Thursday, May 29, 2008

RIP Luc Bourdon: 1987-2008

Blooming blue-liner Luc Bourdon passed away this afternoon in New Brunswick, Canada. He was 21, drafted 10th overall in 2005 by the Vancouver Canucks. Bourdon played 27 games with the Canucks this season, recording 2 goals, including an absolute rocket against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The shock has prevented the news from sinking in yet.
Luc had been a fan favourite at GM Place ever since his days with the Canadian Junior team. Whenever Bourdon came up with a big play, the fans would serenade him with chants of "Luuuuuc." Initially, he appeared to be something of a flop, but showed signs last year of becoming a tough and steady defenceman, a rock on the Canucks blue-line for the next decade.


Instead, Luc will be watching the Canucks from the rafters, presuming that Canucks management does the honorable thing and retires his #28 jersey.
Still, when searching for a silver lining, this is all I can come up with: if Mike Gillis does take the decision to retire Bourdon's jersey, he will gain that street cred that Mark Messier lost when he took over the deceased Wayne Maki's #11 jersey. But that really is a pretty weak silver lining.
Heartfelt condolences to the Bourdon family. Wins and losses seem pretty irrelevant at a time like this.

Here are some highlights from Luc's sadly stunted career:


2 comments:

JH29 said...

The Bourdon and Cherepanov accidents are tragic, for their families and the NHL. The question is whether these accidents can be prevented in the future. Maybe better testing on the NHL's part for the Cherepanov situation and educating the players (youngsters) on dangerous activities such as motorcycle etc... Just seems like more should/can be done to prevent tragedies like these from occuring in the future.... My thoughts. http://jib-sports-culture.blogspot.com/2008/11/tragedy-for-promising-rookies.html

Johan said...

a valid point - david carle's perspective would be very interesting