Losing a legend

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This article was published 28/12/2020 (1803 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

His birth certificate may have said Ontario, but there’s no question Dale Hawerchuk was as beloved a Manitoban as they come.

And the death of the Winnipeg Jets icon due to stomach cancer last summer tore a hole in the hearts of a hockey-loving province that was so proud to call “Ducky” one of our own.

For the impact he made both on and off the ice to the legacy he left behind, Hawerchuk is one of 2020’s most significant stories.

Consider the incredible scene outside True North Square in downtown Winnipeg only a few hours after news of his Aug. 18 passing went public. A makeshift memorial quickly appeared, filled with bouquets of flowers, weathered posters bearing Hawerchuk’s likeness, old sticks and pucks and other precious keepsakes placed by mourners who wanted to pay their respects.

“It’s incredible. Winnipeg never ceases to amaze me,” said Hawerchuk’s oldest son, Eric, prior to a small family funeral necessitated by COVID-19 restrictions. Fortunately, the service was streamed online, with thousands of viewers tuning in, at one point crashing the website. Hawerchuk was also survived by wife Crystal, son Ben and daughter Alexis.

Tributes poured in from around the hockey world, and Hawerchuk was honoured with a moment of silence during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“He was as advertised — that humble kid who came through here and did all of his talking with his game and never lost his sense of humility, notwithstanding a Hall of Fame career. Right to the last couple of days, he just was Dale. Obviously, I think we’ll all remember his achievements on the ice but I’m just going to remember him as a wonderful friend,” said Jets co-owner Mark Chipman, who later revealed plans to eventually erect a statue of Hawerchuk and hold a larger celebration of life.

Hawerchuk’s battle was well-documented, including a series of one-on-one interviews with the Free Press both during, and after, his initial treatments began in the fall of 2019.

“When I was diagnosed last August, you’re thinking, ‘Man that’s a long road.’ When I first thought of it, it felt like a death sentence. But the more I looked into it, the more people I talked to, the more I realized this was a battle you could win. It was like competing again,” he told us last spring.

He underwent two months of debilitating chemotherapy, which led to enough progress that he was able to undergo surgery to remove his stomach on Jan. 6. Once he had recovered from that, two more months of chemotherapy began, with the last round on April 13. He got his feeding tube removed a couple of days later.

The 57-year-old died just months later, after scans in July revealed the disease had returned, more aggressive than ever. Knowing the end was near, Hawerchuk made a series of emotional phone calls to say goodbye to some of his closest friends.

“I’m 74 and I’ve never had a call like that in my life, and I hope I never have another one,” said Serge Savard, a former teammate who used to babysit Hawerchuk’s kids.

“Dale said, ‘I just want to say goodbye, and I want you to say goodbye to your wife and to your kids for me. I love you all. He was crying and I started crying, too.”

Hawerchuk and Winnipeg were a match made in hockey heaven, as the slender teen grew before our eyes into an eventual Hall of Famer. He was selected first overall in the 1981 draft, winning the Calder Trophy as top rookie and bringing immediate improvement to a sad-sack squad coming off a nine-win season. He fired 379 goals and added 505 assists during nine seasons in Winnipeg, before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres in the summer of 1990.

“There’s no denying it, he was the man in that town,” said former teammate Dave Babych. “We knew things were going to turn around with our team, but not as drastically as when Dale came. It was instant. We had someone that could change the outcome of a game any time.”

Hawerchuk wrapped up his career in St. Louis and then Philadelphia, finishing with 1,188 regular-season NHL games, 518 goals, 891 assists and 1,409 points. He also had 99 points in 97 career playoff games.

“Dale is the greatest Jet to ever play in this city. I will forever cherish the advice he has given me over the years,” said current Jets captain Blake Wheeler.

Hawerchuk’s links to Jets 2.0 remained strong. He coached several future NHL stars in Barrie of the Ontario Hockey League, including Mark Scheifele, and was a big factor in Winnipeg selecting him in the first round of the 2011 draft. Hawerchuk also played a key role in organizing the 2016 Heritage Classic, in which the Jets and Oilers played at IG Field. An alumni game, in which Hawerchuk and Wayne Gretzky captained their teams, overshadowed the main event.

In October, the Jets honoured Hawerchuk’s memory by having his wife, Crystal, announce Cole Perfetti as the team’s first-round draft pick. Fittingly, the 18-year-old plays in the OHL and was the 10th-overall pick in Winnipeg’s 10th draft since relocating from Atlanta.

Earlier this month, the Hawerchuk family unveiled a fundraising initiative in Dale’s name — The HawerchukStrong 12 Days of Giving — that injected some much-needed cash to the coffers of a dozen local non-profit organizations. Each day, $1,000 plus $5 from each item sold online at hawerchukstrong.com was donated to a local organization.

“He told me many, many times how proud he was to be a Manitoban — that he considered himself to be a Manitoban. And it’s one thing to say that, it’s another thing to actually have been one. Like he lived here. This was his home for a long stretch and long after he left, he stayed really connected and I think that just resonated with people here. So you had this bona fide superstar whose persona just kind of fit with what we are about here in this city and province,” said Chipman.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg