News from December 1995
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Pavel Gossip Line
Vlad the Dad 'In Russia, Pavel was my son', says Vladimir Bure, pausing to make sure the distinction is clear. 'Here, I am Pavel's father'. Understood. Pavel's the one expected some year soon to establish himself as hockey's greatest star. But Dad, the trainer over the summer of not just Bure, but a small platoon of Canucks - including the other young Russian superstar, Alexander Mogilny - is the secret weapon in whose powerful hands the Canucks' 1995-96 fortunes rest. Possessor of four Olympic medals in swimming of his own, the 44-year old is not exactly new to this. He took Pavel for his first swim when he was just three months old. He gave him a soccer ball when he was still a toddler. The question was, which would the kid choose? Pavel, as we know, went for the stick. Vladimir recalls that when his son was four or fives years old, other parents would whisk their children away from outdoor rinks when they saw him coming. 'They were afarid of crazy Pavel!' Vladimir says with pride. He would fight anyone who tried to take his puck. But when Pavel signed to play organized hockey, all the other boys were a year older and he was chosen last out of 100 kids.A mortified Vladimir explained to his six-year-old that if he didn't improve within six months he was off the team. The Dad set a new goal: by the following year, his son had to be the best in the league. Pavel has been working hard ever since - and Papa has been pushing harder, coaching his son, just as his father, Russia's top water polo player, coached him. This summer Vladimir ran a mini training camp, cracking the whip as his charges pumped iron and played soccer, tennis and basketball. Now Vladimir has anew goal. says Bure of his son: 'I want to see him to bring the Stanley Cup to Vancouver - hopefully this year'. Or else.
Watch Canucks practice Effective this month, most of the Vancouver Canucks home practices will now be conducted at the almost finished '8-Rinks' ice complex in Burnaby, BC with a dedicated rink, medical facilities and office space. The rink is located in the edge of the building, and is overlooked by '8-Rinks' full-service restaurant, so that you can drop in for lunch and watch the Canucks - see the big boys run a practice. As Joyce Fordyce, the person in charge of community programming at the privately owned facility explains, 'The way it's set up, there's no way to physically close off practices to people watching'. In other words, even if they want to run a behind-closed-doors practice, they can't. After all, the time the practices are really interesting is when things aren't going well. And if watching hockey practices is not your thing, the rink next to the Canucks is solely dedicated to the Canadian Figure Skating Association's west coast High Performance Centre, so you can watch and see how they learn to do those spectacular jumps. The Vancouver Canucks share the GM Place facility with the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA. As such, most non-game day ice hockey practices have to be conducted outside of their home rink, as the new '8-Rinks' which upon completion this month will become the largest ice hockey complex in the world. The ice complex is located about 15 kms east of GM Place and next to the complex are four more ice rinks, for a total of 12 rinks ina two block radius. The address for the Canlan Investment Corporation 8-Rinks is 6501 Sprott St, Burnaby BC Canada V5B 3B8. Phone 604-291-0625. Web address is http://www.icesports.com/burnaby/
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