Welcome, athletes, coaches and all visitors, to Prince George and the 2015 Canada Winter Games. We hope your experience, both in competition and away from the field of play, is an amazing one and that you will leave Prince George with positive, lifelong memories and new friendships.
Here are a few things you should know about Prince George, its history and its residents, that you may find interesting:
- The hill behind the Civic Centre, where the athletes will eat each day, and the library, the home of the athletes lounge , is called Connaught Hill. As the above photograph shows, it was the site of a wooden ski jump built in 1930 and Prince George hosted the Canadian Olympic ski jumping trials in February 1931. Apparently snow had to be trucked in for that, after a warm spell much like we've had here in the past couple of days. A windstorm knocked the jump down in October 1938 and it was never rebuilt.
- A short walk from Canada Games Plaza is Four Seasons Pool and the statue of Terry Fox. Lots of cities have a statue of Terry but this one is special. As the plaque with the statue explains, Terry completed his first marathon at the 1979 Labour Day Classic in Prince George. The dream that would become the Marathon of Hope began in Prince George.
- What you won't find beside the statue of Terry Fox is a statue of Rick Hansen but there are early talks to put one there. Hansen was also there in 1979, the first of three consecutive appearances at the Labour Day Classic. A few years later, the Man In Motion tour began and the rest of the story you already know. Hansen grew up in Williams Lake, down the road from Prince George.
- Shortly after the Games, on March 6, Prince George will be celebrating its 100th birthday.
- The name Prince George was chosen by the residents of the day in 1915. We're happy to also share it with Will and Kate's eldest son and our future king. We sent the cute little fella a gift basket of local keepsakes when he was born and we hope he comes with his mom and dad for a visit one day soon.
- Prince George is proud to be the first-ever Canada Games to also partner with a Host First Nation, in this case the Lheidli T'enneh (pronounced "CLAY-clee ten-NAY") First Nation. The name means "people of the two rivers" since Prince George is the site where the Nechako River meets the Fraser River. We encourage you to visit the Lheidli T'enneh Pavilion, located at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Dominion Street, where there will be daily programming between 11 a.m. and 11:45 p.m. until March 1. For those of you fortunate enough to win a medal at these Games, the medals were designed by Jennifer Pighin, a prominent local artist and a Lheidli T'enneh councillor. Jennifer also designed the front of Team B.C.'s long-sleeved shirts, the salmon images on the Team B.C. scarves and the team pin.
- Our major junior hockey team, the Prince George Cougars, are partly owned by Dan Hamhuis, a Vancouver Canucks defenceman raised in Smithers, a town to the west of Prince George, and Eric Brewer, a defenceman with the Anaheim Ducks. Both Brewer and Hamhuis played junior hockey with the Cougars and both are Olympic gold medallists.
- The Stanley Cup last came to Prince George in 2003, when Turner Stevenson, who played his minor hockey in Prince George, brought the Cup here after winning it that year with the New Jersey Devils.
- Sorry if we're a little distracted by what's going on in Moose Jaw this week. Team B.C. at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts is a Prince George team, led by Patti Knezevic. She plays her opening game at the national women's curling championship Saturday morning.
We'll be cheering you all on over the next two weeks but we'll be saving a few cheers for her, too.
