Hello everyone,
Over the past week I have been building an essay on an important figure from Vancouver. That person has to have had impact on the city making it better or worse. I chose Rick Tocchet the Canuck Head coach. This essay will also say why Rick Tocchet is different/ crazy. Finally this essay will answer the driving question Why does it take a “crazy” person to change the world.
Rick Tocchet
By Keaton Schisler
Rick Tocchet’s coaching style is distinguished by his emphasis on player development, tactical flexibility, and strong communication skills honed from his extensive experience as both a player and a coach in the NHL. Rick Tocchet has vastly impacted the city of Vancouver because of how he changed the Vancouver Canucks from one of the worst teams to the very best in the NHL. This gave the city something else to hope for.
Rick Tocchet’s player experience helped him become a different coach to help the city. Rick Tocchet played many years in the NHL from 1984-2001. He contributed greatly to his teams when he played, being a key forward and earning All-Star honors four times during his career. Being a player in the NHL can vastly improve your potential as you know the game and how the players think and work. This can allow for different thinking while coaching, creating a different play style for your players. This different thinking could label him as a “crazy” coach (Source: NHL). He has created a lot of fame for himself during his career with his playing career and Stanley Cups he’s won as a coach. This fame carried over to Vancouver, which then created a desire for people to attend their games and, therefore, pay for more tickets for the 50/50 club. Half of the prizes go to charity and half go to the winning ticket. This has helped Vancouver’s community tremendously. In fact, the Canucks are making $3 million more than last year from tickets alone (Source: Statista). He has used his success with the Canucks to also give hope to the community of Vancouver. We just emerged from a massive pandemic, leaving families with loss. Sometimes, all you need to forget the bad past is to have fun in the present. That’s exactly what you can do with sports teams: get together at someone’s house, the arena, or a bar, and cheer for your favorite team. With the Canucks being good this year, it gives more reason to watch the seasons and anticipate the playoffs. A quote for this is “It cuts across cultural, geographic, and socio-economic lines so that when we play, we are all Canadians.”
Rick Tocchet has impacted Vancouver’s culture of winning. The Canucks have advanced to the NHL finals three times. The most recent one was against the Boston Bruins in 2011. After they lost to The Bruins in game 7, Vancouver had a riot, setting cars and buildings on fire and destroying windows. This riot was because Vancouver cares about hockey so much, which shows how important hockey is for the city of Vancouver. When the Canucks are doing badly, they fire coaches, but when they do well, the city praises the team like the current season. Having a good team in Vancouver also impacts our economy. For example, when the team wins, people go out to party and go to bars to celebrate or restaurants. When the Canucks don’t win, people want to go home because they’re sad. With the Canucks doing well, more people come to games, which means more people stay the night in Vancouver and more people use hotels and grocery stores. The people coming from Vancouver Island would stay the night and more and more come when the team is doing great. In fact, in playoff games, $1,000,000 makes it to local businesses. But the Canucks only get there from doing well (Source: CBC). A good quote for this is “This is not Vancouver. This is not British Columbia. This is not Canada. This is not the way we do things,” as told by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. A good quote for this is “This is not Vancouver. This is not British Columbia. This is not Canada. This is not the way we do things,” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says.
The Canucks support Vancouver with their philanthropy. When the Canucks do well, they are able to support Vancouver further because they make more money from more tickets being sold. Some charities they support are Canucks for Kids Fund, Canucks Autism Network, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Canucks Family Education Centre, Make-A-Wish Foundation, United Way, Salvation Army, Vancouver Food Bank, and Covenant House Vancouver. This shows how much the Canucks like to support their community to make a massive impact. The Canucks can make this impact most effectively with good playing and great coaching from Rick Tocchet.
Rick Tocchet’s coaching style, characterized by his focus on player development, tactical adaptability, and effective communication skills derived from his extensive NHL experience as both a player and a coach, has significantly impacted the city of Vancouver. Through his leadership, Tocchet transformed the Vancouver Canucks from a struggling team to one of the NHL’s best, instilling hope and pride within the community.
