Jason Botchford, who worked for The Province for 13 years and created the popular post-Canucks game feature The Provies, died suddenly on the weekend

Both Vancouver’s sports community and the hockey world are stunned by the news that Jason Botchford, who worked as a Vancouver Canucks beat writer for The Province from 2005 until 2018, has died.

He was 48.

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Botchford died at home on the weekend of apparent heart failure, his family said Wednesday morning.

Originally from Ontario, Botchford joined The Province as a news reporter in 2005 but quickly moved into sports and covered the Vancouver Canucks until leaving for The Athletic website last summer. He also worked in radio for TSN 1040 and made regular appearances on TSN’s That’s Hockey.

His death was first reported Wednesday morning and reaction was swift, with tributes pouring forth from not just Vancouver but across the Canadian hockey spectrum.

“Jason Botchford’s family is sad to announce that Jason has died of apparent heart failure. Jason was a highly respected hockey journalist, prominent in the Vancouver area and across Canada for his coverage of the Vancouver Canucks and the National Hockey League for The Athletic Vancouver and for TSN radio and television,” his family said in a statement.

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Ben Kuzma, who covered the Canucks for a decade with Botchford at The Province, was quick to praise Botchford for his outspoken instincts.

“In 10 years on the Canucks beat with Jason, I can tell you this much: He hit the career grand slam. Like him, or dislike him, you always read him,” he tweeted.

Photo by Ric Ernst / PNG files

Jeff Paterson, TSN 1040’s Canucks reporter and host of The Pat-cast and a former contributor and podcaster for The Province, was, like everyone else, shaken by the news.

“I am shattered. Just sitting here in a daze. I have lost the best podcasting partner a guy could ask for. Botch was also a friend, colleague, travelling companion and a driving force in Canucks coverage. So many great memories. My sincerest sympathy to his family.”

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Canucks general manager Jim Benning said the news caught him in his tracks.

“When I heard I was in shock,” he said. “He had a big impact on the media market in Vancouver.”

“He loved the Canucks and he cared about the team a lot.”

TSN 1040 host and former Globe and Mail sports reporter Matt Sekeres called the loss of Botchford “immeasurable and unimaginable.”

“Jason Botchford was a provocative and creative journalist, a valued colleague and a beacon for Canucks coverage,” he said on Twitter.

Daniel Wagner of the blog Pass it to Bulis was often cast by Botchford as a challenger, but Wagner reflected on how pleased Botchford had been to learn that Wagner had earned a solid enough raise to focus on writing about the Canucks full time.

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“Botch and I had differences of opinion sometimes, but I’ll never forget how happy he was for me when I first told him I was going to be writing about the Canucks full time. He was one of the first people I told and he gave me so much useful advice,” he tweeted.

Photo by Gerry Kahrmann / PNG

Like many others, TSN’s Bob McKenzie said he believed that Botchford had redefined game coverage with his multimedia work in The Provies and its successor, the Athletties.

“Botch was one of a kind. He really was. Unique. Unbelievably talented. Abrasive. Antagonistic. Fun loving. Off the wall. I don’t recall the specifics of our first interaction many years ago but I seem to recall it including an F U contest that got pretty heated,” he said.

“Like most dust-ups in our business, we put that behind us a long time ago. Above all else, what I realized most about Jason was what an incredible talent he was. The manner in which he covered his beat, specifically a game, was innovative and unusual. The stuff he did with video and social media and memes in The Provies and then the Athletties was next level. Smart, creative, funny, acerbic, at times over the top. No one was spared. Not even himself at times.”

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Before addressing the media Wednesday morning in Columbus, a visibly shaken Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella took a moment to reflect on Botchford, with whom he often sparred during Tortorella’s lone season behind the Canucks’ bench in 2013-14.

“I’d just like to pass on our sincere condolences from the Columbus Blue Jackets to Jason Botchford’s family,” Tortorella said. “I just found out about this. So I just want to make sure that we send our best to his family, and our condolences.”

In their statement, his family sought to highlight his passion for his family and his work.

“Jason, 48, grew up in Aurora, Ontario. After completing his studies at Western University in London, Ontario, he graduated from the advanced journalism program at Centennial College in Toronto. He began his journalism career as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, then moved to Vancouver to take a news reporting job at the Vancouver Province. Soon after he started at the Province, he moved into sports to cover the Canucks and NHL.

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“Last fall, Jason joined The Athletic Vancouver as its senior hockey writer. He developed a huge following with his lively, often playful writing style, edgy commentary and plugged-in reportage. He appeared regularly on Vancouver radio station TSN 1040 and on TSN’s parent network, particularly its popular That’s Hockey segment. And he was dynamic presence on social media, attracting more than 59,000 Twitter followers.

“A loving father and husband, Jason is survived by his wife, Kathryn; their children, Sienna, Keira and Hudson; his brother, Derek Botchford, sister-in-law Andrea Soto and nephews Nolan and Miles; and his stepfather, John Lott. He was predeceased by his mother, Nancy Lott, in 2016, and his father, Henry Botchford, in 2018.

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“The family is heartbroken at his unexpected passing. We will be making no further statements and ask that our privacy be respected. Arrangements for a memorial service are incomplete.”

Photo by Gerry Kahrmann / PNG

Paul Chapman, deputy editor of The Province and Vancouver Sun, worked with Botchford for many years.

“When Jason joined us in 2005 as a news reporter, he immediately stood out,” he said Wednesday morning. “Aggressive, passionate and intense, Jason would attack every story he was given.

“He had a hunger to get the story and get details that no one else had. We recognized how well those skills would translate to the hockey beat and gave him the job covering the Canucks, and I think it’s fair to say he changed the way the sport was covered.

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“For 20 years I had been going to professional development conferences where they would discuss how to reinvent the game story. No one ever did, and then Jason came up with The Provies, a whole new way to read about the game.

“Despite every game being on TV and being discussed ad nauseam, The Provies became our best-read post every day.

“That was Jason: innovative, driven and a whirlwind of energy. Not to disrespect sportswriters, but there are many that have shied away from hard news or controversial stories. Those are the ones that made Jason thrive, and I always knew if there was a massive earthquake or any other catastrophic news story breaking, I could call on Jason to cross the floor and get the story, any story, for us.

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“To say I’m shocked and stunned at this news doesn’t begin to cover it. Jason stood out from the pack and we will all miss him tremendously.”

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Jonathan McDonald served as sports editor for The Province for much of Botchford’s career.

“He was a gutsy, honest reporter who turned the hockey writing business on its head. He could be really difficult, but uniquely difficult. I remember once asking him to do a story and his response was, ‘That’s a stupid story.’ I didn’t know what to say. He was so brazen. He wrote something else that day.

“The next morning he called me and said, ‘You know that story you asked me to write? If you want me to write a story, just tell me to write the story.’ That was his funny way of apologizing.

“Jason was a polarizing figure who loved to be polarizing. But there was unexpected sweetness. A few years ago, before Christmas, I went home and found an envelope in my work bag.

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“It was a Christmas card … from Jason Botchford. What the?!? He wrote, ‘In case I never tell you this, thank you for believing in me.’

“I also want to acknowledge that there were few people as creative as Jason. The Provies is one of the greatest things we ever created at Province Sports and it was all Jason, responding to my challenge to come up with new, unpredictable content we hoped would connect with readers. It was uniquely his.”

The Vancouver Canucks, in a statement released on social media, said Botchford’s death was “heart-breaking.”

“Jason was an incredibly passionate and dedicated reporter who connected with Canucks fans everywhere … The Botchford family is in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” the statement said.

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Botchford was a long-time chapter chair of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. On Wednesday, the PHWA, in a tribute on its website, said the feisty Vancouver writer’s combativeness was “a hallmark of so many upper echelon journalists.”

“There was only one Jason, and if he wasn’t your cup of tea, that wasn’t his concern. He was true to himself, his employers — The Toronto Sun, The Vancouver Province, The Athletic, CKNW and TSN — and perhaps most importantly, his readers and listeners, whose loyalty was returned 10-fold,” the PHWA said . “Few of us have engaged a readership as passionate as the following ‘Botch’ had West of the Rockies.”