Pat Quinn Passes Away at Age 71

The Vancouver Giants announced this morning that co-owner and Vancouver Canucks legend Pat Quinn had passed away this morning after a lengthy battle with illness. Quinn left an indelible legacy on Vancouver hockey, and will be fondly remembered not only in Vancouver, but around the NHL.

Quinn joined the Vancouver Canucks as team president and general manager in 1987-88, and radically reshaped the franchise, adding cornerstone pieces such as Trevor Linden, Kirk MacLean, and Pavel Bure. He assumed head coaching duties as well at the end of the 1990-91 season, and coached the team all the way to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993-94.

Quinn left the Canucks in November of 1997, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs. He would coach numerous Canadian teams internationally, and won an Olympic gold medal in 2002, a World Cup in 2004, a World U-18 championship in 2008, and is still the last man to coach Canada to a world junior championship gold medal in 2009.

Pat Quinn will be dearly missed in Vancouver for his contributions to the Vancouver Canucks, but my formative memories of Quinn are as the coach of the Maple Leafs, and more importantly, as the man who guided Canada to their first gold medal in men’s Olympic hockey in 50 years, beating the Americans 5-2 in the gold medal game.

This morning has seen an outpouring of fond memories of Quinn from around the hockey world, and if you have a Quinn story to share, we invite you to do so in the comment section below. To offer your condolences to the Quinn family, you can do so through the Vancouver Giants. Contact information is posted here on their website.