Dan Hamhuis won Olympic gold in 2014.
In May, he helped Canada bring home the world hockey championship.
And before his days are done as a Vancouver Canucks defenceman he has at least one more championship duty left on his bucket list.
He wants to drink from the Stanley Cup and end the drought for Canucks fans.
"That's been the goal for 13 or 14 years now to do that and it's tough, but I think we have a lot of great parts with our team," said Hamhuis, who will be on the tee this morning at the Prince George Cougars alumni golf tournament at Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
"I think a lot of people doubt us, but we believe in ourselves and I believe we have the team to do it. We have a real good strong core group and I think that's reason why we've been in the playoffs so much and have had the success. It's a great group for the young guys to learn from and grow together as a team."
After missing the playoffs in 2013-14, the Canucks put together a 48-win, 101-point season and finished eighth overall. Then came the disappointment of losing a tough six-game opening-round series to the Calgary Flames, leaving Canucks fans wondering when their team will rediscover the playoff mojo that took to them to within a game of the big prize in 2011.
Hamhuis is encouraged by what he saw last season out of the next wave of Canucks talent, players like Bo Horvat, Ronalds Kenins, Chris Tanev, Luca Sbisa, and rookie prospects Jake Virtanen and Hunter Shinkaruk, all of whom are expected to gather in Prince George for the Canucks training camp, Sept. 18-20.
"We do have a good team and it's too bad the playoffs overshadowed such a great regular season, -- we surpassed probably everyone's expectations except for our own, we expected to be there," said Hamhuis, a fixture on the Cougars defence for four seasons from 1998-2002. "We added some young players into our lineup and we're excited about where we're going to build for next year."
In his sixth IIHF world championship in the Czech Republic, Hamhuis was an alternate captain of the gold-medalist Canadian squad which beat Russia 6-1 in the championship game.
"It certainly took the sting out of the playoff loss and was a great experience, it always is, playing for Hockey Canada," Hamhuis said. "This one was real special, having a big role on the team and to go undefeated and beat the Russians in the final and I had a chance to bring family over as well."
Hamhuis also won the title in 2007 and won silver in 2008 and 2009. The Smithers native was part of two world junior teams, winning bronze in 2000 and silver in 2001.
Hamhuis, 32, now has 814 regular season and 62 playoff games on his 11-year NHL resume. Last season in 59 games, Hamhuis collected one goal and 23 points, second among Canucks defencemen.
He signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Canucks in 2010 after six seasons with the Nashville Predators, who drafted him 12th overall in 2001 and now one year left on his contract.
Eric Brewer confirmed Friday he won't be going back to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The 36-year-old defenceman is an unrestricted free agent. For the first time in his career Brewer faces the off-season reality of not knowing where he will play.
"I don't think Toronto is probably going to work out but there are opportunities out there and there's a good fit if that's what we want to do," said Brewer. "We're just feeling things out. We're in a bit of a holding pattern and we'll just see where it takes us.
"The NHL has been real good to us and everything is going to work out the way it should work out. We've had it pretty good for a long time and had a lot of stability in that."
Brewer picked up two goals and five points in 18 games for the Leafs last season after getting traded from Anaheim in March. He played nine games for the Ducks after being dealt by the Tampa Bay Lightning Nov. 28, after 4 1/2 seasons in central Florida.
Before he broke into the NHL, the Vernon native was a Cougar for three seasons from 1995-98, and was drafted fifth overall by the New York Islanders in 1997. After two years with the Islanders Brewer was sent to Edmonton as part of the Chris Pronger trade and was with the Oilers for four seasons until St. Louis acquired him in 2005, where he played six seasons.
