CANUCKS ALUMNI REUNIONS CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE, ANYTIME

By Greg Douglas

Their coach didn’t make it to the party, so the players decided to extend the celebration by renting a bus and visiting him the morning after.

Members of the 1986-87 Centennial Cup champion Richmond Sockeyes were inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame this past July in Penticton. Not among them was head coach Orland Kurtenbach, who now enjoys a relaxed lifestyle with his wife of 65 years, Laurel, in the comfort of their home at Predator Ridge.

“It was the greatest thing,” says Kurtenbach, the legendary first captain in Vancouver Canucks history who turns 90 in September. “Dave Tomlinson called and said they’d rented a high school bus and were coming to see us. ”

A popular member of the Canucks Alumni, Tomlinson was the Sockeyes’ leading scorer during their run to that ’87 national junior A title with 43 goals and 65 assists in 51 games.

His name remains prominent in hockey circles as the main Canucks colour commentator alongside play-by-play man John Shorthouse on Rogers Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada regional television broadcasts.

“Laurel and I watched the bus pull up just before noon,” Kurtenbach recalls. “It was so neat to see everyone. They stayed for a couple of hours and had to leave to get back to Penticton. We would have loved to keep them longer if they’d been able to stay. ”

Another active Canucks Alumni member who was at the BC Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremonies was Mike Hall, executive producer with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, going back almost 30 years.

Hall had tied his Hall of Fame attendance with a family vacation at Vaseux Lake in the South Okanagan and was determined to reunite with Kurtenbach while he was in the area.

“For years, Orland always came and found me during his visits to the Alumni suite on game nights,” Mike recalls. “He would arrive in the broadcast area to see how I was doing and say hello to the crew. I’d always let them know he was the first captain of the Canucks and the first player inducted into the Ring of Honour for good reason.”

As he did with the Sockeyes’ group, Kurtenbach took Hall and a long-time family friend on a tour that included, in Mike’s words, “A wonderful display of his path to the NHL that included sweaters and pictures in his games room. For me, it was an unforgettable trip down memory lane. ”

Without question, Kurtenbach enjoyed the surprise visits as much as anyone.