30 Years, 30 Stories

Tuesday, 21.08.2007 / 6:23 PM / Features
Vancouver Canucks

After 30 years and a career full of achievements and stories, here are 30 stories from a man who's been through it all.  No one tells a story quite like Norm can. 

At the end of the 2006-07 season, Norm retired but he left behind a piece of him with some stories through his colourful career.

Norm grew up in the hockey hot-bed of Montreal, but his own on-ice career was restricted to, as he puts it, “beer leagues”. After graduating from Sir George Williams University, he began working for the NHL in 1966, under President Clarence Campbell. The following year saw the expansion of the League from the original six teams to twelve.

Norm stayed at NHL headquarters until 1977, when he accepted the position of Director of Public Relations with a fledgling Vancouver Canucks franchise. The team had struggled out of the gate, had then enjoyed a couple of winning seasons, in 1974-75 when they won the Smythe Division, and the following year when they finished second, but had subsequently returned to below .500 hockey.

Norm arrived in the days before there were television stations devoted to sports, before everyone had internet access. 





Coming to a new city is never easy but a snow-topped mountain as one of your first views sure makes the trip a lot better.
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While the weather may have been grey during training camp, the people were anything but. With these characters around, there's never a dull moment.
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When you have a power-play specialist, you use him but what happens when you don't put your power-play specialist on the power-play?
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Jake Mildford came to Vancouver and started building the team that would make it to the NHL FInals but wait, maybe it was "John Milford".
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The story behind how Thomas Gradin came to Vancouver to wear the Canucks yellow and the infamous V.
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When you put three great players together, something great will likely come out of it.  And as you already know, something great did happen.
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Harry Neale brings his own sense of individuality to the Canucks behind the bench but it's what he says that catches the media's attention.
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With a nickname like "The Franchise", there's bound to be some pressure.
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At first, acquiring Tiger Williams wasn't the easiest decision and even caused a little controversy.
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A little crazy and a little different, it's the only way to do it if you're going to do it right.
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One of hockey's greatest people, Roger Neilson was the innovative, humble, passionate man behind the bench.
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The pioneer of hockey videos really took his craft seriously.
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No matter how much success he got, he remained the same to the core. Find out how what happened that almost kept him away from the rink.
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Without the type of stand on your head type goaltending, the team would've been very different and it goes without saying but so would the results.
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Under the leadership of Bill LaForge, the team quickly knew the meaning of the words pride, hustle, and desire.
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When the Canucks were in need of leadership, original Canuck of 1970, Pat Quinn, stepped in to make changes and make an immediate impact.
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With an impressive playing and coaching repertoire, Pat Quinn immediately brought with him a new respect to the team.
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Everyone noticed when Pat Quinn entered a room, it was just that kind of effect he had on people that made even when he wasn't behind the bench.
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n 1988, someone came into the Canucks organization and started a new era of Canucks hockey.  Someone who embodies the Canucks on and off the ice.
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A young Trevor Linden scored a hat trick in his rookie year but even with such results, it just wasn't enough for him.
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While history is full of conflict between Russia and North America, the Canucks reached out and called upon Anatoli Tarasov to give some of his expert advice.
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Two parts of the legendary Soviet's KLM line came over to join the Canucks but there are some things privileged to only the director of media relations.
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The Canucks were criticized for not re-signing Igor Larionov after his first year but find out what the real reason was for not signing him.
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Lucky, steal, or just good scouting?  Find out how the Canucks selected Pavel Bure in the sixth round.
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Do you remember November 5, 1991?  Pavel Bure made his debut at the Coliseum and from that day, he was turning heads, literally.
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There's no doubt there's something special about Pavel Bure, but what is it that makes him such a star when he gets on the ice?
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Norm was involved with many areas in the Canucks organization but there's one that's near to his heart that brings together the past and present of hockey.
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A little like the Harlem Globetrotters, the Canucks Alumni make their presence around BC playing charity games and follow in the tradition of  "The Flying Fathers".
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After all the years, all the players are great but there is one favourite, who has the heart, passion, and personality to stand out in Norm's eyes.
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As a foundation of the Canucks, Norm Jewison has contributed so much to the Canucks organization and the NHL Alumni.  He retires with a full career and he truly does embody what it means to be a Canuck.
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CAREER CANUCK



Norm Jewison started with the Canucks as the Director of Media Relations in 1977 and remembers every moment since taking on the position 30 years ago.

And since then he's done everything in between. Go back to 1982 as he reflects on the 25th anniversary of the Canucks run to the Stanley Cup final in 1982.  More


TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE



Remember 1982 as the historic Canucks run through the playoffs.  More

Go back to the '94 playoff run with a young Pavel Bure and Captain Trevor Linden.  More

Reflections on the 25th anniversary of the run to the Stanley Cup in '82.  More


ROBSON REMEMBERS

Many of today’s Canucks fans weren’t even born during the team’s Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup finals in 1982.

For those that were, Jim Robson’s play-by-play call was an integral part of the experience, as much linked to Towel Power and the Flying-V jersey.

Now, 25 years later, Robson, and the ’82 team, recall catching lightning in a bottle and the unforgettable ride.

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Q&A WITH THE FAB FOUR


The Canucks would not have a present or a future, without a past, a history that includes these four members of that ’82 team, Stan Smyl, Richard Brodeur, Darcy Rota, and Harold Snepsts, who remember that unlikely spring as if it were just “yesterday”. Garry Raible sat down with the four to relive the memories. 

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HISTORY OF THE TOWEL


The guys had no idea what fury Roger Nielsen had unleashed a night earlier in the old Chicago Staduim.

It was spring 1982, and the upstart Canucks were returning home after splitting the first two games of the Campbell Conference championship against the heavily favoured Blackhawks.

When they landed at YVR, two fire trucks pulled out onto the tarmac and escorted the plane to the terminal.

At first they thought they had caught fire. Then they saw the towels.

 More