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“The rest didn’t play out exactly as I wanted, but that happens. I’m proud of the fact I can look at that building and know we had a great team that made it happen. You can’t take that away. I wouldn’t trade away any of it.”

The squat, yet stately arena at No. 800 on the street named for him — Griffiths Way — has changed ownership twice since Griffiths, first to McCaw, then to the current owners, the Aquilinis. That it exists seems almost a miracle now, and it’s a story that has its roots as far back as 1965.

Former Vancouver major Fred Hume was a dreamer as well, believing Vancouver could support an NHL team, led a consortium group to build a stadium that would be the key to a successful bid. Already having kept the team afloat with money from his own pocket during their lean years of the early ’60s, Hume, along with PNE president Captain Harry Terry, convinced the federal and provincial governments to kick in $2M each, while the City of Vancouver and PNE covered the balance of the proposed $6M Pacific Coliseum.

The building was completed in early 1968, but the NHL didn’t come until 1970, when — there’s a repeat theme here — the expansion fees caused ownership to look elsewhere for capital, finding it in Minneapolis businessman Thomas Scallen, who owned a medical leasing company called Medicor.

Starting with its first NHL game on Oct. 9, 1970, things were rosy in the first season, with massive crowds and huge public support. But it soon soured with the revelation that Scallen had stolen $3M in team funds; a conviction and fire sale of the team followed. Frank Griffiths bought the team for a rock-bottom $8.5M, beginning the Griffiths family dynasty that lasted for 20 years.