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Canucks’ annual ‘Jake’ golf tournament returns to Surrey course without current players, staff

At Northview on Sept. 20, Canucks alumni and local NHL alumni will take part this year
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Canucks forward Brock Boeser at Northview Golf and Country Club during the 2018 Jake Milford Canucks Charity Invitational. (File photo: Tom Zillich)

The Vancouver Canucks’ annual season-kickoff golf tournament will return to Surrey’s Northview Golf and Country Club on Monday (Sept. 20), but the charity event will look and feel different this year.

COVID-19 protocols will prevent current roster players and team staff from participating in the Jake Milford Canucks Charity Invitational, or “The Jake,” as the tourney is sometimes called.

“The Canucks alumni and local NHL alumni will be on hand to take part in the tournament,” Craig MacEwen, the Canucks’ new director of communications, told the Now-Leader in an email.

In recent years, Canucks players, management and alumni have flooded Northview prior to the start of training camp, to raise money for the Canucks for Kids Fund and Canucks Alumni Foundation.

• PHOTOS/STORY, from 2019: Canucks players golf in Surrey at ‘The Jake’ tourney to kick off hockey season.

In 2019 – the last time the “shotgun”-style golf tournament was held, due to the pandemic – teams of three paid $4,500 to play in the event, held in honour of Jake Milford, the Canucks’ general manager in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1984.

Canucks rookie camp gets going Friday (Sept. 17) at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

For the first time ever, the team’s preseason training camp will be held in Abbotsford, from Sept. 23-25. Abbotsford Centre will host a pre-season game between the Canucks and Calgary Flames on Monday, Sept. 27.

The Canucks will also become the first NHL team to square off against the expansion Seattle Kraken when the two teams meet on Sept. 26 in Spokane, Wash.

Vancouver will play seven pre-season games in total, including four as the home team. Home games at Rogers Arena include Oct. 3 (vs. Winnipeg), Oct. 5 (vs. Seattle) and Oct. 9 (vs. Edmonton).

with file from Ben Lypka



Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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