The Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation will hold its second annual Wall of Honour induction dinner in Okotoks on July 29. This time, we will salute 29 past and present-day scouts during an evening that is being billed as A Night With the Sutters. Yes, members of the hockey-playing Sutter family will be on hand to take part in a hot stove session or two. Tickets for the dinner are available at tickets.hockeyscoutsfoundation.com. . . . As dinner time approaches, we are highlighting the Class of 2025. This time, we would like to introduce you to Tom McVie.
TOM McVIE
(June 6, 1935 — Jan. 19, 2025)
Born in Trail, B.C., he was long-time player and coach who didn’t go scouting until he was in his 60s. . . . Joined the Boston Bruins’ pro scouting staff in 1998 and worked through 2019-20. Won a Stanley Cup with the 2010-11 Bruins. . . . Got into 1,072 games over 18 seasons during his pro playing career, mostly in the WHL with the Seattle Totems, Portland Buckaroos, Los Angeles Blades and Phoenix Roadrunners. Also played in the EHL and IHL, retiring after 1973-74. . . . Coaching career that lasted 27 seasons began in 1971-72 as player/coach of the IHL’s Fort Wayne Komets. . . . Was NHL head coach with the Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils and Boston. . . . Won the 1978-79 WHA championship (Avco Cup) as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. . . . Was one of the game’s great storytellers.
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The Wit and Wisdom of Tom McVie
Tom McVie was a rink rat, a hockey lifer, and he was proud of it.
Once asked what he might be doing if he wasn’t coaching, McVie replied: “If I wasn’t coaching hockey, then I’d probably be driving the Zamboni.”
McVie, who will be inducted into the Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation’s Wall of Honour on July 29 in Okotoks, Alta., died in Camas, Wash., on Jan. 19. He was 89.
(Tickets for the dinner — the evening will include a Hot Stove session or two involving members of the hockey-playing Sutter family — are available at tickets.hockeyscoutsfoundation.com.)
Camas is located across the Columbia River from Portland and became McVie’s adopted hometown following his retirement as a player.
He spent 14 seasons playing in the WHL, splitting time with the Portland Buckaroos, Los Angeles Blades, Seattle Totems and Phoenix Roadrunners.
McVie and the Totems won a WHL title in 1958-59, as he played on a line with Guyle Fielder, now 94, and Jim Powers, 89.
As Powers told Geoff Baker, the Seattle Kraken’s vice-president, editorial: “I don’t think there was a joke that he ever forgot. And he would keep repeating them from time to time.”
Indeed!
After ending his playing career, McVie coached from 1973-74 through 1997-98, making stops with the IHL-Dayton Gems, NHL-Washington Capitals, WHA-Winnipeg Jets, NHL-Jets, CHL-Oklahoma City Stars, AHL-Maine Mariners, NHL-New Jersey Devils, AHL-Utica Devils, NHL-Boston Bruins, ECHL-Wheeling Nailers and AHL-Providence Bruins.
After being fired by the NHL-Jets, McVie was quoted as saying: “I’ve been fired more times than General Custer’s pistol at the Little Big Horn.”
Later, after being fired by the New Jersey Devils, he said: “I’ve been fired more times than Clint Eastwood’s Magnum.”
By now you may have guessed that McVie knew his way around one-liners and also could tell a story. In fact, he was recognized throughout the hockey world as one of the game’s great story-tellers.
Here then is a look at some of those stories . . .
Former NHL D Rick Green was a rookie with the McVie-coached Washington Capitals in 1976.
“Tommy was the first man I ever knew who could put two pucks in his mouth at the same time,” Green told nhl.com following news of McVie’s passing. “That’s a talent. I guess his nickname was ‘The Clown’ back in the day when he played in the International league, so you needed a sense of humor back then.
“Someone told me about the puck trick so I went up to him and told him I didn’t believe it. Tommy just took his teeth out, grabbed two pucks and in they went.”
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In October 1992, McVie talked luggage with Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, explaining how he used one Samsonite suitcase for 32 years:
“My first two years of pro hockey, I never had a piece of luggage. I was playing for Seattle — Keith Allen was the general manager — and I got hurt in Calgary on a trip that was going to Edmonton. Well, they decide to send me home, and Allen takes my meal money; that’s the way it worked — no play, no meal money.
“Like I say, I never had a suitcase. Those first two years, I threw what I needed into a bag with Les Hunt — he played in the Detroit organization. I’ll never forget, I’m standing on this train platform in Calgary, and Les just hands me my clothes. They’re going on, and I’m going home. My clothes, all over the platform. I had to go get a paper bag and throw all my stuff in it.”
Upon being traded to Portland in 1961, McVie was given monogrammed luggage, which he still was using in 1992.
“I vowed that day, wherever I go, it goes,” McVie told Dupont. “It’s sort of a conversation piece, I guess. In 36 years of pro hockey, I’ll bet that I’ve received 20 sets of luggage, and I’ve given them all away — every one of them.”
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Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun remembers chatting with McVie about Dec. 15, 1979, the night of the Montreal Canadiens’ first visit to Winnipeg to face the Jets.
McVie was the Jets’ head coach and Bobby Hull was scheduled to play until he showed up late for the pre-game warmup, the game time having been moved for TV reasons.
Well, McVie had a rule about being on time; Hull was in violation of said rule so was scratched.
“He was mad . . . he pulled his tie off – I thought we were gonna go at it,” McVie told Friesen. “Out the (bleeping) door he went.”
And in came general manager John Ferguson.
“It’s not lit, but he’s got a cigar in his mouth,” McVie recalled. “His (bleeping) face is like tomato juice. He casually says to me, ‘Where’s Hull?’ I said, ‘Oh (bleep), he came in late so I told him he wasn’t playin.’ He said, ‘Hey, quit (bleeping) around. Where is he?’ I said, ‘I guess you didn’t hear me. I said he (bleeping) came in late and I told him he can’t (bleeping) play.’ ”
Ferguson reminded McVie that it was Hall of Fame night with a number of locals being honoured.
To which McVie replied: “I don’t give a (bleep) if I’m gettin’ an award. He ain’t (bleeping) playin’.”
What about the fact the game was being televised from coast-to-coast-to-coast as Hockey Night in Canada visited Winnipeg for the first time?
McVie told Ferguson: “I don’t give a (bleep) if it’s shown right around the world. He ain’t (bleeping) playin.’ ”
On his way out, Ferguson kicked at a door.
“And it’s one of those wooden, hollow doors,” McVie said. “His foot goes right through the (bleeping) door and comes out the other side. And now he can’t get his leg out, and he’s (bleeping) hopping around . . . he just goes (bleeping) crazy.
“And now he (bleeping) kicks the door again and he (bleeping) walks out and he’s (bleeping) red. And he comes back and he says, ‘OK, I’m (bleeping) leaving. But I’m going to ask you one more (bleeping) thing.’ I said, what’s that? He says, ‘Do you know he’s one of the (bleeping) owners of this (bleeping) team?’
“I said, ‘Well, geez, I didn’t know that.’ ”
Still, Hull didn’t play, and the Jets won, 6-2.
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In his conversation with Friesen, McVie also recalled a time in the early 1960s when Portland Buckaroos coach Hal Laycoe called a noon team meeting for poolside at a Los Angeles hotel.
“I used to be a springboard diving champ,” McVie said. “So I’m on top of the hotel. He’s walking around, and I’m the only guy not there. He’s looking at his watch . . . the guys are sitting on the deck chairs. They know I’m (bleeping) up there. But he don’t know. With about a minute to (bleeping) noon, off the building I go. With all my clothes on. I hit the (bleeping) pool . . . and just scared the sh– out of him. And then up I come out of the (bleeping) water with all my clothes on and I sat down on the deck chair and said, ‘Well, I’m on time.’
“The (bleeping) team, they were literally laying on the (bleeping) deck, howling.”
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“I never leave a job until I’m fired,” he said at one time. “It could happen any day. I’ve been fired seven times.
“One day, a guy’s interviewing me and he says, ‘I’m looking at your bio as a player and it says you were traded five times. And it says you’ve been fired seven times as a coach.’ He says to me, ‘You ever thought of quitting?’ I said, ‘Hell, no, hockey’s the only thing I’m good at.’ ’’
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There also was this version of that anecdote, as told to The Athletic in 2018:
“This writer, a young fellow, comes along and I’ve never seen him before. He was carrying a recorder, comes in and sticks the microphone in the face and asked, ‘Are you Tom McVie?’ Like, who doesn’t know who I am? Everyone knows who I am (laughter). So, I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Well, let me ask you something. Are you the Tom McVie that coached the Washington Capitals and they set a league record for losing games?’ I said, ‘Yes. I’m Tom McVie.’ He said, ‘Are you the Tom McVie that coached the Winnipeg Jets and you broke that losing record? Now, you’re coaching the New Jersey Devils and you’re in danger of setting a new losing record?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’
“He said, ‘Did you ever think of quitting?’ And I said, ‘F–k, no. This is the only thing I’m really good at.’ ”
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Even as he turned 80, McVie didn’t mind the travel involved with scouting.
“Are you kidding? Gets me out of the house,” he said. “I can’t stay home. My late wife used to say, ‘You love hockey more than you love me.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but I love you more than I love baseball.’ ’’
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There was a time, when he was coaching the New Jersey Devils’ AHL affiliate in Portland, Me., when home was a hotel room.
“Believe it or not,” he recalled, “I lived in the Holiday Inn, Room 424 in Portland, Maine, for five years when I was coaching there. When I coached the Jets in Winnipeg, I lived at the Viscount Gort for two years. Room 200. That’s seven years I spent in a hotel room.”
Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal asked: “Why didn’t you get an apartment?”
McVie’s response: “Why bother. I used to say, ‘If you fire me, I can have my stuff from my hotel room and be out of town in 30 minutes, unless I have stuff at the cleaners. Then maybe it’s an hour, and I’m gone’.”
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Courtesy of Matheson, here’s a McVie story from a time when he was coaching the Devils . . .
“One day Bob Butera, president of the team, comes into the dressing room and asks who this guy helping out (trainer) Keith Parker is. Parker says, ‘his name’s Norman Bates . . . says he’s just working training camp. Says he doesn’t really need the job. Says he owns a motel with his mother outside of town.
“Next day, Mr. (John) McMullen, the owner, comes up and sees the guy go by him and asks Bob Butera who the new guy is. Butera says ‘He’s, uh, Norman Bates. He and his mother own a motel outside of town.’ Mr. McMullen says, ‘Are you bleeping crazy?’ A week later Butera, who was an attorney, was gone, and here comes Lou Lamoriello in (as president).
“Hockey wasn’t Butera’s business.”
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Through all the stories and the jokes, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that McVie influenced a lot of young men during his well-lived life. Yes, he really was more, a lot more, than a jokester.
Tim Lenardon, the Foundation’s co-ordinator, will be inducted into the Wall of Honour alongside McVie in July. Lenardon played for McVie with the AHL’s Utica Devils.
“Tommy was a great person and a great coach,” Lenardon said. “He knew how to get the best out of everyone. He was like a second dad to me . . . hard but fair.”
Lenardon recalls a couple of times when he was on the receiving end of coaching tips from McVie: “Hey, Kid, you gotta shoot the (bleeping) puck more . . . and when you shoot hit the damn net” and “Don’t go offside for F sakes; it’s like back-checking for the other team.”
Eric Weinrich, a defenceman who played 1,157 NHL regular-season games, began his pro career under McVie with Utica in 1988-89. All these years later, Weinrich would leave this message on McVie’s obituary:
“Tommy was one person who changed my life and career as a player. He taught me about being a professional and a good teammate. I wouldn’t have been the player or person I am today without his mentorship and guidance. I will miss him and his friendship dearly.”
—30—
Chilliwack before another season gets here are flying, again. . . . Here’s Rick Dhaliwal, a co-host of the Donnie & Dhali Show that is on Victoria’s CHEK-TV, on Monday: “Out of the blue (Sunday), a lot of people reached out to me, hearing rumours again about Winnipeg moving to Chilliwack. A lot of people feel the Aquilini family may be behind this — involved, anyway. Sources in the Western Hockey League and the BC Hockey League have heard the same.” . . . The Aquilinis, of course, own the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks and the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks. . . . In February, when the WHL was rumoured to be searching for a new home for the Ice, management with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs, said that wasn’t’ going to happen. As Brian Maloney, the Chiefs’ general manager and head coach, said at the time: “We’ve tried that song and dance before . . . it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.” . . . The WHL did have a WHL franchise at one time, but it allowed the Bruins to be sold and moved to Victoria where it now is the Royals. . . . The difference now is that there wasn’t any mention of the Aquilinis earlier in the year. Dhaliwal even suggested that the Chilliwack Coliseum “could also be part of the deal, as in selling it — buying it.” . . . Daniel Wagner of Vancouver Is Awesome sums it all up 
May 31, the league issued a news release covering its rules pertaining to the 18 teams’ rosters. . . . While each team will be allowed to have two players from outside North American on its roster, “Russian and Belarusian players are temporarily not allowed due to the political situation in Russia.” . . . Of interest, too, is that players from the CSSHL, BCEHL and B.C.’s junior B leagues no longer are allowed to associate with BCHL teams as affiliate players. . . . That news release is 
This followed the decision by the WHL’s board of governors to approve the sale of the Kootenay Ice and the subsequent move to the Manitoba capital.
WHL season, with the Ice still playing out of the Wayne Fleming Arena.
indefinitely by the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League
a game against the Prince George Cougars on Friday night.
Monday morning. . . . Marty Murray, who is in his first season as the team’s general manager, has taken over behind the bench. . . . This is the first firing in Brandon since Kelly McCrimmon announced on Sept. 8, 2020, that he had sold the franchise to the J&G Group of Companies, under Jared Jacobson. . . .
point for the Oil Kings in the 2022 playoffs. Only 3 of them are still on the team today after the Golder trade. (Dowhaniuk, Wiebe, Seitz).”
the back end, and a third-round selection in the WHL’s 2023 draft to the Kelowna Rockets for F Riley Kovacevic, 18.
Saskatchewan, Alta., Boyko had five goals and five assists in 23 games with the Cougars. He was a first-round selection by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2017 bantam draft. In 198 career regular-season games, he has 94 points, including 48 goals. . . . Wiebe, from Moose Jaw, has three goals and one assist in six games with Edmonton this season. He is six games into a seven-game suspension that was handed down after he, a repeat offender, took a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct in Saskatoon on Nov. 12. Earlier, he sat out four games after being suspended following a knee-on-knee hit on Saskatoon F Josh Pillar. . . . In 130 regular-season games, the first 73 with the Red Deer Rebels, Wiebe has 60 points, 22 of them goals. Last season, he finished with 10 goals and 26 assists in 41 games, then added two goals and six assists in 13 playoff games. He also had three goals and one assist in three games at the Memorial Cup. . . . Obviously, he brings more edge to the game than does Boyko, and that would seem to be what the Cougars want. . . . 
Nicholas Cristiano, 18, from the Kelowna Rockets for a fifth-round selection in the 2023 WHL draft. . . . With veteran G Tyler Palmer, 19, not having played since Nov. 12, the Royals needed a goaltender to pair with Logan Cunningham, 17. . . . Cristiano, from Langley, B.C., started this season with the Rockets — he was 0-1-0, 2.61, .879 — before being released and joining the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors. In three games with the Warriors, he was 1-2-0, 4.42, .867. . . . According to Dan Price, the Royals’ general manager and head coach, Palmer is “on personal leave and with his family.” . . . Palmer, who is 3-10-3, 4.22, .876 this season, is from Fernie, B.C. . . . The Royals (3-17-3) are scheduled to entertain the Moose Jaw Warriors (15-9-0) tonight.
for D Kyle Masters, 19, and a lottery-protected first-round selection in the 2025 WHL draft. . . . Lindgren, the son of former NHL F Mats Lindgren, had asked for a trade after being a fourth-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL’s 2022 draft. . . . The Blazers, the host team for the 2023 Memorial Cup tournament, had selected Lindgren, a North Vancouver native, with the seventh pick of the first round in the WHL’s 2019 draft. He had five goals and 39 assists in 68 regular-season games in 2021-22, then added seven assists in 17 playoff games. . . . 
have led them in minutes played and played on the first PP unit. It gives the Blazers one more chip to be used in what undoubtedly will be more than one or two future moves. . . . I would suggest that the Blazers are going to have to ascertain the status of F Logan Stankoven, 19, before deciding where to go from here. From all reports, he was really good at the just-completed World Junior Championship in Edmonton. So what are his chances of playing his way onto the roster of the Dallas Stars, who selected him in the second round of the NHL’s 2021 draft? All is well if he comes back. If he doesn’t return, Kamloops will need to go shopping for a high-end forward. . . . Also, is G Dylan Ernst, 18, capable of leading a team on a march to the Memorial Cup after getting into 24 games last season? Or do the Blazers need to go out and acquire some experience at that position? . . . No matter how you look at it Blazers’ fans are in for some interesting times.
two future Hall-of-Famers. . . . 1B Paul Goldschmidt and 3B Nolan Arenado aren’t vaccinated so can’t cross into Canada due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions. Of course, the rules are the same going the other way — all of the Blue Jays are vaccinated — but there are Americans who blame all of this on Canadian rules whenever it’s revealed that players can’t get into the country. . . . You may recall that the Kansas City Royals showed up without 10 of the players on their 26-man roster when they played in Toronto prior to the All-Star break. . . . The Cardinals also will be without C Austin Romine. Yes, he is unvaccinated, too. . . . All three will be placed on MLB’s restricted list so won’t be paid. According to ESPN, Arenado will lose $384,416, Goldschmidt $241,758 and Romine $10,989. . . . 
league put the Winnipeg Ice on pause “out of an abundance of caution due to pending further test results for COVID-19 with players and staff.” . . . The weekly report listed 24 players in COVID-19 protocol, with 30 having come out of protocol. . . . The Ice didn’t list any players in either category. . . . So let’s no take the roster report as anything resembling gospel. OK? . . . BTW, the Seattle Thunderbirds, one of three teams not to have been shut down to this point, had 10 players in protocol as of Tuesday, with two others having been cleared to return. . . . The Kamloops Blazers and Vancouver Giants didn’t show anyone out or returning, despite officials from both organizations having said last week that the majority of players and staff had tested positive at some point. . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings and Kelowna Rockets are the other two teams not to have had to pause activities. The Rockets listed two players in protocol, and the Wheat Kings one.
night, but that didn’t happen. The WHL announced on Monday that it had postponed the game pending results of those tests with the Ice. The WHL didn’t issue an update on Tuesday. . . . The Ice last played on Saturday against the Warriors in Moose Jaw. . . . This isn’t the Ice’s first run-in with COVID-19. On Dec. 27, the WHL announced that the Ice had three players and/or staff in protocol. On Jan. 8, Winnipeg was one of 15 teams that were put on pause by the WHL. The Ice was cleared to return to team activities on Jan. 10. . . . Winnipeg is scheduled to visit the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday night.
Saturday doubleheader in Kelowna. The Royals then rode their bus to Prince George, where they were beaten, 5-3, by the Cougars on Tuesday night. The teams will play there again tonight. . . . The Royals will get back on the bus after that and head for home where they are to entertain the Vancouver Giants on Friday and the Everett Silvertips on Saturday. By then, they will have played six games in nine nights. . . . Before this stretch is over, the Royals will have played 10 games in 16 nights. . . . Victoria listed 12 players on this week’s injury list — five in COVID-19 protocol, two week-to-week, two day-to-day, one two-to-four weeks and two season-ending.
who are in contact with players,” according to Karissa Donkin of CBC News. . . . The policy also will include members of billet families who are eligible to be vaccinated. . . . Karl Jahnke, the QMJHL’s chief marketing officer, told Donkin that players had been notified of the policy a few weeks ago, adding that should a player choose not to be vaccinated “obviously, it’s a personal decision but they won’t be able to play.” . . . Trevor Georgie, the president and general manager of the Saint John Sea Dogs, said his organization has had “one player (who) won’t be able to meet those guidelines. We have one billet family that won’t be able to meet the guidelines, and we have one staff member (who) may not be able to meet those guidelines.” . . . Donkin’s story is 
22? Or will he go back home to play? Or does he end up in the AHL? . . . Jim Matheson, the veteran hockey writer with Postmedia in Edmonton, tweeted Monday afternoon that he is “hearing” that Wallstedt “might be playing for Portland . . . rather than back with Lulea.” . . . Wallstedt and Sebastian Cossa of the Edmonton Oil Kings were the two best goaltenders available in last weekend’s NHL draft. Cossa was taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round; the Minnesota Wild took Wallstedt five picks later. . . . Of course, because Wallstedt, who is to turn 19 on Nov. 14, was drafted from a European team, the Wild could sign him and place him with its AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. . . . The Winterhawks acquired Wallstedt’s WHL rights from the Moose Jaw Warriors on July 6 for a sixth-round pick in the WHL’s 2023 draft. The Warriors had selected him in the 2019 CHL import draft.
department to contract extensions — general manager Jeff Chynoweth, head coach Steve Hamilton and assistant coaches Trent Cassan and Joel Otto. The length of the extensions wasn’t revealed. Chynoweth is preparing for his fifth season with the Hitmen, while Hamilton has been head coach through three seasons. Otto is going into his 15th season, with Cassan entering his sixth.
contract. He was the fifth overall selection in the CHL’s 2021 import draft. . . . Bettahar, 17, played just three games in 2020-21, putting up one assist for the Jungadler Mannheim U-20 side. In 2019-20, he had two goals and 25 assists in 35 games for the program’s U-17. . . . He is the first German player to have been selected by the Broncos in the import draft. . . . Swift Current also selected Russian F Alexei Shanaurin in the June 30 draft. He signed a WHL contract on July 21. . . . The Broncos didn’t have any imports on the roster with which they finished the 2021 development season.
May 30 so that the Tigers could bring back Willie Desjardins to fill both roles. . . . The Blazers also named co-owner Darryl Sydor an associate coach. He was named an assistant coach on Feb. 12. . . . 
for a pair of unspecified conditional bantam draft picks, one in 2021 and the other in 2022. Jerome is from Lethbridge. . . . Other 20-year-olds on Lethbridge’s roster include D Koletrane Wilson, D Ty Prefontaine, F Scott Mahovlich and F Zach Cox. F Jake Leschyshyn, F Jordy Bellerive and F Nick Henry also are 1999-born players, but are likely to begin their pro careers in the fall. . . . 
Blades. . . . With Kustra, the Broncos have three 20-year-olds on their roster, the others being F Ian Briscoe and F Ethan O’Rourke. . . .
month’s NHL draft, has undergone surgery to repair a partially torn Achilles tendon.
Vancouver Giants, has taken over as head coach of the U-18 team that will play in the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. . . . Dyck replaces Dan Lambert, who left his position as the head coach of the Spokane Chiefs to join the NHL’s Nashville Predators as an assistant coach. . . . Dyck’s assistant coaches are Mario Duhamel of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and Dennis Williams, the head coach of the Everett Silvertips. . . . In his first season as the Giants’ head coach, Dyck guided his club to Game 7 of the WHL’s championship final where they lost to the host Prince Albert Raiders. . . . The 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup is set for Breclav, Czech Republic, and Piestany, Slovakia, Aug. 5-10. . . . Earlier, Dyck had been named head coach of Team Canada White at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge that is to be played in Medicine Hat and Swift Current, Nov. 2-9. With Dyck now involved with the U-18 program, Hockey Canada is looking for a replacement for Team Canada White.
TAKING NOTE 