Not all hockey hall of famers played in the NHL.
Vic Gervais of Victoria, inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame with the Class of 2023 on Monday in Norfolk, Virginia, never made the big league but left his imprint on the game just the same.
“Only a small percentage of players, not a lot of guys, make it to the NHL and it’s not easy to do,” said Gervais, drafted by the Washington Capitals 187th overall in the ninth round in 1989.
Most players just leave the game after youth or junior hockey and a select few others leave their mark in other ways in minor pro or Europe.
“I am proud of what I accomplished and it allowed me to see much of North America and also Europe,” said Gervais.
“You always remember the guys you played with.”
Gervais was a scoring machine as a junior in the Western Hockey League with 54 goals and 119 points and 64 goals and 160 points in his final two seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1988-89 and 1989-90. The Victoria Cougars would just hope for the best whenever Gervais swung through Blanshard Street in the old Memorial Arena.
Gervais amassed 462 points in 266 career ECHL games playing for the Hampton Roads Admirals for an average of almost 1.75 points-per-game and led the league in 1992-93 with 80 assists and was second in points with 118 in 59 games. He had 53 assists in only 31 games in 1993-94 for an average of 1.71 assists per game, the best single-season average in ECHL history, and Gervais’ 1.15 assists-per-game career average is tied for the best in ECHL history.
Gervais was an avid fan of the Victoria Salmon Kings during their seven-season ECHL era and had tremendous respect and appreciation for the brand of hockey played at the Memorial Centre.
“I know a lot of great players in the minor pros, like [former Salmon Kings sniper] Wes Goldie, who came close,” he said.
Gervais, 53, can also place himself in that company. He played in the AHL and IHL as well and concluded his career with six seasons in the DEL in Germany, gaining 160 points in 250 games, for the Frankfurt Lions.
“I was a small guy who had to play big to survive,” said Gervais, five-foot-nine and 170 pounds in his playing days.
The native of Prince George turned to coaching following his playing career, and moved to the Island, becoming GM and head coach of the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL from 2009-10 to 2011-12 and later the Westshore Wolves of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. He also coached the Anaheim Bulldogs in pro roller-hockey for five seasons.
Gervais now coaches in the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association, a connection that goes back to his days mentoring current Edmonton Oilers NHLer and former Juan de Fuca youth star Tyson Barrie. Gervais’s current focus at Juan de Fuca is coaching his son, Jhett, in the U-11 division.
“The biggest difference between playing and coaching is you go from focusing mainly on one guy as a player [yourself] to focusing on 20 players as a coach,” said Gervais.
But whether on the ice or behind the bench, Gervais’s hockey focus has never wavered.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
