Sticking it to Alzheimer's

Ron Toigo (left), Gordie Howe, Terry Wright, Sharon Craver, Orland Kurtenbach at the Scotiabank Pro-Am news conference on March 28.

Marty McSorley was back on ice in Vancouver March 28, but not at the scene of the crime.

On Feb. 21, 2000 at then-General Motors Place, then-Boston Bruin McSorley struck Vancouver Canucks’ enforcer Donald Brashear in the side of the head with his stick with three seconds left in the game. McSorley was sent to fight Brashear after the Canuck earlier knocked goaltender Byron Dafoe out of the game with a knee injury. Brashear didn't want to drop his gloves.

Brashear fell backwards, hit his head on the ice, suffered a seizure and a serious concussion. McSorley was charged and convicted of assault with a weapon and didn’t return to the National Hockey League after his year-long suspension. 

“I went out with my boots on, I went out the same way I came in,” McSorley said. “I do think the situation kinda served a bunch of masters, there were a lot of people upset with the game, upset with the NHL, Canadian teams were moving, we've gotta hold the NHL accountable. I seem to feel like I was in the middle of that.” 

McSorley, who recently had double-hip replacement surgery, laced up his skates at the Pacific Coliseum for a game of shinny in a rink where his memories are fonder. It was there that he set-up Los Angeles King Gary Shuchuk’s pivotal, game five double-overtime winner in the second round of 1993’s playoffs. The Kings disposed of Vancouver in game six. 

McSorley had 108 goals and 251 assists in his 961 career games and registered 3,381 penalty minutes. He was packaged along with Mike Krushelnyski in the milestone trade of Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to Los Angeles Kings on Aug. 9, 1988 and assisted Gretzky’s record-breaking 802nd career goal in 1994. 

That goal put the Great One ahead of Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, who was also in the Pacific Coliseum for a news conference to promote the Oct. 26-28 Scotiabank Pro-Am for Alzheimer’s in North Vancouver.

Howe’s wife Colleen died of dementia-causing Pick’s disease in 2009. Howe, himself, no longer does press interviews despite making dozens of personal appearances annually. His son Marty insists his famous 84-year-old dad doesn’t have Alzheimer’s disease, but he instead may be feeling the cumulative effects of head injuries suffered during his lengthy NHL career.

“We're learning more about brain injuries and damage to the brain, it's really kind of come home,” said McSorley, whose father-in-law suffered a degenerative brain condition. “We, amongst older players, we know how many head injuries or maybe we don't even know how many head injuries we've truly had over the course of our careers. You're saying OK, that could be one of my former teammates or me down the road.”

The Pro-Am offers teams that raise $25,000 or more the chance to draft a former NHLer, like McSorley, to play on their team for at least three games in a three-day tournament aimed at raising $1 million for the Alzheimer Society of B.C. and Baycrest Foundation, a University of Toronto-linked neuroscience research hospital. 

The fundraiser is also somewhat of a VANOC reunion. The co-chairman of the organizing committee is Terry Wright, the executive vice-president in charge of Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics transportation, security and accommodation. Joining him are VANOC CEO John Furlong, deputy CEO Dave Cobb, chairman Rusty Goepel, director Jeff Mooney, along with Irene Kerr (transportation vice-president), Dick Vollett (operations vice-president), Katrina Galas (project manager/client manager) and Lizette Parsons Bell (operations communications director). 

“I signed on early and convinced a lot of people to help me, it's a great cause,” Wright said. “It needs a bit more promotion and a bit more awareness. It's something that has afflicted my family severely.”

Wright said a VANOC alumni team is entered and sponsor Scotiabank has challenged its competitors to join. 

“Every five minutes, another Canadian comes down with (dementia), we have a population that's approaching the age where they're more vulnerable to it. I think it's going to become a bigger issue for society.”