Tri-City News March 3 2022

Page 1

Coquitlam

Port Coquitlam

Port Moody

Winter homeless shelter moves to a new home

A new twist for thrill-ride fabricator

Mixed-use project approved for old Barnet Hotel site

PAGE 9

PAGE 7

T H U R S D AY

|

MARCH 3

|

PAGE 11

2022

30% OFF

Roman Shades & Drapery Offer ends march 31 2022. Some restrictions may apply.

TRI-CITIES:

604-944-3375

budgetblinds.com

O LY M P I C P I O N E E R

A goalie’s wild journey to the 2022 Olympics Paris O’Brien grew up in Coquitlam but he played net for China MARIO BARTEL mbartel@tricitynews.com

Paris O’Brien stops by his old minor hockey stomping grounds at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex. He’s home for a visit after playing goalie for China’s national team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing where he played five periods against Canada. MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS

Like many a fateful journey, this one started with a phone call and an impulse. Paris O’Brien was attending South Delta Secondary School in 2017 where he was enrolled in its hockey academy to prepare for the next step in his hockey career with an affiliate of the BC Hockey League’s Chilliwack Chiefs when his cell phone rang. It was a family friend inviting him to a practice at the Scotiabank Barn in Burnaby.

O’Brien, who grew up in Coquitlam’s Westwood Plateau neighbourhood and started playing goalie in the city’s minor hockey system because he was always skating backward to defend anyway, thought it sounded casual, a fun time to possibly reconnect with some of his old buddies from Burnaby Winter Club, where he’d played Midget the year before. He decided to cut class for the day. When O’Brien got to the rink he was puzzled that all the other players on the ice shared his Chinese heritage. Someone told him the practice was actually the first day of a two-day camp to identify young Chinese- Canadian players SEE

PLAYING, PAGE 34


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

CreateĀ aĀ flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.