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VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks will have to conquer the Calgary Flames on Thursday night to start the National Hockey League season with a victory.
But before that, the Canucks will have to conquer their own emotions.
The franchise will feature a 15-minute tribute to Luc Bourdon before the game, including a video footage of the late Vancouver defenceman and a moment of silence. The video is intended to be a celebration of Bourdon's life, and Canucks players and coaches have already watched it, lest they be overcome just minutes before the puck drops.
"I don't think you can prepare for something like that," said Canucks left wing Alex Burrows, a fellow francophone and one of Bourdon's closest friends on the team.
Suzanne Boucher, mother of Vancouver Canuck defenceman Luc Bourdon, left, and Luc's girlfriend Charlene Ward react after the unveiling of a memorial in Vancouver Thursday. Luc died earlier this year after his motorcycle collided with a transport truck near his home in New Brunswick. (Lyle Stafford/Reuters)
"We saw it together a couple of days ago. It's really emotional and really touching. That's for sure. Especially watching it with the team, there was a special feeling. He was a teammate and a good friend of ours, so it was tough but I think it was a good thing that we've already watched it once."
Added head coach Alain Vigneault: "We talked about the emotions that might be going through our mind at that time. The fact is that once it's done, even though it is very challenging thing to deal with, is that we still have a game to play."
Bourdon died on May 29 when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a tractor-trailer near his hometown of Shippagan, N.B. He was 21. As one of the few Acadians to make it to the NHL, Bourdon was revered in French New Brunswick.
"Hockey is big there," said Canucks wing Steve Bernier, who played junior hockey in New Brunswick. "He was big there."
Earlier on Thursday, the Canucks unveiled the "Luc Bourdon Wall of Dreams" on the 100-level concourse of General Motors Place. The ceremony was attended by Bourdon's mother, Suzanne Boucher, and by his former girlfriend, Charlene Ward, as well as other extended family members and about 100 onlookers.
"There are no words for how I feel," Ward said softly. "It's really hard. I can't even look at pictures or see a video.
"I'm glad they are doing this. I want to be here for Luc."
The wall is a montage of photos showing Canucks players interacting with minor hockey players. It is anchored by a large photo of a smiling Bourdon holding up an official game puck with a Canucks logo.
The wall also features 191 mounted pucks representing the different minor hockey associations in British Columbia, and below Bourdon's photo are pucks representing all the teams he played for, including the Miramichi Rivermen, three Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams, the AHL's Manitoba Moose, and Hockey Canada. Bourdon was a first-round draft pick of the Canucks in 2005 and also a former member of Canada's world junior national team.
"He always helped little guys and little girls," Boucher said. "If he would have seen this he would have been amazed to see all these little pucks from all these communities."
Canucks chief executive officer Chris Zimmerman noted that Bourdon anonymously donated $10,000 to minor hockey in Shippigan last year so that underprivileged families could enroll their children in the sport. Zimmerman called the wall a "visual salute to Luc and all he represented."
