Wednesday day morning brings us to one more sleep before the pucks drop. One more sleep before the games mean something. And one more sleep before hockey without Luc Bourdon begins.
Born February 16th, 1987 in Shippiagan New Brunswick Luc Bourdon grew up with one goal in mind, to play in the NHL. After spending winters playing hockey, Luc, would work summer's on his uncle's fishing boat.
Luc was drafted to the QMJHL in 2003 and left home at the age of 16. His junior hockey career included stops in Val-d'Or, Moncton and Cape Breton as well as a trip to the Memorial Cup and two tours of duty with the Canadian Junior World Championship team, bringing home the gold medal on both occasions.
Shippagan is a small town with a population under 3,000 and as you can imagine when someone from this town makes it big, they become a folk hero. After being drafted 10th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 2005 Luc almost made the hockey club as an 18-year old.
After continuing to develop in the Q Luc eventually made it to the Canucks AHL farm team, the Manitoba Moose, in April of 2007. Just in time for the playoffs.
As a symbol of his respect and gratitude to those who helped him along his road to the pro's, Luc made and a donation to his former minor hockey program back in Shippagan.
Bourdon began the 2007-08 campaign back in Manitoba, however, with the Canucks struggling and a serious rash of injuries plaguing the defencemen, Luc was summoned on several occasions.
On his first game back with the big club Luc would record his first NHL goal on November 17th, 2007 versus the Minnesota Wild in a 8-1 Canucks romp.
The Canucks' struggled the rest of the season and failed to qualify for the playoffs, however, one of the encouraging bright spots was the development of Luc Bourdon as an NHL d-man.
On May 29th, 2008 fate took a turn for the worse and the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks, the city of Shippagan and society in general lost a great person.The news of Luc Bourdon fateful accident took the hockey world by shock, his desire to be the best at whatever he sought after was something that many admired about him.
As the players step on the ice tomorrow evening, everything with seem the same. With all the new faces in the Canucks locker room there will be one that is missed the most. One thing that we here in Vancouver can all take from this is that we are tremendously honoured to have had Luc Bourdon on our side. Luc Bourdon will always be a Vancouver Canuck....
2 comments:
R.I.P. Luc....
Truly an honour to have had him wear the Canucks jersey. One of my favourite moments was watching him play in the World Juniors at the Pacific Coliseum where he scored a goal, hit everything out there and everyone chanting "LUUUUUUUUUUC" anytime he had the puck. This is a tremendous loss to the Vancouver Canucks and the rest of the hockey community that we were unable to see this bright talent develop into a star. Mostly, we will never forget the kind of person you were and how kind and humble you were. Rest in peace, Luc, we will miss you dearly.
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