Hometown hero and Vancouver Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis was in Smithers briefly last Saturday for the 20th annual Rotary Celebrity Golf Tournament. Due to an injury during the Stanley Cup Final series, his role at the tournament was one of supervisor, not as a member of one of the teams golfing.
Hamhuis travelled around the course visiting teams during the tournament, and stayed for the dinner and auction as well. Although he is mobile, he wasn’t able to take part in the action.
“I feel fine,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt, it just doesn’t function.”
Tournament organizers had booked Hamhuis to take part in the fundraising tournament before knowing the Canucks would make it all the way to Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final, but he wanted to make it out to help the Rotary Club raise money for the Bulkley Valley Child Development Centre and other Rotary causes.
“It’s a big thing for the community, the 20th anniversary,” he said. “With it going to game 7 it made it harder, but I think everyone appreciates it, and certainly this community is important to me and I wanted to come back and help out.”
Hamhuis said the extent of his injuries won’t be fully known until after surgery this week, but at the least doctors will need to repair a hernia suffered during a hit on Boston Bruin Milan Lucic during the second period of Game 1. When he undergoes surgery for the hernia, doctors will scope to find whether further surgery is required. Either way, he’s looking at at least a month before being able to do much of anything.
“If they need to do some work on the groin then it’s more of an eight to 10 week process, if they just do the hernia it’s three to four week rehab,” he said.
Hamhuis said the support from Smithers was amazing. Although he didn’t have a chance to see Main Street for himself, he has been told of the store windows, the flags flying from cars, and the overall support from his home town.
“It was really cool to see. It’s amazing the support the Canucks get from the community, and personally too, the support from Smithers and the whole north, it’s pretty cool,” he said.
For now, Hamhuis will wait to see the results of his surgery, and looks forward to getting back on the ice next year.
“It was pretty close, but not close enough. It’s going to be a short summer, but I’m going to be motivated to get back there and get another shot at it next year,” he said.
See more on the golf tournament next week.
