Giants alumni rally around fallen mate
Friends elated to hear popular Trail native Craig Cunningham recovering from cardiac arrest
The impromptu Vancouver Giants alumni news gathering service can finally take a break.
The hockey world was rocked when forward Craig Cunningham collapsed at centre ice due to acute cardiac arrest prior to an AHL game with his Tucson Roadrunners on Nov. 19.
Past players with the Giants were among those hit particularly hard. The Trail native, 26, played 295 regular season games with Vancouver, second most in franchise history.
Text messages start rocketing around between Giants alumni. What have you heard? Who might know? How can we find out?
The past players relied heavily on former general manager Scott Bonner, who’s now working for agent Gerry Johannson, who represents Cunningham and various other ex-Giants.
They relied heavily on Milan Lucic and Lance Bouma, former Giants wingers now with the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, respectively, both of whom visited Cunningham in hospital in Tucson.
The news has steadily improved. On Wednesday, Cunningham attended a press conference along with his mother, Heather, and the doctors who saved his life.
He isn’t expected to play hockey again, due to a badly damaged left foot and leg. He’s slated to spend the Christmas holidays in a rehab hospital. Not that long ago, though, the prognosis was much worse.
Those who spent time with Cunningham in Vancouver are elated at his progress.
“I just think there isn’t much you can’t like about him,” said Cory Cameron, who was the athletic trainer on that the 2007 Memorial Cup winning team that featured a 16-year-old Cunningham.
“His work ethic never wavered. As a rookie on the Memorial Cup team, with all that talent, he could have fell into the shadows, but he worked and continued to work.
“I remember seeing his mom bring him to the rink to skate when I worked in Trail. Seeing him with the Giants, I wasn’t surprised by his character after being raised by Heather. He was always respectful to everyone he encountered, and never without that big smile on his face.”
J.D. Watt, 29, a winger on that national championship side, added: “He was the definition of head down, nose clean, always humble. It was impossible not to like him. I always remember Cunner by his smile, whether it’s on the ice, in the dressing room or on the golf course in Kelowna. Cunner’s grin is infectious.”
Jon Blum, 27, a defenceman with that team, added: “He makes everyone smile and makes everyone work harder when you play with him.”
Lucic, 28, may have summed it up so perfectly with: “I’m just grateful he’s alive and well.”
Or it could have been Bouma, 26, who said: “He’s such a likable guy that it would be unfair to everyone who has ever met him if he wasn’t here. I’m so glad everyone has been given more time with Craig.”
In an interview Tuesday with TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Cunningham talked about getting back into hockey in some way. By various accounts, he’d be an ideal addition to any coaching staff or front office, in whatever capacity would seem to work.
Cunningham was traded by the Giants midway through his overage year in 2010-11 to the Portland Winterhawks. Dalton Sward, 22, was a 16-year-old rookie on that Vancouver side. He still talks about the impact Cunningham had on the Giants, especially working as a conduit between the young players and coach Don Hay.
“He was always a guy who would teach you the way Don wanted things done,” said Sward.
“He was a guy who got to know you,” Sward continued. “He was the guy that you could always go up to and ask anything. He was always there to talk or just listen about the problems you were having.”
Cunningham, one of three sons raised by widowed mom Heather, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Boston Bruins in 2010 after putting up 97 points, including 37 goals, in 72 games with the Giants.
He went on to play 63 games in the NHL. He suited up for 319 in the AHL and was captain on the last three teams that he played on at that level.