DELORME’S GOOD DEEDS EXTEND BEYOND ICE RINK
Canucks scout honoured by First Nation with star blanket as a leader of his people
No story was moved with the picture. Then again, none was required.
Ron Delorme, the longtime Vancouver Canucks scout, is pictured being inducted into the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame at the Credit Union iPlex in Swift Current. To his left is 84-year-old Fred Saskamoose, the first Canadian Indigenous person to play in the NHL and Delorme’s boyhood hero.
Saskamoose is there as part of a ceremony organized by Beardy’s First Nation, Delorme’s community. As part of that ceremony, Delorme has been presented with a star blanket, an honour bestowed on the most respected members of the community.
In the photo, Delorme, one of the toughest players to wear a Canucks uniform, is wrapped in that blanket. And he’s in tears.
“When you wrap him in a star blanket it means he’s in the stars; he’s been lifted up to the ancestors and he’s now honoured with them,” says longtime Delorme friend Peter Leech of the Halaw Group, a company that promotes First Nations business opportunities.
“We spoke to him right after the ceremony. He’s a leader for us and we told him that. He found it overwhelming.”
As did the man’s many friends. Delorme, the 62-year-old Canuck by way of North Battleford, has spent 36 years in the organization as a player, scout and administrator. In the team’s history, his service is matched only by Stan Smyl and he’s a deeply respected figure in the scouting world.
Unfortunately, that’s only part of Delorme’s history with the Canucks. Given the team’s uneven drafting record, he has become something of a polarizing figure among the faithful. For the last 18 years he’s been the team’s chief amateur scout and the former hard-rock winger has borne a lot of the criticism for the Canucks’ suspect drafting.
This helps explain why he has shut himself off from the media, even during his moment of triumph last weekend.
But there’s a larger story concerning Delorme, one that transcends first-round hits and misses and cuts to the heart of the man. Throughout his career, he’s been a tireless advocate for First Nations people, organizing hockey camps and leadership programs while mentoring countless young players.
That’s why he was honoured in Swift Current. And that’s why he was touched to the core of his being.
“He’s opened many doors for First Nations players,” says Leech. “And if he can’t do it at the NHL level, he’ll try at the minorleague level. Anything to help a kid get ahead.”
Delorme has held camps all over Western Canada, predominantly in Saskatchewan but also in B.C. and Manitoba. He’s helped by a core group that has included former NHLers Gino Odjick, Sheldon Souray, Jordin Tootoo, Arron Asham and others. Delorme is the driving force behind the initiatives.
“He’s like the elder,” Leech says. “We look at him the way he looked at Fred (a junior star in Moose Jaw who played 11 games with the Blackhawks in the 195354 season). He has a hard time believing that, but he’s been a role model to a lot of people.”
That’s both in and away from the game. Delorme started scouting for the Canucks in ’86 and has been a presence in the organization since. He’s also a made man in the scouting community, an interesting confederacy of hockey lifers and hard men devoted to the game and each other.
“I can’t say enough good things about the guy,” says Canucks GM Jim Benning. “He loves the Canucks. He’s great with the younger scouts. I know how he’s been portrayed, but if you look at that 2011 team, he had a big part in drafting a lot of those players.”
And most every Canuck over the last 30 years. Delorme worked the scouting game with Benning ’s father Elmer, a longtime scout for Montreal, and the Canucks GM, who made his bones in that world. He has worked with hall of famers and journeymen, big-time GMs and small-time bird dogs.
Along the way he has lost some good friends: Ace Bailey died in a plane that crashed into the World Trade Tower on 9/11; Lorne Davis is gone; Charlie Hodge died a couple of years ago.
But Delorme, who has worked for eight Vancouver GMs, is still standing.
“He’s well-respected,” Benning says. “He’s been doing it for a long time and he has a lot of friends in our game. That’s important. A lot of scouting is building relationships.”
As a player, Delorme was never confused with a goal scorer. He did score 20 with the dearly departed Colorado Rockies one year, but his large notoriety was gained as a fighter and his signature scrap came against Chicago’s Grant Mulvey during the Canucks’ Stanley Cup run in ’82.
At the end of the first period, Mulvey came off the bench and took a run at Canucks defenceman Lars Lindgren. Delorme stepped in, bloodied Mulvey, and the Canucks went on to eliminate the Blackhawks in the Western final.
“That identified him as a player,” Benning says.
“And it’s the same with the scouts. He always sticks up for his teammates.”
And his people.