Hockey Hall of Famer Phil Esposito has a love/hate relationship with Vancouver.
When Team Canada was booed off the ice after a 5-3 Pacific Coliseum loss to the Soviet Union in 1972, “Espo” reacted with his famous post-game rant on CTV. Three years later, while in Vancouver on an early-season road trip with the Boston Bruins, he was traded to the New York Rangers. The 71-year-old’s most recent trip was for his latest product endorsement – Splash Water for Life and its atmospheric water harvesting machines. It’s one of several companies promoting water-from-air technology.
“I’m absolutely thrilled about being in Vancouver again for something that’s good. I’ve had some tough times in Vancouver,” Esposito said at the company’s North Vancouver storefront after a storm passed on the muggy September 5.
Esposito is the advisory board chairman for Bravo Enterprises Inc., the Nevada-incorporated, Patchoque, New York-
headquartered company traded on the loosely regulated Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board as OGNG. A news release last December said Bravo licensed the technology from Water-for-The-World-Manufacturing Inc. of Wellpinit, Washington, in exchange for 120 million restricted common shares worth $1.56 million. Securities and Exchange Commission filings explain the technology operates by pulling air through a filter and coil, which cools the incoming air to produce condensation. The water is captured and pumped through filters and germicidal ultraviolet reactors for purification.
Splash’s Airwell 3000 home/office unit produces 30 litres of water a day and retails for $999. The AirMax industrial unit is $150,000 (which includes shipping, installation and a year’s supply of filters) and produces up to 11,356 litres per day. Bravo claims the Canadian distribution has “commitments from up to” 11 outlets to carry the products, including Rona, Canadian Tire and Home Hardware.
“My mind started thinking about a friend of mine who’s a big builder there, and then I thought about the [Tampa Bay] Lightning and how they were complaining about the water and how much water they have to use for the ice,” said Esposito, the Tampa Bay expansion franchise’s co-founder in 1991. “I wanted to see it, and actually taste the water, and I’m blown away about it to tell you the truth.”
Splash is Esposito’s latest endorsement. His stellar play in the 1972 Summit Series, which included the assist on Paul Henderson’s famous series-winning goal, and record-setting career with three Original Six teams made him a hot commodity. While a Ranger, he appeared in ads for Sasson jeans. After retirement, he flogged Dynacharge rechargeable batteries.
Esposito could’ve been much richer earlier in his career, when Jim Pattison offered him $1 million to sign with his Vancouver Blazers of the World Hockey Association. “An offer I should never have refused, never in a million years,” Esposito said.
On a night off at Hy’s Steakhouse in Vancouver in 1975, Pattison approached Esposito’s table and told Esposito: “You should’ve signed with me; I hear you’re getting traded.”
Esposito, with 12 goals in 12 games, brushed it off. Lo and behold, coach Don Cherry summoned him to his Westin Bayshore hotel room the next morning. Bobby Orr was also there while Cherry broke the news. Esposito remembers saying to Cherry: “If you tell me New York I’m going to jump out that window.”
Cherry’s retort?
“Bobby, open that window,” Esposito said.
Canadian threepeat
The Vancouver Canadians won a third consecutive Northwest League title at Nat Bailey
Stadium on the Scotiabank-sponsored field on September 9. The front office, under president Andy Dunn, announced a combined 184,042 regular season attendance over the 38 games. Compare that with the 241,461 the original, triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL) Cs drew in 1999, their final 71-game season at the Nat before moving to Sacramento, California.
