You knew the goalie — “King Richard,” the guy who backstopped the Vancouver Canucks to their first Stanley Cup final in 1982, who played 17 years across the WHA and NHL with a calm that seemed almost supernatural under pressure. What you probably didn’t know was that on road trips, tucked inside his bag beside the pads and the tape, he was carrying a sketchpad.
When I sat down with Richard, I expected to talk about hockey and art. What I didn’t expect was how direct he would be about the harder things.
He told us he sustained 13 concussions during his playing career. Back then, there was no protocol. You got knocked out, you got a headache for three days, and you got back in net. The long-term cost was depression — a battle he fought for 30 years. “If it wasn’t for my art, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. No dramatic pause. Just the truth. “That was my refuge. My place where I was happy, where I could find myself again.”
He kept the painting secret from his teammates for years. It was the seventies and eighties – a big man’s world, as he put it. Being a goalie already made you a little eccentric. Telling them you were an artist on top of that was a different thing entirely. So he painted at home, alone, sometimes until three or four in the morning after a game. The sketchpad came on road trips, quietly.
That discipline – the same preparation that made him exceptional in net, translated directly into how he approaches the canvas. He works on three paintings at a time, moving between them when one needs to breathe. He paints quickly and intuitively. He describes himself as an expressionist: “Find the color of your heart,” his mentor told him once, and it took him a while, but he found it.
Now he’s bringing that colour to Parksville. Gallery 35 is opening soon — eight professional artists, most from Vancouver Island, with room for community events and art classes. He’s building it with his son, who has called Parksville home for over 25 years. Richard Brodeur played 17 years of professional hockey. He’s been painting longer. Some careers just take a little longer to find their audience.
Hear the full conversation with Richard Brodeur on The PULSE Community Podcast at: https://bit.ly/S2EP30PulsePodcast
Peter McCully is a multimedia creator and podcast host based in Parksville, BC. https://mccullymedia.ca/category/blog/