On St Patricks Day, Irish eyes weren’t the only ones smiling as the Vancouver Canucks honoured the legendary Pat Quinn before their game against Philadelphia Flyers.
Earlier in the day the City of Vancouver and the Canucks dedicated the street east of Rogers Arena “Pat Quinn Way”, creating a lasting tribute to the hockey legend.
With Quinn having history with both teams there was plenty of history in Rogers Arena. The tribute started with the Canucks warming up in green Quinn #3 jerseys. The Quinn family watched as pre-game videos highlighted the Big Irishman’s accomplishments followed by a BC Regiment Irish Pipe and Drum honour guard performing. Then a parade of hockey heroes and legends with connections to Quinn made their way on to the ice. Original Canucks Captain Orland Kurtenbach, Bobby Clarke, Cliff Fletcher, Rick Ley, Stan Smyl, Pavel Bure, Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden, Kirk McLean and Bob Nicholson all turned up to pay their respects to the icon.
The Pat Quinn tributes played out on the scoreboard screen throughout the game. After a 0-0 first period the action heated up with both teams scoring in the second. The third period lit up with Alex Burrows scoring a remarkable pair of goals just 17 seconds apart, then an empty netter by Vrbata sealed the night 4-1 for the Vancouver Canucks. Wrapping up an emotional and thrilling game for the home team and sealing the legend of the great Pat Quinn.