Gino Odjick

[David Bruce Banner]

Bure never needed protection and even without Gino there was plenty in the lineup. Diduck, Momesso, Hunter and Antoski was plenty.

Those guys were legit tough, but all would get dismantled by the top level heavyweights of the day. Gino could go toe to toe with anybody.

 

[HairyKneel]

Hunter has a way better fight card than Gino. Gino never fought Probert and bailed big time on Twist, Brownie and Gaetz.

Gino was tough but I’d rate him 3rd all time for Vancouver enforcers when it came to actually fighting. Slightly ahead of Ron Delorme.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Younger Hunter had a pretty decent fight card. That wasn’t the Hunter the Canucks had.
Gino also fought Twist at least 3 times… I’d hardly call that bailing.
I have no idea why he didn’t fight Probert. Suspensions? Injuries?
Maybe Brashear was a better fighter, although his clinching and noogying was almost as much of a schtick as Ray losing his shirt.
It’s him or Gino as the top Canuck fighter, though, at least if we’re just considering time in a Canuck uniform.

 

[Hit the post]

Younger Hunter had a pretty decent fight card. That wasn’t the Hunter the Canucks had.
Gino also fought Twist at least 3 times… I’d hardly call that bailing.
I have no idea why he didn’t fight Probert. Suspensions? Injuries?
Maybe Brashear was a better fighter, although his clinching and noogying was almost as much of a schtick as Ray losing his shirt.
It’s him or Gino as the top Canuck fighter, though, at least if we’re just considering time in a Canuck uniform.

Craig Coxe sure made the other guy work though. Ate tons of punches. Don't think he had a 'knockout punch' but man could he take a punch. Definately no glass jaw on him.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Craig Coxe sure made the other guy work though. Ate tons of punches. Don't think he had a 'knockout punch' but man could he take a punch. Definately no glass jaw on him.

Coxe was a gamer. A few more pounds and he would have been a real force of nature.

 

[MS]

Coxe was a gamer. A few more pounds and he would have been a real force of nature.

It's weird that his career never really lifted off.

In 87-88 at age 23 he scores 22 points, he's had a couple massive tilts with Probert in which he lost but acquitted himself better than pretty much everyone else, and he looks like he'll be a top enforcer for a long time. Probably not a true elite heavyweight in terms of fighting ability but there were tons of guys in the league that weren't, and Coxe was 6'4 and more skilled than most non-Probert goons (basically a point-per-game player in the old IHL 1988-92 which is damned impressive). But his career just sort of died and he only played about 40 games after his 25th birthday, and not due to health problems.

 

[RobertKron]

It's weird that his career never really lifted off.

In 87-88 at age 23 he scores 22 points, he's had a couple massive tilts with Probert in which he lost but acquitted himself better than pretty much everyone else, and he looks like he'll be a top enforcer for a long time. Probably not a true elite heavyweight in terms of fighting ability but there were tons of guys in the league that weren't, and Coxe was 6'4 and more skilled than most non-Probert goons (basically a point-per-game player in the old IHL 1988-92 which is damned impressive). But his career just sort of died and he only played about 40 games after his 25th birthday, and not due to health problems.

Developed a rep (fairly or unfairly) as a drinker. Also, wanted to be more than just a fighter, and I guess that wasn’t what teams thought he was.

 

[HairyKneel]

I think Coxe actually beat Probert in their first tilt in 85/86. He could trade all day long. But he lost as many as he won. He got thumped pretty badly inhis return to Vancouver by Crowder. That’s when Gino was called up. Pat Quinn had no tolerance watching his team get pushed around. Within a year or two we had Gino, Diduck, Momesso, Dirk, Hunter etc. Dana Murzyn was a punching bag but he was a mean prick that played top 4 minutes.

 

[Hit the post]

Developed a rep (fairly or unfairly) as a drinker. Also, wanted to be more than just a fighter, and I guess that wasn’t what teams thought he was.

Nice to see he doesn't *appear* to be suffering too much from the damage from all those shots to the head (and I seem to recall he took a ton of punches to the head). Think he's about in his mid to late 50s in that video.

I think Coxe actually beat Probert in their first tilt in 85/86. He could trade all day long. But he lost as many as he won. He got thumped pretty badly inhis return to Vancouver by Crowder. That’s when Gino was called up. Pat Quinn had no tolerance watching his team get pushed around. Within a year or two we had Gino, Diduck, Momesso, Dirk, Hunter etc. Dana Murzyn was a punching bag but he was a mean prick that played top 4 minutes.

Ron Delorme was like that. As much grief I give Delorme on his amateur scouting abilities, he's one guy you want watching your back in a dark alley. Not that he was the greatest fighter but the fact he wouldn't leave you alone. Never failed to answer the bell no matter who the opponent was.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Developed a rep (fairly or unfairly) as a drinker. Also, wanted to be more than just a fighter, and I guess that wasn’t what teams thought he was.

surprising that he didn’t get a real shot in sj. you’d think on the worst team in the league he could have gotten some real minutes and they could ride him as a fan favourite for a year or two. he was the first californian born player to make the nhl. he talks about it in this interview.

similar story to mike peluso in ottawa during their first year, where he had a few moments as a real player but coach kept busting him back down to designated face puncher. but in peluso’s case he caught on a year later as a legit fourth liner on new jersey’s crash line with holik and randy mckay and then a year after that won a cup.

 

[RobertKron]

surprising that he didn’t get a real shot in sj. you’d think on the worst team in the league he could have gotten some real minutes and they could ride him as a fan favourite for a year or two. he was the first californian born player to make the nhl. he talks about it in this interview.

similar story to mike peluso in ottawa during their first year, where he had a few moments as a real player but coach kept busting him back down to designated face puncher. but in peluso’s case he caught on a year later as a legit fourth liner on new jersey’s crash line with holik and randy mckay and then a year after that won a cup.

Yeah, that's the old interview I remembered the drinking thing from. I'd guess - maybe unfairly - that maybe his time in San Jose might not have been as innocuous as he's laying it out, especially considering Gaetz' reputation, but again I have no idea:

That really did hurt me, because when I went to San Jose, George Kingston called me in the summertime and said that he’d talked to some of my previous coaches and previous teammates — he wouldn’t tell me who they were [and] I really wish I’d known who — and he said, “Do you know that you have a problem with drinking?” I said, “No, I don’t have a problem with drinking. These are the reasons I’ve done it. I know this is my last chance. I promise you it won’t be a problem.” And the whole time I was in San Jose it was never a problem.

See, me and Link Gaetz played together, and both of us had bad reputations off the ice. I told Gator — we had been friends for a long time because we would skate together in the summertimes in Vancouver — I said, “Gator, I’m not going to be partying with you if you’re going to be getting hammered and getting into fights. You’ll have to find somebody else to hang out with." So, he was really good. We never had any problems. We’d sneak out on our own, go to a little hole in the wall, have a couple beers and then go home. We knew nobody could see us out, or we’d be labeled again. We did everything we were supposed to do. So, why San Jose sent me down, I have no idea.

 

[cabinessence]

Just some old school terminology. It was related to the fact that teams like the Oilers would come into our barn, beat us 10-1, bully our Swedes and little guys and if we tried to push back, Dave Semenko would beat the piss out of Garth Butcher. That kind of thing.. not only did we lose the skill game (on the ice), we also lost the physical game (in the alley).

Well Butcher never fought Dave Semenko. But I get your point.

 

[HairyKneel]

the catch 22 about gino’s skill is he was good enough to not be a total plug, like link gaetz or brian mcgrattan, but not good enough to put that skill to real use playing a real bottom six timely scoring role. but at the same time, his non-skill game wasn’t developed enough to contribute in a fourth line role player way. so he couldn’t be a tim hunter or chris nilan or do what joe kocur did for the rangers and detroit.

a guy like mike peluso, for example, also was good enough to fluke out 15 goals in the perfect situation (in his case getting plum icetime on the expansion sens, ie the worst team of all time). but he also had the ability to credibly grind out 54 playoff games over four years, including a memorable stint on jersey’s cup winning crash line with holik and randy mckay.

but otoh, at the end of game six of the finals, that’s where you regret not dressing gino and hiding him on the fourth line. when graves cheap shotted linden and then messier hit him when he was down, big pat quinn reportedly jumped on sergio momesso’s back to stop him from hopping the boards to take care of business. timmy hunter and antoski were dependable workmanlike fighters but they didn’t scare anyone. gino scared people. partially because he was an elite fighter and partially because he was a loose cannon. he would have hopped those boards and there would have been no stopping him.

i feel like part of why the rangers won that series is this incredible confidence they had and that largely came from knowing they had messier. and while most of that was his abilities as a great player who made things happen on the ice combined with that greatest leader in sports bs, there was also the knowledge that you are an O6 team in the world’s biggest media market and you have the second most made guy in the league as your captain. in any 50/50 or even 60/40 you are going to get the break. so if a team’s heart and soul captain is having a conn smythe performance, you can just take two shots at him behind the play, including while he’s already on the ice, and the refs are going to look the other way.

so enter gino. he would have found a way to correct that. he would have done something crazy and impactful, whether that’s running the shit out of richter the next shift and taking him out of the series, or grabbing and ragdolling messier to within an inch of his life, or hopping the boards and going st louis on the rangers.

and then what does game seven look like? remember that while gino’s suspension would have lasted so long his kids wouldn’t be able to play, we still would be dressing hunter, anton, big mo, diduck, and ready to go if new york had the nerve.

NY was every bit as tough. I loved Gino but Joe Kocur was tougher than anyone we had. Probably the toughest guy to play the game. We lost the series due to an extra day off for the old guys and Terry Gregson had a lot of money on the game. Oh and not just Nathan dinged iron in game 7, so did Marty.

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

He was past his physical prime when he was here but Orland Kurtenbach was one of the toughest players in the league in his era. Pre expansion John Ferguson, Ted Harris, Reg Fleming, Ted Green and Kurt were considered the NHL's tough guys.

The toughest Canucks roster would have been circa 78-79 with Jack McIlhargey, Randy Holt, Brad Gassoff, Harold Snepsts, and rookie Curt Fraser. While they weren't very good at hockey, they were tough! I remember a preseason exhibition game in Edmonton vs the WHA Edmonton Oilers when the Edmonton media was crowing about how Dave Semenko was going to kick everyone's ass and he had to fight Holt, McIlhargey and I think Gassoff in that game lol.

A fun memory was of Holt defeating Vancouver newspaper columnist and CBC Front Page Challenge star Allan Fotheringham in a debate about fighting in hockey on a local newscast.

 

[Blue and Green]

Gino was tough and of course he would fight a lot. The underrated tough guy in Canucks' history is Fraser, maybe because he was a good player and also not a dirty player who went around provoking things. He flattened several guys, and after being traded to Chicago he broke Shayne Corson's jaw and also fought Probert a few times and gave him a pretty good pummelling in one of them.

 

[IComeInPeace]

I was at the entry draft in Vancouver (with a guy who went on to get drafted that day and play around 10 NHL seasons as a fighter) when Gino and Antoski were picked by the Canucks.

I was really excited when we picked Antoski (I loved my tough guys back then).
As we were walking out of the stadium (we left well before the draft was over) the guy who was just drafted said something like ‘Antoski is a fighter, and he’s huge but that Odjick guy is crazy scary. If you like fighters you’re going to love him because he’s terrifying.’

Paul knew a lot of the local NHL guys (or drafted NHL guys) that were younger and a lot of the guys who were drafted that day somehow.

As we stopped into one of the drinking establishments on the old Expo grounds, Craig Coxe was there and he was already really drunk. The kind of drunk where you could see it on his face and it was still only mid afternoon.
Paul went to make small talk with him. Coxe was really friendly but was really pissed/bothered that Quinn and Burke had drafted Antoski (and I assume Odjick but I doubt he knew much about Odjick).

I think I was only 18 at the time, but even at that age I thought it was disturbing that Coxe was sitting on a bar stool, mid afternoon, and so plastered all by himself.

—-

Curt Fraser was a great fighter. Devasting puncher that a lot of bigger guys would want to immediately grab on to in order to nullify his punching power.

—-

Gino Odjick in the season Probert was suspended (and then clean when he returned) was voted as the HW champion on hockeyfights.com. Those guys on that site knew their fighters better than anyone.

Aside: I believe Curt Fraser according to the same sight had the most KO’s/TKO’s out of anyone

I believe Fraser was the only guy to have ever beaten both Probert and Kocur (the famed Bruise Brothers) in the same game when they were in their prime (or was it simply that Fraser was the only guy to ever have beaten both of them, not in the same night, when they were in their prime).
—
Gino was for sure in Kocur’s league when we went to the Finals. I’d say Gino would have been the favorite in a fight at the time. Kocur had been though so many wars by then and his hands were toast.

Moot point as Gino didn’t get to play. Kocur may have killed Antoski though.

—-
A tough guy that we had that is often forgotten as we only had him for a short time was Dave Richter. A huge lefty that didn’t want to be a policeman (was coaxed by Quinn and Burke into coming out of retirement and assured he wouldn’t be asked to play that role, but then was 100% asked to play that role anyways)…
…Richter was a devasting fighter. Most of his fights were really really one sided fights, and almost always against lesser fighters.

The funny part with Richter was he didn’t want to play if he was asked to fight, but he also had the worst temper and would snap and try and kill anyone who took liberties with a teammate.

I’m not sure but I think Richter may have only lost one fight in his career (when Richter was done with the NHL and lost against a young 1st round pick named Everett Sanipass).
There is a YouTube fight of Richter almost killing a young Joey Kocur.

Richter is often overlooked (and rightfully so) because his fight card was so poor. But, I think that’s because he was very much a guy that the leagues heavies very much wanted to avoid (and vice versa).

Sorry, to go off and a fighting rant!


Richter vs Kocur (Kocur never sought a re-match so this is the only fight they had):

 

[Another Empty Netter]

What are you guys memories of his time as a canuck player? What did he bring to the ice? Was he just a goon with no skills?

Just asking out of curiosity.

I remember when they called him up for the first time - opponents were watching him from the other side of the glass skating around to get a look at him & I remember seeing his first fight maybe Manson I forget who but it was the first time I’d seen a Canuck decisively win a fight

 

[Another Empty Netter]

Back when 6 nights of Sportspage a week was not enough

 

[IComeInPeace]

I remember when they called him up for the first time - opponents were watching him from the other side of the glass skating around to get a look at him & I remember seeing his first fight maybe Manson I forget who but it was the first time I’d seen a Canuck decisively win a fight

He fought Manson and Grimson in his first game.

He fought Dave Brown soon after that game.
While the 2 fights vs the Hawks made fans pay attention and cheer, it was fighting Brown that made Canuck fans fall in love with him.

Dave Brown had bullied our team for some time and we had no one who could answer the bell.
The Oilers would clobber us on the scoreboard and Brown would clobber anyone that dared to try and stop him from embarrassing us.

When we drafted Antoski and Gino, if there was just one guy they were drafted to be able to stand up to, Brown was the guy.

I remember before the Oilers game one of Quinn or Burkie was being interviewed and said something like ‘We don’t want Gino fighting Brown. He doesn’t have the experience yet, and that’s just too much for a young kid in his position…’

So, what did Gino do?
He fought Brown right away.

If you’re old enough to have lived through that time period where our team not only sucked but then we also got bullied by the opposition, it was such a welcome relief to see a kid like Gino ready and able to step up against the best of the best that the league had to offer.

I know it sounds bad to say this by todays standards, but the arrival of a guy who was not only going to stand up to the bullies, but was going to actually initiate the bullying was such a welcome relief to Canuck fans…

…that was a huge reason why he became such a hero in Vancouver.

We’ve had tougher guys than Gino, but timing is everything: his arrival was so long overdue that even pacifist fans who were anti-fighting couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief that we had him.