VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Canucks coaching staff, including Alain Vigneault, Rick Bowness, Newell Brown, Darryl Williams and Roland Melanson, attended a variety of community events last week, supporting children’s health and wellness, grassroots hockey and educational initiatives.

The Canucks coaching staff visited the BC Children’s Hospital Thursday, Nov. 15th, to spend time with the children and their families at the Hospital. While at BC Children’s, they also distributed a variety of gifts to the children in advance of the holidays.

The evening of the 15th, the Canucks coaches held a Q&A session at the Langley Events Centre for BC Minor Hockey coaches, players and parents. The Canucks coaches answered questions and offered tips on coaching as well as player and goalie development.

On Friday, Nov. 16th, the coaches visited Vancouver schools to share some of their experiences with local students. Alain Vigneault, Darryl Williams and Roland Melanson visited Oppenheimer Elementary’s Grade 6/7 class, running basic ball hockey drills in their Physical Education class and running a Q&A about health and fitness in the classroom. Rick Bowness and Newell Brown visited the Britannia Hockey Academy at Britannia Secondary. They taught a course about the business of professional hockey. This course, geared toward Grade 11 and 12 students in the program, gave insight as to what it takes to run a professional hockey team.

The evening of the 16th, the Canucks coaching staff attended the 14th annual Sports Celebrities Festival hosted at the Vancouver Convention Centre. This annual business casual event supports the Canucks for Kids Fund and Special Olympics BC. The Vancouver Canucks coaching staff were joined by Canucks Alumni, Vancouver Whitecaps, BC Lions, Juno Award Winner Jann Arden, comedian Brent Butt, jockey Mario Gutierrez, skier Mike Janyk and Special Olympics BC athletes.

The Canucks coaches capped off their week by joining with BC Hockey Course Conductors to hold free practices for BC Minor hockey teams and registered male and female adult recreational teams Sunday, Nov. 18th at Rogers Arena. Teams were selected at random from their respective associations and joined the coaches on the ice for a unique practice experience.

For more information on these events, please go to canucks.com.