Luc Bourdon dead

[legiahockey 3]

tragedy. to bad a good hockey player gone. im never gettin on a bike thats for sure. hope the family does ok to

[Andoy 5]

I remember watching him in his first prospects camp...everything he did was 1 or 2 levels above everyone else and should've made the team. Unfortunately he had that terrible ankle break in juniors and some say he wasn't the same eversince.

I was really looking forward to see him stick with the Canucks this year. I'll always remember his 2nd NHL goal when he almost ripped the puck through the netting with that shot vs Tampa.

[gxc999 7]

When I saw this story, I yelled "holy s$hit" aloud. Tragic loss for all Canuck fans, Vancouver residents et al. I feel obligated to use this as a soapbox to rail against motorcycles on commuter roads, just don't do it. I saw a dead guy on the sidewalk a few weeks ago, a motorcyclist. The road in question had a 40mph speed limit. One of my in-laws shattered his left leg when someone clipped his motorcycle, going only 20+ mph. It happened to him at 22. He has a steel rod in it forever and can never run again. Is it really worth it?

[budro727 0]

It's a shame to hear something like this, however on a somewhat lighter note my uncle [builds custom motorcycles down in florida] told me they are developing these hopefully they do get put into production

That looks like it could save many lives, but I doubt it would have done much for Luc since he hit a semi head-on. R.I.P.

[moose77 0]

Time for me to be the asshole...

When are these athletes going to learn not to do things like that? It's just a shame that they put themselves in such a risk like that.

I was sitting back on making that same comment.

Seriously though...When you are getting paid MILLION$ to play a GAME...stay the hell off of something or away from an activity that can cost you that livlihood. Unfortunately, in this case...it cost him and his family more than just his hockey career.

I wonder if people criticized Roberto Clemente for being in an airplane.

That's not exactly the same thing.

Right. Remember, Roberto Clemente was on that plane helping deliver humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. That DC-7 was overloaded and that contributed to the crash.

Luc was just riding his motorcycle for whatever reason. This is really sad...I had a chance to see him play in the Team Canada Red/White game held in Vancouver in August 2006 to help select the team that participated in the WJCs later that year, also in Vancouver. The 15,000 or so people at GM Place that night had a lot of love for the Canucks' draft choice!

[Di Matteo98 0]

Just wanted to say that he was a great hockey player, I want to base my game on him (I'm 15 and a D-man), one of my favorite players.

R.I.P. my condolences to the Family, close friends and all of New Brunswick

[sharks12 0]

These are just sad days when random tragedies like this occur. I hope his family can get through this okay. RIP

[Zac911 317]

we lost a brother today. while JR is right lets hope the lesson is not lost on current and future players-- at any level. if you make poor decisions in a high risk environment no matter what experience level it can cost you. looking back at my younger years i cannot believe i am still alive. too often young people dont think about mortality-- you need to consider those you love and hold closest to you-- how much you not being there anymore will affect those you care about most. i grew up a fan of the nucks, but to hear this news just makes me so sad for his family, loved ones and his teammates. rest in peace brother!

[TheBert 0]

More on Bourdon http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...30-6789304b8351

Remembering the real Luc Bourdon

Iain MacIntyre

Vancouver Sun

Friday, May 30, 2008

CREDIT: Ian Lindsay / VANCOUVER SUN

Luc Bourdon at the start of the Vancouver Canucks rookie prospect camp in 2006.

What did you really know about Luc Bourdon?

Better yet, did you care about him?

Too often we view hockey players as commodities, like potash or lima beans - something of a certain value to be retained in the hope of appreciation or bartered for something else.

To many, Bourdon was merely a first-round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, a 21-year-old with all the National Hockey League tools but still needing the toolbox to organize them.

"Still." After only one full season of professional hockey.

Less than three years removed from his draft, the defenceman was already absurdly deemed a failure by some, mostly because he wasn't Anze Kopitar.

A lot of people here would have dropped Bourdon-the-commodity long before he crashed his new motorcycle into a truck and died early Thursday in his beloved New Brunswick.

The Canucks lost a good prospect. But the Acadian fishing town of Shippagan lost something more - a hero. And we can't even begin to fathom what Suzanne Boucher lost when her only boy was killed.

"I don't know if you know Shippagan," Guysma Hache said on the phone from there. "It's a very small city - only 2,500 people. We are a French community. The kids around here, they dreamed to have a chance to see Luc Bourdon bring the Stanley Cup here. He was a hero. That was the dream of a lot of kids.

"In our house, we were very close to Luc. I used to have [an outdoor] hockey rink at my house. All the time, he was here to play hockey with my two sons.

"I lost a good friend today. I lost one of my sons."

Hache coached Bourdon for seven years, until he was 12.

During that time, Bourdon was stricken with juvenile arthritis so badly he was confined to a wheelchair. He missed an entire season but went to games, anyway, and was able to play again only with the right combination of drugs and physiotherapy.

Bourdon overcame that. And he overcame Shippagan's isolation at the far eastern tip of New Brunswick, leaving the security of home at age 16 to play in the Quebec League for the Val d'Or Foreurs. When his junior team visited the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, three busloads of Bourdon fans travelled across the Acadian Peninsula to see him play.

And when the Canucks selected Bourdon 10th overall in 2005, the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal declared in an editorial that the province was now "Luc Bourdon Country."

He was the highest drafted player ever to come from New Brunswick and was expected to be the best one since Danny Grant made it to the NHL from Fredericton 40 years ago.

Bourdon was greeted as a conquering hero when he returned from the 2006 World Junior Championship in Vancouver with a gold medal for Team Canada and a tournament all-star award. And when the Moncton Wildcats acquired him from Val d'Or to boost the host team's Memorial Cup bid that year, Bourdon's initial press conference was like something reserved for rock stars.

"I used to run a hockey school and when he came to my hockey school, all the kids were so anxious to see him," Hache said. "He was great with all the kids. He never changed. He was a great ambassador here. We're all very shocked, very sad."

Bourdon was raised by his mom and had no relationship with his biological father. His mother remarried, but Bourdon took no one on the road with him when the Canucks staged their first father-and-son trip in March.

He split this season between the Canucks and their American League affiliate in Winnipeg. He played 27 games for Vancouver, scoring two goals and finishing plus-seven while averaging 12:52 of ice time.

But measured against 2005's sparkling first-round class, headlined by Sidney Crosby, Bourdon's progress frustrated some fans and reporters.

"That was remarkably unfair," former Canuck general manager Dave Nonis said Thursday. "We'd all love our kids to play at 18 or 19, but the fact is, most don't. I think Luc felt the pressure of being a high pick. He put pressure on himself. There were a lot of great players picked [in 2005], but very few had more ability than he had.

"It just took him time to find himself. He wanted to prove to people he could be a top player."

Assistant GM Steve Tambellini said: "I was just thinking today how much was in Luc. There was so much emotion inside him. He didn't always express it, but there was so much passion and emotion in this young man."

Bourdon might have become another Ed Jovanovski, who was remarkably similar in raw ability and inconsistency at that age, or maybe he'd have been Bryan Allen. In one form or another, he was going to be an NHL player. We'll not know how good.

Profoundly sadder, we'll never know what kind of person Bourdon might have become. Might he have inspired and led other Acadians into the NHL? How might he have improved his community?

He was a great son - would he have been a great father or grandfather? How many lives would he have enriched? Would he have made more of a mark in the world than swirling patterns on the ice and a skidmark on a New Brunswick highway?

"He was just a kid," veteran Canuck Trevor Linden said. "He loved music, loved guitar - he had a few of them. He loved video games, loved going down to this hot dog stand on Robson Street. He was just a boy.

"That's the amazingly sad part. His journey was just starting."

When Bourdon was alive, most viewed him as a player-commodity. Now that he's dead, we discover the person.

[QandA 0]

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/front/article/310904

That Guysma Hache guy used to coach me too, loved hockey.

[dalebert 8]

It's a shame to hear something like this, however on a somewhat lighter note my uncle [builds custom motorcycles down in florida] told me they are developing these hopefully they do get put into production

That looks like it could save many lives, but I doubt it would have done much for Luc since he hit a semi head-on. R.I.P.

Yeah I posted that at a point where we only knew he was in an accident, nothing more.

[lampliter87 8]

As it has been said many times, RIP.

God bless his family and all of those affected.

[mrusse01 0]

Reports are saying he only had his motorcycle license for 2 weeks and veered across the centre line into oncoming traffic, high winds may have been a factor...very sad indeed.

[D3nZ 0]

Terrible news, that kid was probably one of the best players to come out of New Brunswick. He would have had for sure a good and long career in the NHL. My friends brother played with him in Cape Breton and he was apparently a very good teammate. He probably scored his most important goal during the Canada-USA game during WJHC last year to tie it (but most people remember Towes for the shootout). R.I.P. Luke

Just a correction.. it's Luc* not Luke.

I knew that, I've been watching the kid since he was in the New Brunswick team during the 2003 Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbellton. I know every kid that has been and will be comming out of the New Brunswick system for the next couple of years. I wrote Luke cause I've never heard an english commentator say Luc (with the french pronounciation, the only one that does it is probably Pierre McGuire). BTW the next best defenceman that will be comming out of the New Brunswick system is from Edmundston and he will be playing with the U of Maine in a couple of years, he is currently playing in a prep school in Rothesay near St-John NB, is name is Kevin Gagné.

[KingPest19 0]

Reports are saying he only had his motorcycle license for 2 weeks and veered across the centre line into oncoming traffic, high winds may have been a factor...very sad indeed.

From what I read on another board was that it was due to wind. Apparently a semi pulled over to the side of the road to let him pass and when he got past the front of the semi got hit by a gust that caused him to veer over the line. Sad thing was his girlfriend was in the car behind him.

[D3nZ 0]

Reports are saying he only had his motorcycle license for 2 weeks and veered across the centre line into oncoming traffic, high winds may have been a factor...very sad indeed.

From what I read on another board was that it was due to wind. Apparently a semi pulled over to the side of the road to let him pass and when he got past the front of the semi got hit by a gust that caused him to veer over the line. Sad thing was his girlfriend was in the car behind him.

Wind could have been a factor, could. It's always windy in that region cause it's close to the sea. From what I've seen in the news on how the accident happenned (where he hit the truck and so on, where the bike ended up, the road....), it was mostly inexperience. I know over here it was raining mostly all day and I also live on the northern part of New Brunswick so slippery roads could be a factor also.

[shooter27 116]

Could the type of bike have been a factor? A light sportbike possibly being more affected by the wind than a heavier cruiser-type bike?

Either way, one can't help but feel horrible for the family. The news has definitely made me retink my idea of buying a bike.

[oggy_3 0]

Terrible news, that kid was probably one of the best players to come out of New Brunswick. He would have had for sure a good and long career in the NHL. My friends brother played with him in Cape Breton and he was apparently a very good teammate. He probably scored his most important goal during the Canada-USA game during WJHC last year to tie it (but most people remember Towes for the shootout). R.I.P. Luke

Just a correction.. it's Luc* not Luke.

I knew that, I've been watching the kid since he was in the New Brunswick team during the 2003 Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbellton. I know every kid that has been and will be comming out of the New Brunswick system for the next couple of years. I wrote Luke cause I've never heard an english commentator say Luc (with the french pronounciation, the only one that does it is probably Pierre McGuire). BTW the next best defenceman that will be comming out of the New Brunswick system is from Edmundston and he will be playing with the U of Maine in a couple of years, he is currently playing in a prep school in Rothesay near St-John NB, is name is Kevin Gagné.

Yeah Rothesay Netherwood, i played with him this year. He is not going back though, along with everyone on the team except 3 players.

[D3nZ 0]

Terrible news, that kid was probably one of the best players to come out of New Brunswick. He would have had for sure a good and long career in the NHL. My friends brother played with him in Cape Breton and he was apparently a very good teammate. He probably scored his most important goal during the Canada-USA game during WJHC last year to tie it (but most people remember Towes for the shootout). R.I.P. Luke

Just a correction.. it's Luc* not Luke.

I knew that, I've been watching the kid since he was in the New Brunswick team during the 2003 Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbellton. I know every kid that has been and will be comming out of the New Brunswick system for the next couple of years. I wrote Luke cause I've never heard an english commentator say Luc (with the french pronounciation, the only one that does it is probably Pierre McGuire). BTW the next best defenceman that will be comming out of the New Brunswick system is from Edmundston and he will be playing with the U of Maine in a couple of years, he is currently playing in a prep school in Rothesay near St-John NB, is name is Kevin Gagné.

Yeah Rothesay Netherwood, i played with him this year. He is not going back though, along with everyone on the team except 3 players.

Where will he be going? He's still too young for the U. USA Prep?

[Andoy 5]

Could the type of bike have been a factor? A light sportbike possibly being more affected by the wind than a heavier cruiser-type bike?

Either way, one can't help but feel horrible for the family. The news has definitely made me retink my idea of buying a bike.

Definately. Apparently he bought a GSXR-1000. That bike is pretty much a full racing replica and it's barely street legal. Definately not a beginner's bike, heck I wouldn't even recommend the 600cc version. People with limited or no riding experience severely underestimate the power of motorcycles...these things can do 0-120mph in 6 seconds.

I hope this doesn't discourage most of you from riding. Just do your research in properly choosing a bike that's suited for your level of experience. If I ran the government, I would restrict novice bike riders to a max of 250cc for the first 6 months.

[Penguinsfanatic 0]

Tragic. My condolences go out to his family and friends

[s Greens 0]

GSXR1000 is a 1000cc bike, which like has already been said, is definitely not a beginners bike

the worst part about hearing about luc bourdon, or any other person whose had their life cut short at an early age, is you never really know what that person is capable of in the years to come. Going by Luc's potential, he had an all star career ahead of him

RIP

[SuperMan3 1]

Sean Taylor, Mickey Renaud, now Luc Bourdon, all in the same season, how tragic.

[chippa13 1844]

This is true. I also just don't get motorcycles and though I have inklings to get one, never do for obvious reasons. I remember coming home one summer from college to get a dental check-up and my dentist looked like a Hell's Angel and took up motorcycling. Come back that winter for another check-up and he's dead because he hit a moose on his bike.

Even odds that he would have been killed had he hit the moose with a car.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Cherry didn't have the guys name, but he said the fan that won Luc's jersey at the last game of the Season (Jerseys Off Our Backs night) sent the shirt to Mrs. Bourdon.

Very, very classy.