the time was the fact that the Queen had a ‘special request’. In 1951, while still Princess Elizabeth, she attended two NHL games: one in Montreal and the other in Toronto. She asked the committee if any player who was in either game might still be alive; it would please her greatly if he would join the 2002 contingent.
As the Canucks alumni liaison and ‘ad hoc’ team historian, it was my task to track one down. And after hours of research, it dawned on me that he was right under our noses: former Toronto Maple Leaf and Hockey Night in Canada television analyst from French Creek on Vancouver Island had, indeed, played in the game against Chicago on October 13, 1951.
Howie and I knew each other well, so I rang him up to see if he’d like to join in. Ever excitable and super enthusiastic, Meeker remembered the game vividly and almost leapt through the phone. He was yelling to his wife: “Leah, Leah … the Queen wants me!”
Meeker joined the entourage, and on the night of the event his bubbly personality almost got him into trouble as he persistently tried to engage Her Majesty in conversation … a definite no-no in Royal protocol.
But for the effervescent Howie, it was just another hockey highlight with which to regale his grandkids.
HOWIE-ISMS:
Those of you lucky enough to hear Howie Meeker’s game analysis will remember he had an unmatched way with words. Unlike today, Howie’s deliveries were always family- rated and folksy. Allow me to share a few of his more memorable ones:
After a great play or goal, his go-to observation was: “Golly Gee Willikers” or “Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat”.
A nifty deke by a forward: “He went around that defenceman like a hoop around a barrel.”
A hard-working shift by a player was rewarded with: “This guy’s got the heart of a canal horse”.
To a weak play, he would say: “Jiminy Crickets, he couldn’t break a pane of glass with that shot!”
And finally, his immortal description of a very undersized player: “That guy doesn’t have enough meat on him for a canary to make a suitcase!”