Canucks - Media Relations Contract - 2002
"Hey Jeff, Mike Brown has something he needs you to take care of," said my boss on my second day of the job. "Uh Hey Jeff," said Mike. "Can you get me a burger?" Swallowing my pride I went down into the concourse and bought the burger... and made sure I had lots of mustard. It was a sobering moment to be more than half way through my communication degree at SFU, on my first co-op work term, and buying a burger for one of my heroes.
At this point, I realized that everybody starts at the bottom.
Working for the Canucks was my first big break
Working for the Canucks was my first break into the communications world. Prior to that, I had pushed carts at Wal-Mart and worked some odd construction jobs. It’s a small miracle that they hired me.
They told me is that my knowledge of the team and of the NHL was what set me apart from the other candidates. Who knew reading the entire sports section of The Province and The Sun would actually have a practical benefit one day?
Despite the odd hiccup (the burger episode), my experience at the Canucks was sensational. I can’t think of a four-month stretch of my life where I had more fun. I got to go to all of the home games, sit in the press-box, and meet the players. I was a Media Relations guy for the Canucks, what could be better?
Three specific moments I will never forget:
- 1) Playing Playstation hockey against Todd Bertuzzi. He scored two goals as himself, and I ended up beating him in overtime.
- 2) Having coaching legend (and I mean LEGEND) Scotty Bowman take me into the Detroit Red Wings dressing room... and walking past Luc Robitaille, Brett Hull, Chris Chelios, Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Dominic Hasek. I almost fainted.
- 3) Taking a guy named “Paul” around for a tour of GM Place (along with some pretty stern looking security guys). Paul was from Boston, and we talked hockey and about the Patriots. I saw “Paul” on the cover of the National Post next week – he turned out to be Paul Celucci – American Ambassador to Canada.
Memorable experiences aside, working for the Canucks gave me first rate work experience. I helped with the team media guide, I wrote media releases, I wrote for the team magazine, and I maintained “The Insider” section of the website – a daily blog on the Canucks.
Most importantly, I came out of the job feeling like I belonged in Communications. This was my first co-op job, and I couldn’t wait to move onto my next one.
