As Humphrey Bogart famously said to Claude Rains: "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
It wasn't on a Hollywood sound stage replicating an airport runway in Casablanca, however. It was in a Calgary Starbucks where Cam Hope, the new general manger of the Victoria Royals, said it took less than a two-hour chat to convince him that Dave Lowry was the right guy to become the new head coach of the Royals.
The two men who will now shape the destiny of the Royals in the Western Hockey League - taking over from departed GM-head coach Marc Habscheid - couldn't be more dissimilar in career paths.
Both have made their livelihoods in sport, but that's where the similarities end. For lawyer Hope, it was in the offices of the Canadian Football League Players Association and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.
"I was the nerd in the back of the room," quips Hope, adding he is almost in awe of anyone who can make it to the NHL. "I didn't get past Junior B."
Lowry, meanwhile, survived down in the trenches as a tenacious third-or fourth-line role forward for 19 seasons in the NHL.
Their respective spouses - Sara Adamson and Elaine Lowry - might seem to have more in common. Sara, also a lawyer who has worked for the Oilers and Rangers, has run numerous marathons, including Boston and New York, while Elaine is a triathlete who has done Ironmans. They come to an Island where both triathlon and running are conducted with near-religious fervour, from the grassroots to the Summer Olympics.
Royals owner Graham Lee resisted the usual WHL management suspects in July when hiring Hope, who was settling back into a law career in his hometown of Edmonton when Lee's call came "out of the blue."
Lee did his due diligence in tracking down Hope, who started out in sports boardrooms by doing work for the CFL players' association from 1988 to 1994, before seven seasons with the New York Rangers management team. There, he worked from 2004 to 2011 as vice-president of hockey administration, research, development, and, since 2007, as assistant GM.
"We have the same vision," Lee said. "Cam brings leadership from the highest level and a principled, intelligent, thoughtful approach."
Lee found his man, and left it up to Hope to find his.
Despite his myriad contacts in hockey, Hope didn't know Lowry. But that brief first chat in Calgary clinched it. It wasn't as if they finished each other's sentences, but close.
"We had no disagreements about hockey," said 48-year-old Hope. "People think I'm kidding."
The soft-spoken lawyer and blunt-spoken former hockey player make quite the odd couple. It isn't a Neil Simon play, but it's an interesting mix of two personalities.
"Cam and I get along really well personally and professionally," said Lowry. "We have the same vision and same beliefs.
"Cam and I both believe you need good balance on a hockey team, on and off the ice. Cam is very good in letting me coach while he does the diligence on the managerial side."
The 47-year-old father of four - including NHL draft-pick Adam Lowry of the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL and former Victoria Grizzlies junior Joel Lowry of NCAA Cornell - served as assistant coach of the NHL's Calgary Flames for the past three years under head coach Brent Sutter, before being let go at the end of last season as the Flames purged their bench.
It takes a special kind of hard-edged mental and physical tenacity to last 1,084 games in the NHL - from 1985 to 2004 - as a mere role player willing to do whatever it took with the Canucks, Blues, Panthers, Sharks and Flames.
"I've been very fortunate to be in this game," said Lowry, whose only previous stint as head coach was in guiding the 2008-09 Calgary Hitmen to a scorching 59-9-4 record with 330 goals scored and into the WHL final.
"Having gone through it on the ice myself as a player puts me in a unique position as a coach. I understand the commitment it takes to be a player."
Yet Lowry and Hope cut against type in some ways. Who would have pegged Lowry as the road and mountain biker among the pair, who can't wait to hit the famous biking roads and trails of the Island?
"I've just been too busy since getting here to get on the bike," said Lowry.
And who would have guessed that Hope is a former Players Challenge Series car racer for three years at places like Westwood, Mosport and Mont Tremblant? His one Saturday night off since arriving here was spent watching the car races at Western Speedway. When he was in his mid-20s, and looking for a life change, Hope took a pro-driving course in England and embarked on fulfilling a racing dream.
"I love the smell of rubber," he says.
This Hope-Lowry odd couple could bear watching as they look to build an era of hockey in the B.C. capital.
2012-13 SCHEDULE
Sept. 21 - at Vancouver
Sept. 22 - vs. Vancouver
Sept. 28 - vs. Kamloops
Sept. 30 - vs. Kamloops
Oct. 3 - vs. Medicine Hat
Oct. 5 - at Spokane
Oct. 6 - at Tri-City
Oct. 7 - at Vancouver
Oct. 10 - at Kamloops
Oct. 12 - vs. Kelowna
Oct. 13 - vs. Kelowna
Oct. 18 - vs. Calgary
Oct. 23 - vs. Brandon
Oct. 26 - at Vancouver
Oct. 27 - at Kamloops
Nov. 2 - at Portland
Nov. 3 - at Portland
Nov. 7 - at Lethbridge
Nov. 9 - at Calgary
Nov. 10 - at Medicine Hat
*Nov. 15 - Super Series: WHL vs. Russia
Nov. 16 - vs. Everett
Nov. 17 - vs. Regina
Nov. 20 - vs. Saskatoon
Nov. 23 - vs. Prince George
Nov. 24 - vs. Prince George
Nov. 27 - vs. Moose Jaw
Nov. 20 - at Prince George
Dec. 1 - at Prince George
Dec. 5 - vs. Vancouver
Dec. 8 - vs. Swift Current
Dec. 11 - at Seattle
Dec. 14 - at Red Deer
Dec. 15 - at Edmonton
Jan. 2 - at Kelowna
Jan. 4 - vs. Tri-City
Jan. 5 - vs. Tri-City
Jan. 9 - at Kelowna
Jan. 11 - at Everett
Jan. 12 - at Seattle
Jan. 15 - vs. Kamloops
Jan. 16 - vs. Kamloops
Jan. 18 - at Vancouver
Jan. 19 - at Kamloops
Jan. 25 - vs. Vancouver
Jan. 26 - vs. Vancouver
Jan. 29 - vs. Prince Albert
Jan. 31 - at Kelowna
Feb. 1 - at Prince George
Feb. 2 - at Prince George
Feb. 5 - vs. Seattle
Feb. 6 - vs. Seattle
Feb. 8 - at Tri-City
Feb. 10 - at Spokane
Feb. 13 - at Kootenay
Feb. 15 - at Red Deer
Feb. 16 - at Calgary
Feb. 17 - at Edmonton
Feb. 22 - vs. Kelowna
Feb. 23 - vs. Kelowna
Feb. 27 - vs. Lethbridge
March 1 - vs. Spokane
March 2 - vs. Spokane
March 5 - at Kamloops
March 6 - at Kelowna
March 8 - vs. Vancouver
March 9 - at Vancouver
March 10 - vs. Portland
March 12 vs. Portland
March 15 - vs. Everett
March 16 - at Everett
* All home games at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre
