Business
Pat Quinn reflects on his life in the game of hockey
Canadian sports icon looks back with Imperial Oil at h ow Canada's winter sport  ...
About this update from Imperial Oil Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\n\nCanadian sports icon looks back with Imperial Oil at how Canada's winter sport  influenced his life and career \n\n\n\"For 75 years, Imperial has been in the corners with us\"\n\n\nEssay shared with Canadians over the holiday season\n\n\n\n\nCALGARY, Dec. 22, 2011 /CNW/ - The names Imperial Oil and Esso have been\n synonymous with hockey in Canada for 75 years.\n\n\nIt was in December 1936 that Imperial Oil, under the brand name Esso,\n first sponsored Foster Hewitt's hockey broadcasts on radio. The company\n has been linked to Canada's winter sport ever since.\n\n\nIn honour of this special anniversary, Imperial Oil commissioned\n legendary Canadian hockey figure Pat Quinn to write an essay about his\n hockey past and the sport he loves. The longtime NHL player, NHL coach\n and also Hockey Canada coach penned the attached article, in which he\n discusses the impressions and influences that hockey had on him, his\n family and community while growing up in Hamilton, Ont. Imperial and\n Pat Quinn invite media across Canada to share this essay with their\n readers over the 2011-2012 holiday season.\n\n\n\"Imperial Oil and the Esso brand are intrinsically linked with hockey in\n Canada.  We're proud to have been part of Canada's game for 75 years,\"\n said Bruce March, Imperial Oil chairman, president and chief executive\n officer.  \"We are honoured that Pat Quinn is participating in our\n celebration in this manner and we hope all Canadians will appreciate\n reading Pat's essay over the holidays.\"\n\n\nImperial's link to the game began in the 1930s and '40s through\n sponsorship of Hewitt's cross-Canada radio broadcasts, a period that\n saw the introduction after every game of the \"Three Star Selection,\"\n which was inspired by Esso's 3 Star Gasoline. Esso was the sponsor in\n 1940 of overseas transmission of hockey games for Canadian service\n personnel stationed in Europe and elsewhere during the Second World\n War.\n\n\nImperial expanded its sponsorship and made the leap to television in\n 1952. The 1970s saw Imperial begin to develop grassroots programs and\n in 1981 it first introduced the Esso Medals of Achievement program, \n which has now seen nearly two million medals of achievement and more\n than 30 million certificates of participation awarded to young boys and\n girls. Imperial today...