As the tributes continue to pour in for the late hockey great Dale Hawerchuk, few have a memory as personal and poignant as Victoria’s Mike Corrigan.
Hawerchuk and Corrigan were linemates, along with Marc Crawford, when the Cornwall Royals won the Memorial Cup Canadian major-junior championship in 1979-80. That ring is a cherished keepsake for Corrigan, the former CEO of B.C. Ferries. So are his recollections of the Hockey Hall of Famer Hawerchuk, who died last week at 57.
“He was such a nice and humble guy and remained that way his entire life,” said Corrigan.
“He always talked about other people first – about how important I was to the line – never about himself. He was that type of person.”
Winning a championship in any sport is a bond that remains with those players who went through the experience together.
“We were all just kids, but it sticks with you forever,” said Corrigan.
“Dale was 16 and Marc and I were both 18 the season we won the Memorial Cup. Dale was a skinny-legged kid and Marc and I made sure nobody bothered him. But Dale was impossible to hit, regardless.”
Hawerchuk led Cornwall to a second consecutive Memorial Cup title in 1980-81. The Victoria Cougars were the Western Hockey League representatives that year in the Memorial Cup but were unable to stop Hawerchuk, even with the likes of Grant Fuhr, Barry Pederson, Torrie Robertson, Mark Morrison, Paul Cyr, Rich Chernomaz, Geoff Courtnall, Bob McGill and Tony Feltrin in the Victoria line-up.
Corrigan had been traded and played for the Sudbury Wolves that season, so missed out on the Memorial Cup double with Hawerchuk and Crawford.
Corrigan was selected in the fifth round of the 1980 NHL draft, 88th overall by the Detroit Red Wings, and drifted around for three seasons in the minor-pro system with the Adirondack Red Wings and Kalamazoo Wings before bigger things as an executive away from hockey.
Crawford went on to coach, including Colorado to the Stanley Cup, in Vancouver with the Canucks, and Canada at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
“That line all had success in life in different ways,” noted Corrigan, who formerly coached the Victoria Breakers girls’ teams, and is still involved in the international ferry business.
“I ran B.C. Ferries, but people are far more intrigued if I tell them about my hockey career and the guys I played with, because that is the unique interest people have in sports,” said Corrigan.
He can proudly say he played with one of the best, with the ring to prove it.
