Coast Mountain News Thursday, August 28, 2014
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Mask returns for Nelson Potlatch
Vol. 30 | No. 17 Thursday, August 28, 2014
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin
Page 5
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Superstar goalie Carey Price and his wife Angela with members of the Nuxalk Nation in Anahim Lake last week
NHL superstar Carey Price honoured by community in Anahim Lake BY CAITLIN THOMPSON The gymnasium of the Anahim Lake School was packed last week as community members turned out to honour one of their own: superstar NHL goalie Carey Price. In town to promote his new role as First Nations Ambassador for the Breakfast Club of Canada, Price was excitedly received by his biggest fans: the Ulkatcho community. Price’s remarkable story is well known by now. Of both Ulkatcho and Nuxalk descent, Price was raised on the ice of Anahim Lake, which was little more than backyard creeks and outdoor rinks, with his goalie father always by his side. “It was just me and my dad a lot of the time,” Price said. “We would spend hours out on the creeks, in the cold.” At age nine his dad decided
he should join a team, so they made the nearly 700-kilometre round trip to Williams Lake a few times a week. It got so taxing that Price’s father Jerry, who had his pilot’s license, bought a small plane and the commute was cut to a more reasonable 45 minutes. By 16, he had played 28 games with the Western Hockey League’s TriCity Americans, based in Kennewick, Washington. At 20, Price was playing in front of 21,000 demanding fans at the Canadiens’ Bell Centre. Hailed as the ‘best goalie in the world,’ this year he won a gold medal at the Sochi Olympics and led the Canadiens to a stellar showing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, earning the moniker ‘Jesus Price.’ Joined by representatives from Air Canada, the Breakfast Club of Canada, and the Ulkatcho, Nuxalk, and
Tsilhqot’in Nations, the afternoon began with the announcement that the Breakfast Club of Canada, in partnership with Air Canada, the Ulkatcho First Nation and the school district, would be providing a breakfast program for the local schools indefinitely. “We have more than 154 programs in First Nations communities across Canada and we are feeding 150,000 kids a day through this program,” said Daniel Germain, President and Founder of the Breakfast Club of Canada. “We will be here as long as you need us.” Performances from MarieJones’ Anahim and Bella Coola dancers were followed by a casual lunch and plenty of photo op’s. The Nuxalk dancers and singers then performed the sacred ‘kusyut’ mask dances, all of which were performed by youth. SEE EXCITED ON PAGE 3
Carey with Breakfast Club of Canada founder Daniel Germain