Warrior run: Relay draws attention to veterans’ struggles Pg. 7
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Taking a look at Hydro’s big dig
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015
Storm franchise celebrates new days of glory J.R. RaRdon
J.R. RaRdon
Campbell RiveR miRRoR
Campbell RiveR miRRoR
T
he ongoing John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project is something Campbell River can really dig, Mayor Andy Adams said during a tour of the construction site Monday. At the moment, digging comprises most of the work going on as the aging John Hart dam and power station undergo a major seismic upgrade and replacement. “It’s like a mining operation for the first year and a half, to remove all the rock,” said Stephen Watson of BC Hydro. “Once that’s complete, they get into the building phase, starting to construct the generating station.” Monday’s tour updated regional civic leaders and media on the progress of the four-year project, which kicked off last summer with a similar tour. It was led by managers from BC Hydro, joint venture construction partners InPower BC, Aecon and SNC Lavalin Constructors Pacific, Inc., and included Adams and Comox Valley MLA Don McRae. The visitors were taken to the entrance of one of two access portals being dug deep
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Guests at a tour of the John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project walk up from a large access tunnel bored into the hill below the current penstock pipes Monday. The penstocks will be removed and the land reforested when the underground project is completed in 2018.
into bedrock in the hill below John Hart dam. The tunnels, one large enough to accommodate semi
trucks and large equipment, will eventually intersect with the main
Continued on Pg. 2
When it entered the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League in 1997, the Campbell River Storm quickly became the league’s dominant team. From 1997/98 to 2003/04, the club won an unprecedented seven straight VIJHL championships, one provincial title, and earned silver and bronze medals in the Keystone Cup, Canada’s national Junior B championships. The program hasn’t had a title since. But under the current ownership, the team has undergone a revival and is now a contender for the league title once again. “One of the things I tried to do when I first came here was to pay homage to how good this program was,” said Lee Stone, the secondyear head coach who has overseen the turnaround from a 12-win season just two years ago to a 39-41-4 mark in the just-completed season. “It’s easy for these players to come back every day, knowing that for seven years in a row guys did the same thing and won. We want to be the team to bring it back.” The Storm embark on that goal in earnest tonight, when they kick
photo by ingRid thomas
An enthusiastic fan base has returned to Storm games like Ryan Ostensoe who was ready to make noise last Friday.
off the 2015 VIJHL playoffs with a 7:30 p.m. game against Peninsula/ Oceanside at Rod Brind’Amour Arena. It will be the opening game of a best-of-7 series. The team’s decline following its 2004 league championship was gradual. The Storm reached the league finals each of the next two years and, as hosts of the Keystone Cup in 2006, the Storm reached the national championship final before falling in overtime to Red Deer. As recently as 2007/08 the team posted a 28-15-0-3 record. Continued on Pg. 3
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