VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3
ONE DOLLAR PER COPY
APRIL 1992
Canuck Boss Burke: 'A Very Irish Face'
By CATHOLINE EGAN
VANCOUVER — Brian Burke, who is Vice President, Director of Hockey Operations for the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Club, is very proud of his Irish ancestry. He has a very Irish face (as they say). Brian has many cousins still living in County Mayo and his parents are in touch with them regularly.
Patrick Burke, Brian's greatgrandfather, who emigrated from County Mayo in the late eighteen hundreds, couldn't find work in New York where he arrived, so he enlisted in the Union Army. He fought in the Civil War on behalf of "the good guys" said Brian.
Several times Brian referred to his great-grandfather, showing me a letter from the U.S. War Department, the Adjutant General's Office in Washington, with a statement of the Patrick Burke's military service. In 1864 Patrick Burke was involved in two military tours of duty before he finally settled down in Jersey City, New Jersey. Both of Brian's parents were born in Jersey City, his mother's ancestors having emigrated from Country Roscommon.
Later, the Burke family moved to Edina, Minnesota, where Brian was born. In the area where he was raised, all the streets were named after Irish locations. For instance, the Burke family lived on Tfalee Drive. There is a big Irish population in Minneapolis and the Irish American Cultural Institute is based in St. Paul.
Brian is one of ten children and the only one who hasn't yet been to Ireland. It is his dream to go as soon as he can find the time. Until now, between hockey and law practice, his schedule has been too hectic.
In hearing about his back-
tround, I was reminded of the ennedy family. All of Brian's children have Irish names and he said that this is no accident. The children's names are Kathleen, Molly, Patrick and Brendan, and his wife Kerry is Boston-Irish.
St. Patrick's day is traditionally a holiday in the Burke house-
BRIAN BURKE, Vice President and Director of Operations for the Vancouver Canucks reveals an insider's secret to the secret of his success, a strategically placed shamrock. Photo: Tania Conley
hold. It is a family day when everyone goes to morning mass and visits neighbours and friendsand theoccasional drinking establishment throughout the day. Brian admits liking Guinness and Harp, boiled dinners as well as his wife's grandmother's Irish soda bread.
Brian's love of hockey came to him naturally; the game is as big in Minnesota as it is in Canada.
In his fifth season as an executive of the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Club, Brian's chief responsibilities include contract negotiations and supervision of minor league and scouting systems. He initiated the relocation of the Canuck's minor league affiliate to Milwaukee from Fredericton, New Brunswick, bringing it 1,000 miles closer to Vancouver. He was a player agent representing more than 45 clients, and for over five years he practised law as it applied to sports contracts before he joined the Canucks.
Brian cites the late-season trades that Pat Quinn negotiated as
making the difference for the Canuck team. Everyone talks about the trade to St. Louis and it was a big trade but before that, Quinn had picked up Gerald Diduck, and Dana Murzyn. So even before the St. Louis deal, Brian said, they had obtained two key players.
Then, as a result of the St. Louis trade, Cliff Ronning, Robert Dirk, Geoff Courtnall and Sergio Momesso were added to the roster. Babich, Mursyn and Dirk are three of the starting six defencemen who have provided a key to the Canucks success this year.
"If you look at the off-season, we've added Randy Gregg and Ryan Walter, and that really helped the team, from a leadership point of view. Obviously, adding Pavel Bure, and Tom Ferguson have also helped tremendously," Brian said.
Brian says he derived particular satisfaction in signing Trevor Linden to a contract. He said "Trevor is such a key person regarding our present and future, it was nice to see him
locked in with us for a few years."
When asked about the chances for the Vancouver Canucks winning the Stanley Cup this year, Brian said "There are a half-dozen teams with a shot at the Stanley Cup and we're one of them." However, he cautioned that the Canucks have to stick to the basics that have made them so successful to date.
Burke said the fans have taken the Canucks seriously since the beginning of the year, even before they won 3-0 over Montreal. The problem has been convincing the media and other parts of the league.
The Vancouver Canucks certainly have taken themselves seriously since the very start of the year and their track record is there to prove it.
An insider's secret to Brian Burke's amazing good luck and success could be the shamrock that he says he had tattooed on his hip. No, I didn't see it, but I believe. Blessed are those who have not seen but still believe.
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The Celtic Connection.
CHORD
Gypsy Gael banished
from your blood-red shores
how bitter now has turned
the once-sweet milk of mother's
breast
wan
are you Green Man
stuck
like a fly
on the perfumed paper of a foreign land
where you flew on one wing from the cobweb of a Catholic
boyhood educated to emigrate where you buzz frantically with the busyness of a
metamorphosed maggot why must you choose to die for Mother Ireland or work for a foreign father?
Pddraic Slater
FEATURES
IN THIS ISSUE
ST. PAT'S ROUND-UP .... 4
MR. O'NANYMOUS.........5
CORNISH COUSINS.......6
BOOK REVIEW...............7-9
WELSH CHOIR...............8
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 8 SCOTTISH TRADITION .. 11
FAMILY CREST..............12
RECIPES.........................13
THE CELTIC WORD.......14
BUSINESS......................16
ASTROLOGY..................18
MUSIC.............................19
TREASA O'DRISCOLL.... 20 LIVES OF
CELTIC SAINTS............21
NIALL McCULLOUGH.....22
KEVIN MOLLOY..............23
CLASSIFIED....................26
SPORTS..........................27
THE CELTIC VOICE OF NORTH AMERICA