Former Vancouver Canucks Head Equipment Manager Pat O’Neill talks about his 45-year career as an equipment manager, how he got his start in Winnipeg, coming to Vancouver in 1988, and how he looks back at his last game before retirement as a highlight.
“I never looked at it as a job. There was never any day I can remember that I did not want to go to work. I mean it's always something different, something fun, something different is going to happen,” O’Neill said. “We had a great experience with the players, with the staff, the management. So, I mean, it's a great place, it's a great job.”
He remembers his first year with the Winnipeg Jets like it was yesterday, an eye-opening experience where he learned that working with the team means that you’re part of a family that works hard for each other.
“It almost feels like yesterday when I started, and it's been a great experience. Like I said, no one's had more fun than I have at a job,” O’Neill said.
He talks about being part of the Canucks’ 1994 and 2011 Stanley Cup runs and the talent and coaching staff he’s been able to witness doing great things firsthand. He talks about how special Pavel Bure was and how Daniel and Henrik Sedin were great leaders and ambassadors for the Canucks – and still are to this day.
“They just got better and better every year. It took them five years to get to that point where they were that good, and they were that good boy, they were unbelievable. Then they just took over. I mean, as good a hockey players as they are, they're even better people,” O’Neill said about the Twins.
Patty talks about what it’s like to see players assume the role of captain and how players inherently change with more experience and responsibility.
He also gives insight into the famous Robert Luongo bathroom break at the start of overtime in a playoff game in 2007.
“We're at the door because the goalie comes out first, and he's doing his Lu shuffle, and he looks up and he goes ‘I’ve got to go to the can, do you think they’ll wait?’ I said, ‘No, they won’t,’ O’Neill laughed. “So, we help him, we're ripping his gear off, and he goes in the stall, does his business, then trying to get him back together, then he comes out. We didn't get a whistle for like eight minutes. It was a long time and Lu’s just chomping at the bit there. So, we finally get the whistle, and Dany Sabourin had to make some big saves, actually, to keep us in it, because it was next-goal-wins.”
As part of the equipment team for the 2010 Olympics, it was a grueling schedule but the memories he has as part of the gold medal run are special.
“The road trip before the tournament was 18 days or so – it was 10 games or something – a little bit more than the typical Canucks road trip. But we got we got home, and I think we I got back to get checked into the village at about 6:00 a.m. and I was back at the rink at 8:00 a.m. We're having a practice that day, but I mean, you catch up to that and it's all good. It was a really, really cool experience because it's in our building, our dressing room,” O’Neill said.
As he rides off into the sunset in retirement, he’s got great friendships with the equipment staff and says team is in great hands.
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