Not just casual conversations

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image

Mark Chipman of True North (right) with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (centre) and David Thomson (left) at the news conference last May.

A day like May 31, 2011 is the reason I became a journalist.

True North Sports & Entertainment called a news conference at the MTS Centre for 11 a.m. to announce perhaps the worst-kept secret in the world at the time -- that the company headed by the Chipman family and Canada's richest man, David Thomson, had purchased the Atlanta Thrashers and were moving them to Winnipeg.

Seconded by the sports department last spring, my duties that day were to keep our website updated as often as possible with all the goings-on and tie up any loose ends that our hockey guys, Tim Campbell, Gary Lawless and Ed Tait, were too busy to handle.

Sitting in the news conference room before the head table arrived was surreal. The name tags in front of us included Gary Bettman, commissioner of the NHL, Mark Chipman, chairman of True North, Thomson, the chairman of Thomson Reuters, Greg Selinger, premier of Manitoba and Jim Ludlow, president and CEO of True North. Some dignitaries in the front rows were hugging each other. We all knew something huge was about to happen.

A few minutes before the scheduled start, the head table group walked in to audible gasps and even applause from some members of the assembled media. A few minutes later, Chipman uttered the unforgettable -- "I am excited beyond words to announce our purchase of the Atlanta Thrashers. We received the call we've long been waiting for."

I posted as many of the quotes as I could on Twitter and the real fun began once the formal part of the presser was over. With Chipman and Bettman moving on to hold their own news conferences in an adjoining room, followed by our hockey experts, I found my "loose ends."

R.M. (Bob) Chipman, patriarch to Winnipeg's first family of hockey, was quietly moving about the room accepting handshakes from well-wishers. I passed on my own congratulations and asked if he would talk to me about his role in bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg.

He declined politely, saying he had little to do with the whole process. I replied that a good number of well-placed people, including members of his own family, would disagree with that assessment of his role but his slow back-pedalling out of the room told me I wouldn't score this interview.

Then, out of nowhere came his daughter, Susan Millican, who realized what was happening. She kissed him gently on the cheek and said, "I think you should talk, Dad."

Thank God for daughters.

With that, the founder and chairman Megill-Stephenson Co., the parent company to the Birchwood Automotive Group and significant real estate holdings, threw a few pearls of wisdom my way. He said he had long said Winnipeg lacked two things, an NHL team and an IKEA store, the latter scheduled to open in south Winnipeg late this year.

"I think Winnipeg now has equal status with Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Vancouver as a truly important Canadian city," he said.

As we wrapped up our conversation, Steve Lyons, our sports editor, walked up and discreetly showed me a message typed out on his phone so he wouldn't interrupt us. "Do you want to talk to Thomson?" it said.

You bet I did. The only problem was the man whose family is estimated to be worth more than $21 billion and who heads a media empire is famous for NOT giving interviews. He was standing off in the front corner of the room talking to a few of True North's lawyers when I interrupted as politely as I could and told him where I worked. I quickly glanced over my shoulder expecting to see security officers preparing to haul me off.

When he heard, "Free Press," he reached out his hand and said, "Of course, I have a lot of time for the Free Press. We used to own the Free Press, you know."

Oh, I knew all right. But I didn't want to ask him about money so I wondered if he grew up playing shinny and aspired to play one day in the NHL. He said he did.

"I had dreams. It was always a deep connection, not just to the sport but to the country. My father (Ken) was a passionate hockey fan. I used to go to (Toronto) Maple Leafs games with him," he said.

Then I asked him about his dad and R.M. Chipman and growing up in a family business.

"The leadership from generation to generation is an inspiration. It's a testament to values and inculcating them through the generations," he said.

Very cool, I thought.

As I shook his hand, I made a mental note to look up "inculcating" in the dictionary.

They didn't teach us that one in journalism school.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

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Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 4, 2012 A6