Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Ken Holland, The Pride Of Vernon:

Here is an article on former Vernon Vikings goaltender Ken Holland.

Holland was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame Thursday at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Holland was recently named General Manager and President of Hockey Operations of the Edmonton Oilers, had spent the past thirty three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. 

Holland started as a scout with the 1985-86 Red Wings worked his way up to the team's General Manager/Ex. VP of hockey Operations.

Holland played one season in Vernon with the 1973-74 Vernon Vikings. 

Holland was drafted 188th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 12 of the 1975 NHL draft. Holland played in just four games with the Hartford Whalers & Detroit Red Wings before retiring from hockey and joining the Red Wings as a scout.

Ken Holland's Player Profile:


This was in the Kelowna Daily Courier Newspaper:

OPINION: Ken Holland, the pride of Vernon 

JAMES MILLER 

May 14, 2019

Compared with Americans, Canadians do a lousy job at honouring our own hometown heroes.

We don’t brag enough.

The city of Vernon should be incredibly proud of Ken Holland, who will be aptly recognized next week by the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver. (That hall honours athletes and builders from all sports — Holland is already in the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame.)

In an excellent interview with The Courier’s Dave Trifunov, Holland reflected on his years of minor hockey in Vernon as a kid. His father was active in coaching.

“Everything revolved in our house on hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer,” he said.

A goalie with the Vernon Vikings (that’s a blast from the past) of what would become the BCHL, he left the valley to play in Medicine Hat and then had a brief stint in the NHL where he appeared in four games (0-3-1, 4.95 GAA) — three in Detroit (who were awful in those days). one in Hartford.

When his playing career ended, he joined the ranks of the NHL, first as a scout and later as general manager of the Red Wings. He built three Stanley Cup championship teams with great players — Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan and Scotty Bowman behind the bench. More impressive, perhaps, was a 25-year uninterrupted streak of never missing the playoffs.

Sports Illustrated named him No. 2 overall (behind Scott Pioli of the NFL's New England Patriots) in a ranking of the top GMs of the 2000s.

His latest chapter began this month when he was named GM of the Edmonton Oilers, arguably the valley’s second-favourite NHL team.

Success has followed Holland everywhere he’s gone and it obviously won’t be long before Oilers fans can again party like it’s 1984.

Holland has ties in Vernon as his mother still lives there.

On behalf of valley hockey fans, congratulations to Ken Holland on this long overdue recognition.

The valley is proud of you.

James Miller is managing editor of The Daily Courier.

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