Forty years ago, a love affair between Vancouver Canucks fans and Harold Snepsts began to blossom that resulted in the fan favourite being inducted into the NHL club’s Ring of Honour in 2011. In February, he will be inducted into the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame as a 40-year resident of the city.
The burly, defenseman may not have been the slickest of players, but he got the job done in his own end. The six-foot-three blueliner played 781 of his 1,033 NHL games over 12 seasons for the Canucks scoring 35 goals and 168 assists while collecting 1,446 minutes in penalties. Fans loved his gangly, enthusiastic style of play.
The Edmonton Oil Kings junior product also played for the Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues notching a total of 38 goals, 233 points and 2,009 penalty minutes in his NHL career which ran from 1974 to 1991.
Snepsts went on to serve as an NHL assistant coach and a minor league head coach before turning to scouting, first of all for five seasons with the NHL’s Central Scouting Service and then with the Canucks, who still employ him.
