Thirty Years Ago, Future NHL Legends Skated Their Way to a Gold Medal
Cal Renwick was the chair of the local organizing committee for the Air Canada Pacific Cup Under-18 Tournament. Seen here holding the event program, his volunteer team’s efforts have left a lasting mark on the community 30 years after Team Canada left the West Kootenay with a gold medal.
Pacific Cup Tournament Boosted Canadian Pride and Local Economy
The power of sport to unite a community and bolster the local economy was on full display three decades ago when the best young hockey players in the world descended on Nelson for the Air Canada Pacific Cup Under-18 Tournament.
For one week in August 1996, hockey fans in the region had the opportunity to watch players who would eventually win a Stanley Cup, be inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame and break the NHL record for all-time career games played. Chosen by Hockey Canada to host the four-team tournament, a local group of passionate community builders spent more than a year planning a high level event that most would have never expected to be set in rural British Columbia.
On a warm mid-August evening in the West Kootenay, the old Civic Centre Arena was jammed to capacity to watch the final between Canada and the United States. With more than 1,500 fans in attendance, Canada triumphed 5-1 to claim the gold medal on one of the greatest nights in the arena’s storied history.
“It felt good to see that arena filled,” says Cal Renwick, the chair of the local organizing committee. “We were able to pull something off that was pretty remarkable with what we had to work with. But the community came together, the Chamber and municipal government were very important to helping us make it a success. It was a proud moment.”
Through its deep connections in the wider hockey community, the Ernie Gare Scholarship Society was the primary reason that Nelson was chosen as the location for the 1996 Pacific Cup. Intended to help raise money for Canada’s first athletic scholarship program that was started by the legendary Ernie Gare in 1964, it was the first time the fledgling tournament was held in rural Canada.
Started in 1991 to help raise the profile of hockey in Japan — the nation chosen to host the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano — the 1996 Pacific Cup featured Canada, Japan, Finland and the United States. Finland was a last-minute replacement for the Russian team that had played in the previous five tournaments, but chose not to attend.
The tournament featured nine players who would eventually be chosen in the first round of the NHL entry draft. Included in that pack were four future NHL legends: Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta.
“It was a premier event for NHL scouts to evaluate these players prior to the 1997 NHL draft,” says Bill McDonnell, who arrived to the area in the late-1960s to attend Notre Dame University and play for the Nelson Maple Leafs senior team while on an Ernie Gare Scholarship. “I recall NHL scouts commenting on the smaller ice dimensions of the Civic Centre Arena as an advantage towards determining Joe Thornton as a first overall candidate. Their question was answered by ‘Jumbo Joe’s’ performance of four goals and five assists in five games. His outstanding ability to function in all areas of the ice led to Thornton being selected as the number-one overall player in the NHL draft.”
Community Rallies Around the Challenge
Born-and-raised in Nelson, Cal Renwick has spent a lifetime volunteering and contributing the community in a wide spectrum of capacities. Cal’s father Maurice was equally as vital to helping build opportunities for all through his hard work as a business leader, city councillor and cherished volunteer.
The August 19, 1996 sports section of the Nelson Daily News celebrated Team Canada’s golden moment.
At the time Nelson was chosen as the host city for the Pacific Cup, Renwick sat on the Ernie Gare Scholarship Society and was tapped to lead the local organizing committee. Having just turned 40 and with a young family of his own, Renwick didn’t hesitate to help ensure the tournament was a success.
“We took it on, not knowing exactly where it was going to take us or what would be involved,” says Renwick. “I have always believed in what Ernie did for sport and this community. My dad was big on volunteerism and I just followed in his footsteps.”
With a team of passionate volunteers joining him on the organizing committee, the local group spent months planning the details for hosting players, team staff, officials, NHL scouts, Hockey Canada leadership and fans from across the region interested in taking in top-notch action on the ice.
Nelson was a much different place 30 years ago. At the time, the connection the community had with Japan was strong with the Tenth Street Campus in Fairview the location of the Canadian International College (CIC) that saw hundreds of young Japanese students arrive each year to learn English and discover more about Canadian culture. Years away from a successful referendum on a new facility, the Civic Centre Arena — which was built during the Depression — was aging poorly and the only hockey rink at the time.
Despite some anxious moments leading up to the August event, the committee was set by the time the four teams began arriving to our small mountain community.
“I remember being there when the Team Canada bus pulled up to the back of the Civic Centre Arena,” says Renwick. “When these young players came into the Civic Centre for the first time, they thought the place was just awesome. The ice surface was smaller than they were used to and the boards rattled when you would hit somebody. The players were used to bigger and more fancy arenas, but they just loved it.”
What followed was a memorable week in the middle of summer. A successful Mary Hall banquet helped raised money for the scholarship society, more than 9,000 tickets were sold for all the games and Hockey Canada officials were pleased with the welcome they received from the entire community.
One of Renwick’s fondest memories of the week came after the final buzzer sounded in the gold medal game.
“My son was a stickboy for Team Canada and this was an important moment for him,” Renwick recalls. “We were going to the afterparty dinner for Team Canada and as we were walking into the room at the Lord Nelson [now Adventure Hotel], I remember having a conversation with him about how important volunteerism is to a community and that is what made this moment happen. There was a lesson in there and I learned it from my dad… now my son volunteers with his own kid in minor hockey. There is something extra special about living in a small town, people come out of the woodwork to do whatever it takes to make something like this happen.”
After playing in Nelson and then being drafted number-one, Joe Thornton would go onto a brilliant NHL career that would land him the Hall of Fame. Patrick Marleau was chosen second overall in the draft and would eventually break Gordie Howe’s longstanding NHL record for most games played (1,779). Both Canadian superstars would also win an Olympic gold medal as members of the team that thrilled Canada at the Vancouver Games in 2010. Both Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta — standouts on the US team at the Pacific Cup — would also be top draft picks, play more than 1,000 NHL games each and get their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.
The Lasting Impact of Sports Tourism
What a local committee of volunteers was able to pull off that week did not go unnoticed.
Based on the success of the Pacific Cup, another high level Hockey Canada tournament came to the region in 2007 when Nelson helped host the World Junior A Challenge which brought an entire new batch of future professional hockey players to the community. That same year, Nelson hosted Hockey Day in Canada where the entire community was thrust into the national spotlight.
A front page story in the Nelson Daily News on August 12, 1996 explored the impact of the Pacific Cup tournament on the local economy.
A lifelong volunteer, coach and teacher, McDonnell is also an important keeper of Nelson’s athletic history. For McDonnell, that locals are able to pull off large scale events is not a surprise and it’s because people care deeply about where they live.
“Whatever a community need is, people respond,” McDonnell says. “The spirit and power of sport to unite is very important. Potential is not a verb, it requires action.”
Volunteerism is also vital in spurring the local economy. Like at the Pacific Cup, sports tourism fills hotels, packs restaurants and brings traffic into local retail shops.
“These types of events are hugely important,” says Renwick, a former president of the Nelson & District Chamber of Commerce. “While we were preparing for the Pacific Cup, we knocked on a lot of doors for support. Sometimes people would ask: what does that do for me? It doesn’t matter what business you are in, indirectly an event like this brings people to town which obviously benefits hotels, restaurants and shops. But the trickledown from there is where it’s actually most important. When one part of the community has a good year because an event boosts the bottomline, then they will generate economic activity in different ways.”
Though still doing his part with a number of local organizations and groups, Renwick encourages the upcoming generation to embrace volunteering their time to what they are passionate about.
“Get involved in something and don’t do it for a pat on the back,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what capacity you get involved, you will make a difference through volunteerism. If you want something done, then get it done. Actions speak louder than words.
“The Pacific Cup helped put Nelson on the map. People who came from out of town for the tournament and the locals who took part would have had a memorable time in our community for that one special week in August.”
Learn more about Greater Nelson amenities here.
