Over the weekend, Trevor Linden became the latest member of the Vancouver Canucks to take on the Ice Bucket Challenge:
When I touched on this topic last week, some of you expressed concern that the challenge doesn't do much to support its stated goal—to raise awareness for ALS.
The Globe and Mail features
an editorial this morning arguing against the movement, and other awareness-raising fundraisers like Movember. I disagree.
In the crowded landscape of nonprofit fundraising, it's not easy to stand out from all the other worthy causes asking for support. Charities need to do everything they can to make themselves visible. It's the same principle that operates behind participation events like the Ride to Conquer Cancer, the Terry Fox Run or the AIDS Walk or charity concerts or galas.
Globe author Amberly McAteer acknowledges that the ALS Foundation has brought in $5.5 million in donations since July 29, compared to $32,000 over the same period last year, so the initiative has definitely raised funds as well as awareness.
It's also pretty cool to see that the movement really took hold as the hockey world embraced it. This Canadian Press
story from last week explains how the challenge jumped from former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, who suffers from ALS, to Boston Bruin Gregory Campbell, who got the ball rolling.
The Frates family considered it a fun bit to have friends pour buckets of ice over their heads in private appreciation of Pete's battle. But the movement became public when one of Frates's high-school hockey teammates challenged Campbell.
Soon, there were more highlights of Bruins players, coach Claude Julien and president Cam Neely dumping ice on their heads.
Part of what has made the Ice Bucket Challenge explode is the daring element of it: anyone challenged has 24 hours to do the same and pass it on. Campbell challenged Brad Marchand, who challenged Chris Kelly, who challenged Dallas Stars forward Rich Peverley, who challenged Seguin.
Down the line it went.
As I mentioned last week, Canucks' goalie Ryan Miller challenged his wife's work colleague, actor Charlie Sheen, who stepped up nicely for the cause as seen here in
Garth's Corner.
With everyone from Bill Gates to Justin Timberlake now having participated, I think it's a great sign for the state of hockey in the U.S. that the movement has now jumped into the mainstream.
Higgins at Hockey School
Looks like Chris Higgins is taking his no-trade clause seriously. He didn't even leave town for the summer!
Sportsnet caught up to Higgins at the Canucks hockey school last week.
Click here to watch the short video.
Who Wore It Best?
Your votes yesterday for the best Canuck at No. 18 fell in favour of Igor Larionov by a reasonable margin over Darcy Rota.
Canucks.com concurs, and offers up this video summary of Larionov's career:
Now we're at No. 19—the last of our three retired numbers in Vancouver.
Of course, Markus Naslund came to Vancouver in one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history—one that actually worked in Vancouver's favour.
A first-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins right after they won the Stanley Cup in 1991, the Penguins hoped that the talented Naslund would be able to step in and add youth to their already-skilled lineup. Offensive ice-time was hard to come by, and the Swede struggled when he arrived in Pittsburgh for the 1993-94 season.
After two up-and-down years where Naslund divided his time between Pittsburgh and the IHL's Cleveland Lumberjacks, he requested a trade and was obliged on March 20, 1996, when he was dealt to the Canucks for their own underperforming first-rounder, Alek Stojanov.
Though the Canucks were in decline at the time and Naslund butted heads with Mike Keenan during his early years, he eventually emerged as one of the team's preeminent players. Stojanov played jus 45 more NHL games after the trade, while Naslund recorded 884 games over 12 seasons in Vancouver, where he recorded 346 goals and 756 points.
Naslund was made captain on September 15, 2000, replacing Mark Messier. He wore the C until the expiration of his contract in 2008, when new general manager Mike Gillis declined to re-sign him after the Canucks missed the playoffs.
In 2002-03, Naslund was awarded the Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award) as the NHL's most valuable player as chosen by the players. That was the peak of the "West Coast Express" years, where Naslund combined with Brendan Morrison and Todd Bertuzzi to form one of the most exciting offensive lines in hockey.
Naslund was also named to the NHL's First All-Star team three times, played in five All-Star Games, and was crucial in mentoring the Sedin twins when they first came over from Sweden.
After playing one final NHL season with the New York Rangers in 2008-09, Naslund returned to Sweden. He's the longest-tenured captain in Canucks history and still holds the record for all-time goals by a Canuck, with 346.
No need for a poll today, but here are a few other noteworthy Canucks who wore No. 19 before Naslund arrived in Vancouver:
• Ron Delorme
• Tim Hunter
• Petr Nedved
• Derek Sanderson
• Jim Sandlak
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