Over forty years ago, a group of UBC Business School and Grad Studies students formed an elite club to follow their passion. To this day, the group still meets every Monday and Wednesday and, in true Canadian fashion, plays hockey! The Vancouver Flames Hockey Club has skated, slapped shots, and slammed into the boards with the best of them since 1967. The Club includes three of TRIUMF’s own staff, Ewart Blackmore, Richard Helmer, and Andy Hurst. The Flames is one of the oldest organized hockey clubs in the Greater Vancouver area.
Just last year, the Vancouver Flames played in a competitive league, 55+, and finished 2nd overall in the regular season. TRIUMF’s Richard Helmer, a research scientist, won the league scoring title. Currently, the team has finished 3rd in the regular season, and they have every confidence that they will win the championship in the upcoming playoffs. Over the years, the Flames have played and won many tournaments including the Snoopy Tournament in Santa Rosa, California, in which they have participated for 25 years. In addition to showcasing their talents at the games, the team contributes time and money to the Winter Sports Centre and the Parkinson’s, Breast Cancer, and Multiple Sclerosis Societies, and provides scholarships for the Thunderbird and Thunderettes teams.
With the world’s largest cyclotron and some of the world’s best minds in science and engineering, one might not expect TRIUMF to be a hockey powerhouse. The stereotype for a TRIUMF scientist might even suggest that they have neither the time nor passion for such a sport. But our great Canadian pastime has lured even these experts onto the ice for the love of the game. The Vancouver Flames has nurtured a team loyalty for over forty years and has surely had as much a positive influence on TRIUMF as it has had on its players.
Go Flames!
To learn more about the Vancouver Flames or if you are interested in joining, you can visit their website.
by Sandra Fleming
TRIUMF's Communications Assistant