Hockey Alum Update: John Grisdale

Former Michigan Tech hockey player John Grisdale was recently named to the 2016 British Columbia Hockey League Hall of Fame induction class.

A three-year letterwinner for the Michigan Tech hockey team from 1968-71, Grisdale is a 1997 inductee into the Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

As a defenseman, Grisdale played 94 career games tallying 52 points on 11 goals and 41 assists. During his senior campaign, he gained All-WCHA recognition and was also honored with the Gitzen-Loutit Memorial Award as the team's outstanding defenseman.

After graduating from Tech, Grisdale went on to play eight seasons in the National Hockey League, including three with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1971-74) and five with the Vancouver Canucks (1974-79). All total, his NHL career included 445 games scoring 18 goals and adding 123 assists.

Grisdale is currently the commissioner of the British Columbia Hockey League with his home office in Vancouver.

MichiganTechHuskies.com caught up to Grisdale this week with the following interview.

What is your current role?
I'm in my 13th year as the commissioner of the British Columbia Hockey League. Time really flies. I've been working hard to position and grow the league—we've recently upgraded our web provider and made other changes which will help in scouting.

I just checked, and we've got 107 players committed to Universities next year and 106 of them are Division I. I think we've been tracking in the right direction and want to continue that.

In what ways are you working to grow the league?
We are at 17 teams right now with the addition of Wenatchee, which has been a great addition to our league. It is our goal to stay with that number. We try to manage our business financially the best way we can, and I don't honestly think there are too many more markets in British Columbia that we can grow into. So growing for us means increased brand awareness and creating a desire for families to want to play in the BC hockey league.  We are going to push the envelope there and to continue to try to make the British Columbia more appealing.

What is your typical week like as the commissioner of the BCHL?
We have a staff here at the office. Our executive director manages the hockey operations and the discipline side of it in conjunction with our co-referees in chief. We have a director of communications that manages all of our communications and oversees our website and social media accounts. We have a director of corporate sponsorships who does a lot of creative things for us. We also have an office manager that comes in a couple times a week to keep us all in order. I obviously oversee it all and work on directing and moving the league forward. From a Canadian side of things, I'm also responsible for making sure we meet our objectives from the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Hockey Canada through the political side of the game.

Do you travel to events and games?
Yes. That to me is the best part of it. Obviously you have to keeping budgets in mind. The mandate that I have is to visit all the communities in our leagues at least once. This year, I have not been to the interior since I got kinda sidetracked with an operation I had on my back in January. I am recovering from that and will start traveling again at the end of this month through playoffs. That is my goal. I look forward interacting with fans positively or negatively because you are always learning and picking up things that we can do differently as a league.

What is your current connection to Michigan Tech Hockey?
I visit with Tech coaches when we have our showcase in August. From an alumnus point of view, I'm very connected to the guys from my era. My former teammates are still some of my best friends today—whether they live in Phoenix or here in Vancouver.

I'm still very interested in the program. If I hadn't had the back injury, I would have gone to Phoenix in January to watch Tech play in the Arizona State  tournament.

We've also had a lot of players from BCHL that have gone to Michigan Tech and come back and say what a great place it was to go to school and spend four years.

What does it mean to be selected in BCHL Hall of Fame?
It's quite humbling, obviously. It takes good people to run anything and to grow, and I've been blessed with that. From the league-office level to the team level, we've all been pulling in the same direction, and that makes it easier. I started from a good place in 2003. The league was well-known. I think we've moved it to where people continue to recognize it as a good league. The honor I get is humbling. The credit goes to a whole bunch of other people.