Canucks: Hockey world mourns death of Mark Kirton after long battle with ALS
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Kirton played six seasons in the NHL, including parts of three seasons with the Canucks. He had 17 goals for Vancouver in 1984-85. He was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) — otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease — in 2018, and became a champion to raise money for research to help find a cure. He was a board member of ALS Action Canada.
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'He was really solid defensively. He could chip in offensively. More than anything, he was a great teammate,' said Rota, 72, whose five-year run with the Canucks ended with the 1983-84 season. 'He was very much one-for-all, all-for one.
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'I've got a chance to do a few things for ALS out here and I'm especially happy for that because of the connection with him. Great personality, great teammate. He was always fun to be around. Such a dry sense of humour.'
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Postmedia's Ben Kuzma did a feature piece on Kirton in June 2022 where Kirton talked about his trip to Vancouver the preceding April to see a pair of games. He had strong ties to the organization. President Jim Rutherford and Kirton were traded for one another in a Dec. 4, 1980 swap between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, and were teammates for a time when Rutherford found his way back to Detroit in 1982-83.
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Bruce Boudreau was Vancouver's coach at the time, and he and Kirton had been teammates in the Toronto organization.
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Boudreau told Kuzma then: 'He's still the strongest and bravest man I've ever met. He'll phone me when I'm down. And I'll just sit there and go: 'Kirts, you've got this problem and you're phoning me to lift me up?' He wanted to come here and support us, and even though he has ALS and has lost a lot of his movements, he's so upbeat and positive. You can't help but get excited when you see him. He was the hardest-working guy on the ice and hardest working doing this (ALS advocacy).'
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Kirton came to the Canucks as they were looking to rebuild the team after its 1982 Stanley Cup Finals run. He was acquired from the Red Wings on Jan. 17, 1983, in exchange for centre Ivan Boldirev.
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'Getting traded there for Boldirev? I told somebody the other day that I don't know if I would make that trade,' Kirton told Kuzma in regard to get swapped for a 33-goal scorer from the season before.
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