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Rod Brind’Amour (b. aug. 9, 1970) was an outstanding National Hockey League player who was raised in Campbell River and played his early hockey in local Vancouver Island rinks. He played minor hockey at Notre Dame before St. Louis took him ninth overall in the 1988 NHL entry draft. He was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1991 and then to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2000. He played in the 1992 NHL All-Star Game, won the Frank J. Selke Award for best defensive forward twice and played for Canada in the 1998 Olympics. His best year was 1992-93 when he scored 97 points and he scored 70 points or more eight times—not bad for a defensive specialist. He became captain of the Hurricanes and won the Stanley Cup with them in 2006. That summer there was a parade through downtown Campbell River as he brought the storied cup home and the town named Brind’Amour Road in his honour. When he retired in 2010 after playing an impressive 1,484 games and scoring 1,184 points over 21 seasons, the Hurricanes announced they would retire his number 17 jersey. He is considered a shoo-in for the Hockey Hall of Fame. During his playing days Brind’Amour was nicknamed “Rod the Bod” in recognition of his penchant for intensive physical conditioning, a factor in allowing him to play at such a high level for so many years.

The Rod Brind’Amour Charity Golf Tournament started in 1995 when Kim Black, a fourteen-year-old cystic fibrosis patient, asked Brind’Amour to come home for a fundraiser. He agreed on two conditions: first, all the money raised had to go to CF research; and second, the event had to be organized in such a way that he would be proud to be its patron. The annual event has been a major success on both counts.

Labels: HOCKEY, SPORTS

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