VANCOUVER — One of the most popular players to ever suit up for the Vancouver Canucks has died.
Wayne “Gino” Odjick, who played 12 seasons in the NHL for the Canucks, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens, died today at the age of 52. Gino’s sister Dina Odjick shared the news on Facebook of his passing.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
“Gino was a fan favourite from the moment he joined the organization, putting his heart and soul into every shift on and off the ice,” said Francesco Aquilini, the Canucks’ chairman and governor. Smyl added that Odjick protected the team’s stars, fought or stirred things up when necessary, and was never intimidated by the other NHL enforcers.Odjick was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis, a rare terminal illness that causes a gelatin-like protein to be deposited in the heart muscle, affecting the organ’s ability to expand and contract.
“I feel very fortunate for the support I’ve received over the years,” Odjick wrote in June. “During my career I played in some great NHL cities including Vancouver, Long Island, Philadelphia and Montreal. “A lot of our people went to the residential school and he knows the struggles in our communities with drugs and alcohol so he was wanting to touch on that too, just basically from his own experience, what he had to endure to get where he was at with professional hockey,” Cahoose said.Article content
“When someone like that, a professional hockey player, comes into our community, I think it really hits home to the kids,” she said. “Not only are they interested in being motivated into being a pro hockey player but in Gino talking about his experiences in getting through the challenges of becoming a professional hockey player and the challenges he knows that our First Nation faces.
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