On this edition of ‘MOJ on Sports’, host Bob Marjanovich offers an encore podcast interview from the spring of 2022 with the late Gino Odjick.
Odjick quickly endeared himself to the Canucks faithful as that enforcer that they never had.
‘He also had that smile that would make anyone approaching him feel welcome, yet at the same time it had the capacity to kind of scare you deep down inside’, says the MOJ.
Odjick recognized how much Indigenous youth idolized him and were looking up to him as he had looked up to Boston’s Stan Jonathan in the 70’s.
The “Journey for Healing” would be the start of a commitment to helping Indigenous youth that would last until the end of his life.
His time as a Canuck ended during the Mark Messier – Mike Kennan era when he was dealt to the Islanders in March of 1998 because of friction between himself and Keenan due to Odjick standing up for his former captain in Trevor Linden and his former head coach in Pat Quinn.
‘He (Mike Keenan) was bad mouthing Pat Quinn’, said Odjick, ‘Mike, you’re not going to cross that line. You got something to say against Pat Quinn and we’re going to have an issue. He changed his position quite quickly’.
After his career ended, Odjick returned to Vancouver where he would show some shrewd business acumen by buying and revitalizing The Musqueam Golf Course as well taking part in Canuck Alumni events.
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