The former Canucks winger/scout/PR man and NHL head office executive speaks about growing up a fan of the team, the 1982 Stanley Cup Final run and a rivalry with Mario Tremblay
To hear Darcy Rota tell it, old rivalries in the NHL can burn out and fade away, and lead to the two guys involved hugging-it-out at a charity event years down the line.
That’s what happened between the former Vancouver Canuck and Mario Tremblay, who was an arch-nemesis with the Montreal Canadiens.
Rota was a left-shot winger for 11 seasons (1973-84) in the NHL, highlighted by being part of the core of the Canucks’ team that made the 1982 Stanley Cup Final. The Prince George product could finish around the net — his 42 goals in 1982-83 were a Canuck single-season record at the time and the total still sits eighth on the franchise list — but he could also play it feisty and fiery, evidenced by his 973 penalty minutes in 794 regular-season games.
Tremblay was a right-shot winger with a near identical scouting report for his 12-year, 852 game turn with the Habs (1974-86), and, not surprisingly, the pair regularly found themselves tangled up when ever their teams met. They were inseparable and insufferable.
“We used to battle each other like crazy. It was unbelievable,” Rota, 71, said. “It was left wing versus right wing, me against him. I probably fought him five or six times over the course of my career. We had battle after battle. Not just fights. It was compete, compete, compete.
“I saw him at an event out here years later. It was ‘Mario,’ and it was ‘Darcy,’ and we hugged each other and it was bygones be bygones. It’s generally like that with guys, but it was a little bit more special with him because of how we battled.
“I had great respect for him as a player and I’d like to think it was vice versa. We had never met off the ice before that day. We had never chatted before. It was the first time, and it was well after our playing careers were over. I did have so much respect for him as a player and I hope it was vice versa.”
The odd thing with all that is that Rota may have had as many conversations with as many different people as anyone in the game, considering all the different roles he’s had in hockey. He’s like the Kevin Bacon on the game; there’s probably six degrees of separation or less between Rota and just about everyone in the sport.
Rota retired from playing in December 1984 at age 31, forced to end his career due to a recurring neck injury. He continued to work for the Canucks, with stints as a scout, director of player development and director of media relations.
He left the club for the NHL head office in New York, working as special assistant to president John Ziegler. Ziegler retired, and Rota returned to the Lower Mainland. Rota was an analyst for Canucks’ games on BCTV. He was coach of the BCHL’s Burnaby Bulldogs. He parted ways with that team but came back to the Junior A circuit as part owner and general manager of the then-expansion Coquitlam Express.
“Wherever I go, people love talking hockey and love talking about the Canucks,” Rota said. “I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy the ambassador role. There’s such great support for the Canucks out there. People want them to do well.”
He understands that from the very inside. Those 1982 Canucks were the first of three teams in franchise history to make the Stanley Cup Final. They had the league’s 13th best record that regular season but came into the playoffs on a roll that coincided with Roger Neilson being thrust into the head-coaching duties. Neilson moved up from associate coach because Harry Neale was suspended for his role in the Canucks fighting with fans in the stands in Quebec.
Even with the Islander loss, the city rejoiced. There was a parade and other functions. Rota’s family in Prince George kept asking when he might make it home. He wasn’t sure, but begged that they would keep it quiet whenever he did return, because he needed time to unwind.
You can guess it. There was no such luck.
“I’m getting off the plane in Prince George, walking down the stairs to the terminal, and I start seeing all these people there waving white towels,” he said, pointing to the Canucks’ trademark from those playoffs. “There was like 2,000 people there. The local radio station was there, broadcasting live. My parents were under pressure from the city, wanting to know when I was coming home. That really put it in context about how big it all was throughout the province. That showed me how important the 1982 run was for all of B.C.
“I do love talking hockey with people right now, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. The team is so important to our entire province.”
Growing up in Prince George, he was a fan of the Canucks in their old WHL incarnation, before they entered the NHL in 1970-71.
Rota was the No. 13 overall pick in the 1973 NHL Draft by the Blackhawks, coming off a 73-goal season in junior with the Edmonton Oil Kings. The ‘Hawks dealt him to the Atlanta Flames in March 1979, along with centre Ivan Boldirev. The Flames flipped Rota and Boldirev to the Canucks in February 1980 for forwards Don Lever and Brad Smith.
“It’s special, me being a B.C. boy. I tell people that I actually feel like I need to pinch myself, having got the chance to play for the Canucks,” Rota continued. “I grew up watching them. I dreamed that it would happen and, lo and behold, it did.”
It’s easy to suggest that Rota’s career wouldn’t have ended so abruptly if he was coming through the ranks now, what with the advances in medical science. He contends that isn’t something he thinks about, though.
“I spent 11 years in the National Hockey League and experienced something that I had wanted to do since I was a young boy growing up,” said Rota. “I don’t hold any bitterness toward my neck injury. It would have been nice to play longer, but it is what it is. And I was able to stay involved with hockey.”
Rota wracked up 256 goals and 495 points for his career, including 120 goals and 236 points in 289 games with Vancouver. His goals per game as a Canuck (0.42) is currently fourth best in team history (minimum 80 games played), behind Bure (0.59), Tony Tanti (0.47) and Alexander Mogilny (0.45).
Darcy Rota: Quick hits
Did you fathom at all how big Neilson’s towel power protest of the refereeing that night in Chicago was going to be when you were in the middle of it?
“I absolutely didn’t know it would have the power that it has had. I was coming off the ice when it was taking place and I’m looking at the bench and I see Roger with a stick and a towel, and a couple of other players with a stick and a towel, and I’m like, ‘What is going on here?’ We were all pretty fed up with the refereeing and we were going to lose the game, and Roger was such a genius and so innovative. Did I know it would have the lasting effect? No. But when I see the towels being raised at any sports event I think instantly that it started with Roger and that game in Chicago.”
The 1982, 1994 and 2011 Canuck teams are revered by the fan base to this day. How are the fans going to react when a Canuck team wins a Cup?
“It’ll be so, so fantastic. The whole province will be so excited. It would be unbelievably special. I hope I’m around.”
What was the 1982-83 season for you like? Your 42 goals from that season stand up well to this day in the Canucks’ record book.
“I guess I came off that Stanley Cup Final run feeling really confident and good about where we were as a team. I was put on a line with Thomas Gradin and Stan Smyl, and we just blossomed. We just hit it off so well. Those guys were great. Thomas so unselfish with the puck. And Stan was so good, and such a great competitor.”
Favourite Canuck jersey?
“The Flying V. It’s my favourite. They should bring it back one game a season. People say that to me all the time.”