Vancouver Canucks reporter Jason Botchford: A tribute to a great man

All of us at The Canuck Way are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Vancouver Canucks reporter Jason Botchford. We would like to take a moment to honour him for the great man that he was.

He changed the way that fans gathered information about the Vancouver Canucks. He asked the tough questions that were on everyone’s minds, that others may be too shy to ask. He turned the Canucks fanbase into a digital community, and most importantly he broke the barrier between media members and fans.

I’ll never forget the first time I read the Provies. It was a newfound experience for me, with its good mix of analyzing the game, humour, and inside jokes that made readers feel like family. Although I obviously didn’t agree with everything he put out, Jason Botchford is a man whose work should not be forgotten anytime soon.

Canucks fans, players, and fellow media members took to Twitter to offer their condolences to the Botchford family — his wife Kathryn, and their three young children.

Botchford had a relationship with the players that not many members in the media have, and his writing and work on the radio and 1040PatCast truly do belong in the BC Sports Hall of Fame. He is someone I personally looked to for guidance when I was just getting started with covering the Canucks. As Wyatt Arndt said in this Twitter thread, Botchford was gracious to almost every single blogger that ever sent him a tweet or DM on Twitter.

The thing that made Botchford so special in my opinion was his ability to make his readers feel like family. If you read his work you felt like you were having a conversation with him about the team,  not that you were simply being fed information. That’s why so many people are mourning the loss of such a great writer — they feel as though they’ve lost a family member.

The truth is, we have lost a family member. We’ve lost a huge member of the Canucks fanbase — probably the most important member of it, too. That’s what makes this so hard for so many of us, especially those of us that had any sort of encounter or interaction with him.

Here is the statement from the Botchford family, courtesy of The Athletic. Obviously, this is an extremely hard time for them — far more than it is for the rest of us. My thoughts are with the Botchford family and those who were closest to him.

Now I would like to allow my fellow Canuck Way editorial staff members to add their thoughts and feelings on Botchford’s passing.

Ben Steiner: Contributor

Botchford meant a lot to me. Especially as an up and coming member of the sports media community. When I was 10 years old I did a Canucks “reporter for a day” experience and that was the first time I met Jason.

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Even to a 10-year-old he was welcoming, mentor-like and took me seriously despite my age.

Years went by before I would see him again. I am sure he forgot about me at that time, but his first impression stuck with me. When I started to take writing more seriously I reached out to him again, and he was insanely helpful. He helped edit some of my work, told me how to improve and began to teach me to write in his style.

This winter I was covering the Vancouver Warriors of the National Lacrosse League, and was lucky enough to share the seat in Rogers Arena press box with one of the best. Throughout my coverage, I even tried writing using his “Athletties” style; GIFing key events and highlighting game snippets.

I will miss his mentorship, personality, as well as his hardworking ethic and no shortcut attitude. Jason made me a better writer and a better person. It will be weird being around the stadium knowing he’s not there yelling, but he will always be there in my thoughts.

Matthew Zator: Contributor

After reading all the stories about Jason Botchford and how he interacted with bloggers/podcasters, I regret not starting my journey earlier. I wish I could have interacted with him and picked his brain.

His legacy will live on with the provies/athletties and his many great articles. I always looked forward to reading them. He was a central media figure in Canucks Twitter, Hockey Twitter, Vancouver and Canada, as well as a passionate fan. If I become even a quarter of what he was, I will be happy.

Alex Hoegler: Site Expert

I still remember reading the Vancouver Province every day during school while I was in Grade 6. That’s when I started reading and following sports journalism, and there was one man who really spoke to me more than anyone else in the industry.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading so many world-class sports writers in my lifetime, but Jason Botchford stood out differently than everybody else. He was never afraid to be creative and humorous in his writing. It’s never easy mixing those two qualities in sports journalism, but “Botch” always made it happen.

How much did Botchford mean to me, even though we never met in person? Any time he liked one of my tweets (usually an attempt to get into the Provies or Athletties), it made my day and made me feel special. That’s how big of a deal Botchford was.

Even when it was midnight and time for bed, I stayed up refreshing the page; waiting for Botchford’s articles to come out late at night. I always game 82, because it meant six more months until we got to read the Provies and Athletties again.

Botchford inspired me to always be true to myself. Always right how you feel; don’t write something just for the sake of pleasing everybody. If you do that, you’re not going to go far. You simply have to write what you feel and think. Simple as that.

It’s impossible to guess where bloggers and other journalists would be today without Botchford. A quick scroll through Twitter, and you’ll find many prominent Vancouver-based writers who detailed how Botchford helped them.

You simply don’t replace Jason Botchford; a caring husband and father. The world lost a great man, and we can only be thankful for everything he did. Botchford will never be forgotten. He leaves behind a legacy that we can only try to achieve ourselves.