McVie ‘the glue that held it all together’

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This article was published 24/01/2025 (238 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tom McVie will forever be linked to the Winnipeg Jets, leading them to their final World Hockey Association championship and ushering in the NHL’s 1.0-era in this city.

It’s not surprising tributes began flowing as fast as his famous witty one-liners as word spread this week the beloved longtime coach had died at the age of 89.

“He was a tremendous man,” Morris Lukowich told the Free Press on Friday. “And he was quite a character.”

Lukowich was a key part of that Avco Cup-winning club in 1978-79, then was one of the few players who stayed on with McVie as the Jets joined the NHL the following season.

“He was a very disciplined coach, and he expected us to be in tremendous shape. He worked extremely hard, and he was in great shape, too,” said Lukowich.

“We’d work hard, but there was a lighter side, too. He enjoyed humour, and we would often have a good laugh together. He really was like a father figure to me.”

Things didn’t go nearly as well for the expansion club — a 21-69-18 overall record in 108 games before McVie was fired and replaced by Bill Sutherland midway through the 1980-81 campaign.

“It was a shame, a real shame, that they took apart our team when we came to the NHL,” said Terry Ruskowski, who played on the WHL Jets in that final year, then moved on to the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL.

“I don’t know if the NHL was scared of us coming in there and doing really well, but McVie kind of got dealt a bad hand. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have won a championship. He was the glue that held it all together.”

Ruskowski, who would go on to skate for four different NHL teams over the next decade, said he always viewed McVie as one of the best leaders he ever had.

“The thing I really admired of him that he didn’t ask for your respect. He earned it,” said Ruskowski.

“The thing I really admired of him that he didn’t ask for your respect. He earned it.”–Terry Ruskowski

“That, and while he seemed gruff on the outside, inside he was a big teddy bear. The things he said and the things he did, there was no favouritism either way. And that was probably one of the biggest reasons why we were successful. All he wanted to do is win hockey games and put the right people together to do that. And he certainly did that.”

Lukowich and Ruskowski kept in touch with McVie over the years and their paths would occasionally cross in person at reunion events.

“He left me laughing,” Ruskowski said of their most recent phone conversation, which lasted close to an hour.

They reminisced about old times, including a famous practice when McVie had the players skating so hard that some of them ended up vomiting. One was the late Scott Campbell, who didn’t want to let McVie think he’d got the best of him.

“Scotty was coming off, he was still throwing up, and he turns to Tommy and says ‘Is that the best you could do?’ And Tommy growls ‘Just wait until tomorrow,’” said Ruskowski.

“The thing is, every drill we did, he’d do the same drill. So you couldn’t complain about it too much. He was just a solid guy, and it was his job to win, to put guys together and put the team first.”

McVie had previously coached the Washington Capitals prior to coming to Winnipeg and would go on to coach the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins, along with various stops in the AHL and ECHL before hanging up his whistle for good in 1998. His 328 victories put his among the top 20 in AHL history.

“I think he really missed being in hockey,” said Lukowich, who has but one regret about his time with McVie.

Bobby Hull benched

It went back to the time Bobby Hull broke a team rule by arriving late to a game against the Montreal Canadiens and McVie decided to scratch him to send a message.

Hull ended up quitting the next day.

“I chatted with Tom about it and he still felt that he had to stick with his guns there and that if he was to let Bobby off the hook, then where would our discipline go?” Lukowich recalled.

“I just really felt that we had to have some sort of an exception that would have allowed Bobby to stay, because we ended up missing him the rest of that season and Bobby was such an incredible player and really added to our team that year.”

However, it showed that McVie was a man of principle, he said.

The native of Trail, B.C. died at his home in Vancouver, Wash., according to the Bruins organization. His name was placed on the Stanley Cup in 2011 after Boston won it and included him as an ambassador.

“Tom’s personality, voice, and knowledge of the game transcended his title and time in our city as the team made the transition from the WHA to the NHL,” the Jets said in a statement this week. “His ability to tell a story only added to the legend of the hockey club’s arrival on the big stage.”

AROUND THE GLASS

Tough love

We suspect McVie would give a tip of the fedora to Buffalo Sabres bench boss Lindy Ruff for his old-school approach to his struggling squad this week.

After a sloppy 6-4 loss in Seattle on Monday followed by a late-night flight to Vancouver, Ruff made his players get up bright and early the next morning to head to the rink. Not only did he put them through their paces despite playing on a back-to-back that evening against the Canucks, it was more like a practice complete with full-blown battle drills.

The message was essentially this: You didn’t work hard enough in the game, so you’re going to do it now.

Give the Sabres credit. They came out against a rested Canucks team and beat them 3-2. No doubt that’s the type of response Ruff was hoping for.

Contrast that with the approach from Jets bench boss Scott Arniel, who tore his group to shreds following their 5-2 loss in Utah Monday — calling it “embarrassing” and “horses—t” but then killing them with kindness the following day by cancelling a scheduled practice in Denver.

His players also responded with a solid outing in their next game, beating Colorado 3-2 in overtime. It just shows there’s different tools in a coach’s kit to try and get the job done.

Doing Winnipeg proud

Seth Jarvis keeps finding new ways to impress. The 22-year-old Winnipeg product, fresh off recently being named to Team Canada for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, is on pace for a career year with the Carolina Hurricanes.

He recorded his first four-point game in the NHL on Thursday night when he had two goals and two assists against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 7-4 victory.

Jarvis is now up to 38 points (18G, 20A) in 42 games with the surging Hurricanes, who have won four straight games and sit second in the Metropolitan Division behind the league-leading Washington Capitals.

Jarvis and his teammates will make their annual visit to Winnipeg on Feb. 4.

Forsberg on fire

When Filip Forsberg rolled into Winnipeg on Jan. 7 for the first of two road games, the Nashville Predators winger was mired in a lengthy goal-scoring drought — one that extended to 18 games.

Forsberg finally found the back of the net in a 5-2 loss and he’s been red-hot ever since, putting together a seven-game goal-scoring streak (and a nine-game point streak overall). During those seven games, Forsberg has nine goals and 14 games and he’s up to 18 goals and 47 points in 47 games — which leads the Predators in both departments.

It should come as little surprise the Predators have got things turned around this month and are riding a five-game winning streak going into the weekend to help them hang around the periphery of the chase for the second wild-card.

Because of the poor start, the Predators have their work cut out for them, but head coach Andrew Brunette reinforced the team hasn’t lost its belief and they’ve backed up those words with action.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @Wiebesworld