Montreal Canadiens mourn fan favorite enforcer Gino Odjick
Posted January 16, 2023 12:58 pm.
The Montreal Canadiens as well as the rest of the hockey community are mourning the passing of Gino Odjick.
The former forward, who played with the Canadiens from 2000 to 2002, died of heart failure at the age of 52.
Gino’s sister Dina Odjick shared the news of his passing on Facebook Sunday.
“Our hearts are broken. My brother Gino Odjick has left us for the spirit world,” she wrote
Odjick was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1990 NHL Draft. He played eight seasons with the Canucks until he was traded to the New York Islanders in 1998. Odjick was subsequently traded to the Philadelphia Flyers and ended his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens in the 2001-02 season.
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During his career, Odjick played 605 games, where he was assessed 2,567 penalty minutes, the 17th most by one player in NHL history.
Odjick was born in an Algonquin Nature Reserve just outside of Maniwaki, Quebec. He was seen by many in the First Nations community as someone to look up to.
After his career in Montreal, he returned to Vancouver where he was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis, a rare terminal illness that causes a gelatin-like protein to be deposited in the heart muscle, affecting the organ’s ability to expand and contract.
He wrote an open letter to Canucks fans after his initial diagnosis saying he initially thought he would have a few years to live, but added that doctors informed him he could only have months, or even weeks.
-With files from Astrid Agbayani, Sonia Aslam, and Sportsnet
