VANCOUVER — To reach Powell River from Vancouver by car requires ferries across Howe Sound and Jervis Inlet and, if the traveller is lucky, about 4½ hours to cover the 120 kilometres between the largest city in Western Canada and the remote lumber town of about 20,000 people on the Sunshine Coast.

But in British Columbia, a Vancouver Canucks fan never feels far away.

“They were a huge part of growing up for me,” assistant general manager Richard Seeley says. “I remember going to the old Coliseum at the PNE. To be honest, like it was yesterday, I can still see in my head Jeff Brown hitting Pavel Bure for a stretch pass through the Calgary D and going forehead-backhand on Mike Vernon. That ’94 playoff run... you understand the significance and how important the Canucks are to, obviously the City of Vancouver, but the province as a whole. I grew up a Canucks fan, for sure.”

Seeley was 14 years old when Bure scored the most famous goal in franchise history to sink the Flames in Game 7 overtime and launch the Canucks towards the 1994 Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers.

Born and raised in Powell River and hired last week by Vancouver general manager Ryan Johnson to be his National Hockey League assistant and run the Canucks’ American Hockey League team in Abbotsford, Seeley says one of the great benefits of his new job is coming “home.”

“It’s lot but it's exciting,” the 47-year-old says of the move. “I was with the Los Angeles organization for a long time, 10 or 11 years (in coaching and management), and playing before that. Now, I can finally have my son wear the Canucks jersey he would get at Christmas every year........

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