Trevor Linden, one of only three players to have their numbers retired by the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, has joined the Athlete Advisory Board of the MultiSport Centre of Excellence Foundation, the not-for-profit charitable organization which is building its $54 million flagship athlete development centre in the City of Burnaby.
“Trevor Linden personifies the strength of character of the athletes who have inspired our Foundation and who will define the MultiSport Centre facility that we are funding and building in the strategically-located Central Valley sports complex,” said Loyal Makaroff, President and Chief Executive Officer of the MultiSport Centre of Excellence Foundation. “Trevor not only developed a reputation for leadership and work ethic on the ice, he is synonymous with community investment and community enhancement through the power of sport; which is a key mantra under which we are developing our facility to help support athlete development at all levels.”
Linden was announced today alongside Dr. Jack Taunton, who will join the Foundation’s Sport Medical Advisory Board, and Dr. Doug Clement, who will serve as a global ambassador of the Foundation. Ironically, Linden first met both Dr. Taunton and Dr. Clement when they built the sport medical platform for the Canucks when Head Coach, General Manager and President Pat Quinn made the Vancouver team one of the NHL league leaders in the field back in the early 1990s.
Linden, who in addition to serving as captain of the Canucks and recording 409 regular season and playoff goals and 567 assists in his 19-year career with Vancouver, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals, represented all NHL players as the President of the NHLPA at a key stage in its own history earlier this decade. He became the face of the Canucks’ franchise and was strongly associated with key Canucks’ community relations and foundation initiatives such as the Canucks for Kids Fund and Canuck Place.
He was also a member of Canada’s Nagano 1998 Olympic men’s hockey team, represented Canada in the world championships and World Cup of Hockey and won gold for Canada in the IIHF World Junior Championships in 1988.
“We’re raising $54 million to build the facility and many millions more to expand the philanthropic scope of our project in the years to come and we’re looking to partner and collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations who understand the power of sport to transform lives and make a real difference in our communities,” said Scott Cousens of Vancouver, the Chair of the MultiSport Foundation. “Trevor Linden is one of those high-profile athletes who has always understood and governed his actions accordingly by putting so much back into the community and iconic projects such as Canuck Place.”
Linden joins former Olympic rowing star Silken Laumann of Victoria and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash on the Athlete Advisory Board of the MultiSport Centre of Excellence Foundation.
Clement and Taunton are regarded as the fathers of sport medicine in British Columbia and Canada. They worked together to found SportMedBC, which has grown to become the network of more than 550 sport medicine, science and training professionals in BC, and the Alan McGavin Sport Medicine Clinic, one of the finest of its kind. They have both supported a host of professional franchises, national teams and Canadian Olympic teams and were both key figures associated with Vancouver 2010 earlier this year. Clement and his wife Diane were co-mayors of the Vancouver Olympic Athletes Village while Taunton was the Chief Medical Officer for Vancouver 2010.
Previously announced to the Foundation’s Business Advisory Board are Peter Bentley of Vancouver, currently Chairman Emeritus of Canfor Corporation, the integrated forest products company, and Ron Thiessen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hunter Dickinson Inc. a diversified, global mining company based in Vancouver.
Lynda Cannell of Vancouver, the President and CEO of SportMedBC, and Rick Celebrini of North Vancouver, one of the country’s top sport and orthopedic physiotherapists and a senior sport medical executive for Vancouver 2010 (who worked under Dr. Taunton’s leadership), were previously named to the Sport Medical Advisory Board of the Foundation.
“The philosophical alignment between our consulting athletes, business leaders and internationally-recognized sport medical practitioners is not by accident,” noted Makaroff. “Our Foundation has been and will continue to be shaped by that dynamic interplay by the best people in the three areas that we believe really must come together to create a seamless, sustainable and game-changing model for athlete development in this province and country.”
The MultiSport Centre of Excellence Foundation is a sport sciences foundation and registered charity inspired to collaborate with like-minded organizations and individuals who recognized the power of sport to transform lives. Its mission is to fund and support world-class sport medicine and science resources, including collaborative research, education, programs and facilities.
Site servicing is slated to get underway this month to prepare for the final phase of facility construction in early 2011. The Foundation is building the state-of-the-art sport medicine, science and training centre with a view to officially opening the facility in early 2012.
– mcef.ca
Photo: Getty Images
