The sign has been built.
It just needs to be dug into the ground and attached to the outer wall of the city’s newest indoor ice arena.
Lynda Pattie is hopeful that construction project will happen sometime this week and visitors to Prince George Golf and Curling Club will soon be referring to the rink as Chad Staley Memorial Arena.
Pattie, and her Prince George software development and IT service company, Ascentech Solutions, have secured the naming rights to the rink as a tribute to the former Prince George Spruce Kings captain, who died March 9 at his home in Kennewick, Wash., of an accidental opioid overdose.
Pattie, who billeted Staley for three years while he played for the Kings, is the founder of Chad Staley Memorial Athletic Foundation, a newly-registered charity to raise money and create opportunities for young people who lack the financial means or opportunity to get involved in playing organized sports.
“The whole idea about the foundation is to provide youth of all ages, and they don’t have to be hockey youth, the ability to develop across a whole bunch of different areas, using things like coaching and mentoring and animal therapy,” said Pattie. “It’s intended to have a pretty broad scope. Initially we’ll focus on youth development through the hockey side.”
The foundation will provide developmental activities such as three-on-three hockey and skills clinics, utilizing the expertise of former players and coaches from pro hockey as well as Spruce Kings players, past and present. Pattie says individual players about to begin playing bantam or midget hockey could be teamed up with players who have already been through the system and can offer their own firsthand experience to help guide them.
“There’s a lot of pressure to conform and the game definitely changes as you head into those more competitive leagues and competitive years and it takes a toll on players in terms of their mental health and life balance,” said Pattie. “Unfortunately, the game of hockey transitions to the business of hockey and a lot of players can struggle and lose their way, so we want to make sure that we have all the supports wrapped around them.”
The foundation will provide opportunities for kids to seek the help they need to help sort out any issue they might be experiencing either physically or mentaly. By pairing them with people they can trust, the idea is to give a young player a person with whom they can share their personal thoughts or troubles without fear of repercussions.
The foundation will be affiliated with Next Level Hockey, which will provide the content and oversight of the foundation’s athletic and player development programs. Michael Buonincontri, Staley’s 27-year-old former linemate with the Spruce Kings runs Next Level Hockey at his hockey skills development training centre in Montreal and he plans to follow a similar business model in Prince George, potentially working with Northern Ice Sports Inc.
Buonincontri played with Staley on the Spruce Kings in 2014-15, his final junior season, and they were on the same pro team in the Italian Hockey League last season. The skills camps he is planning for Prince George will reunite some of Staley’s former teammates. The Spruce Kings organization is already on board with its support for the foundation.
“I do intend to bring in some former Spruce Kings, a lot of players that Chad had a relationship with as well and a lot of players who have this same philosophy and mentality as Chad had, not only in his approach to the game but to people in life,” said Buonincontri. “He was a very welcoming and open-hearted person and lot of the staff will represent his way of life.
“It was his dream to be part of the Spruce King organization and I know he would think having them tied in with it would be something phenomenal.”
Northern Ice founders Mike Peterson and Chris Hunter leased part of the Prince George Golf and Curling Club and built a privately-operated hockey rink on what used to be four sheets of curling ice. The 55-foot wide, 125-foot long rink opened in November and is being used for teaching youth hockey, ringette, figure skating and power skating. Adult user groups have been shut down by the pandemic but Northern Ice plans to make the rink available for adults to rent once the restrictions have been lifted.
“We will be partnering for some things with Northern Ice but not exclusively and we’ve been really up front with them about that,” said Pattie. “The arena is a perfect size for some of the development programs we would be running and if we need full-surface ice we might look to Rolling Mix (Concrete Arena), in line with the affiliation with the Spruce Kings.”
Some donors have already stepped up to establish the foundation and once they begin operating they will apply for provincial of federal grants. A board of directors is in the process of being formed and the intent is to look to this group for guidance on fund development and fundraising.
“It’s not going to be a big bang right away, we want to give the CSM Foundation team a chance to build incrementally and make sure where we align and partner that it’s strategic around the youth we’re trying to help and that it’s true to the kind of organization Chad would also collaborate and partner with,” said Pattie.
“Chad loved Prince George, it was one of the favourite communities he lived in and he was an ardent supporter of the community. He was a great player on the ice but an incredible person and human being off the ice and that’s what we’re aspiring to. We want to help people reach those goals they have from a professional hockey or professional sports perspective, but still be incredible humans being off the ice and have the supports around them that they feel confident to do that.”
