38 - Sunday, April 29, 1990 - North Shore News >INFLUENCE Arthur Griffiths keeps tinkering with NHL team to make a winner ONE LOOK at Arthur Grif- fiths and you know that he is definitely ‘‘Mr. Van- couver Canucks.”’ By SURJ RATTAN News Reporter If the Canuck ring or the Na- tional Hockey League (NHL) cuf- flinks he wears are not enough to qualify him for that title, then the Canuck coffee mug and the Canuck coasters on his desk surely are. The 33-year-old West Vancouver resident, who is vice-chairman of Northwest Sports, the company that owns the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, is also governor of the team, which his father and Canucks chairman, Frank Grif- fiths Sr., bought several years ago. The Griffiths name is well known in Vancouver’s business circles. In addition to the Canucks, the Griffiths family, who operate WIC Western International Com- munications Ltd., also own five television stations, including Bur- naby-based BCTV, and nine radio stations across Canada, including New Westminster’s CKNW and CFMI. While son Frank Jr. takes care of the broadcasting side of the family’s business, Arthur looks after the Canucks. Born in Vancouver, Arthur Griffiths went to North Van- couver’s Capilano College where he studied business administration - He then moved On to the B.C. Institute of Technology, where he received credit for the first year of the finance program and part of the second year as well. Before the Canucks brought in Pat Quinn to take over as the team’s president and general man- ager and Brian Burke to head the club’s hockey operations division, one of Griffiths’ jobs was to deal with Vancouver sports media, a ORIENT EXPRESS {High Tea and Shopping Spree) Presented by MOUNT SEYMOUR UNITED CHURCH 14200 Parkgate Avenue, N. Van. Thursday, May 3 Drop in anytime 2-9 p.m. Admission at door — $5 YOUR BEST ASSURANCE FOR COMPREHENSIVE REAL ESTATE SERVICE ike Nakayama Bus: 922-6166 Res: 984-7574 Fa MONTREAL TRUST REAL ESTATE NEWS photo Mike Waketleld VANCOUVER CANUCKS vice-chairman Arthur Griffiths used to go toe-to-toe with the Vancouver sports media. job now left up to the tough-look- ing twosome of Quinn and Burke. Sitting in his 19th floor Bentall Tower office in downtown Van- couver, the not-too-tall Griffiths grins when asked about having to go toe-to-toe with the Vancouver media. “It was interesting,’ he said. ‘‘! dealt with the media on the basis that I recognized they had a job to do, and J tried very hard not to let them do my job. There are some people in the media that I have respect for and some that I don’t.”’ The Canucks’ organization, the media and the fans all had high expectations for the team going in- to the 1989-°90 NHL. season, especially after the Canucks had taken the Stanley Cup-champion Calgary Flames to seven games in their best-of-seven game playoff series last season, only to lose by a single goal in overtime. The addition of star Soviet players Vladimir Krutov and Igor Larionov to the line-up also raised hopes for the team’s success. Griffiths says the team had a good start and a good finish and played 40 good games of hockey, but admits he doesn’t know what happened to the team during the other 40 games, which contributed to the team’s last-place finish in MERCEDES-BENZ INVITES AND REMINDS... Service Inspection Reminder The key to satisfactory performance of your Mercedes-Benz during the coming Spring and Summer season is the Spring Inspection. We invite ali Mercedes-Benz owners to call our service department now and arrange an appointment to have your car properly checked over and prepared for Spring/Summer driving. Please call Service direct at 984-9701. Mercedes-Benz. OV the NHL’s Smythe division. “When the offensive challenges that we were left with didn’t work out, it was very difficult for the coaches, the players and even the fans to know who was going to be there game in and game out,”’ says Griffiths. ‘‘But I also must admit a lot of the criticism was levelled at the press.”’ See Griffiths Page 39 1375 MARINE DRIVE, NORTH VANCOUVER 984-9701 neh