Price inspires 1,000 First Nations fans

DAVE STUBBS
The Gazette

VANCOUVER – Something much more important than a starting assignment awaited Carey Price at GM Place yesterday.

They were in the arena stands, wearing Canadiens sweaters and the colours of their First Nations communities. They cheered him two hours before he stepped on the ice for the morning skate, and they cheered every puck he stopped for another 70 minutes – and even those he didn’t.

Then they swarmed him for a time afterward, clamoring for photos, autographs and handshakes as he left the rink.

Nearly 1,000 youngsters, adolescents and adults from First Nations communities, from many parts of Canada but mostly from his native British Columbia, came to the big city to mingle even for a short while with Price, a 21-year-old hero and role model to more people than he can imagine.

It was an emotional morning for the Canadiens goaltender from remote Anahim Lake, B.C., who was still struggling with the fact he would not play last night against the Vancouver Canucks.

That job would go to teammate Jaroslav Halak, whose tremendous performance Friday in Denver earned him the start here.

“It’s tough not to be playing, but it’s a coach’s decision and it’s part of the business,” Price said, on his first NHL trip to his home province.

But he also had different perspective on the day, its disappointment overshadowed by this remarkable event.

“A lot of those faces were familiar,” he said. “A lot of those kids were me – I was in that exact position growing up, in a small community just off the reservation. It was good to see a lot of young kids show up and be happy.”

Circulating among the group was a familiar figure, wearing a fleece Canucks jacket and a satisfied smile.

Gino Odjick, a former Canadien and a man of influence in Canada’s First Nations community, had spent six weeks organizing this day with Lynda Price, the goalie’s mother, chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation in Anahim Lake and a member of the province’s leadership council.

“For a lot of our First Nations youth, it’s nice for them to see somebody who’s succeeded and made it to the NHL,” said Odjick, a 12-year, four-team NHL enforcer who settled in Vancouver in 2003 following his hockey retirement.

“Because they’re from an isolated community, some of the kids think they won’t get a chance in the outside world. I wanted them to see that if you work hard and put time and effort into it, you can succeed at anything you want.”

Odjick travels extensively in his work for First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine. That might involve finding hockey equipment for the NHLPA’s Goals and Dreams program, which outfits youngsters without the financial means, or simply spreading the word of staying in school and setting a high bar in life.

“We all know the First Nations’ way out of poverty is through education,” Odjick said. “We really push for that.”

He networked by phone and email with communities far and wide, both outside the province and to remote places like Vancouver Island’s Bella Bella, into the interior, the far north and the Okanagan.

Price figured there were 200 people here just from Anahim Lake and Williams Lake, where he was born and played his minor hockey. He had 30 members of his own family in the stands.

“We sent the invitation to everyone,” Odjick said. “And everyone came out.”

If the kids idolize Price, the goalie thinks very highly of Odjick, born 38 years ago on the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Algonquin reserve in Maniwaki, Que.

“Gino is a first-class guy,” Price said. “He’s been a real role model for myself, being a First Nations guy playing in the NHL. He’s really done a lot for the First Nations community, especially here in Vancouver.”

Odjick believes it’s not because his people are First Nations or isolated that they cannot succeed. And the results of this day came instantly, washing down from the GM Place stands.

“A couple came over and said they were going to finish their degree or go to university or try harder, outside of hockey,” Odjick said. “If we can get a few to start thinking like that and spread the word, it makes this all worthwhile.”

Carey Price will earn future starts in Vancouver, that is guaranteed. But yesterday, a young goaltender did something much more important than play a hockey game. He touched the lives of children, their parents and their grandparents during a morning none will ever forget.

“I would have stayed on the ice another hour,” he said, heading for the door long after his teammates had departed. “It was fun to reflect and to see how lucky I really am.”

The advice he shared with them is only that which he’s now following himself, working to dig himself from a shallow hole that’s hardly unique to him as a player in the NHL.

“I’ve just got to make sure I let the kids know what’s important,” Price said. “Keep your head high and work really hard. If you do that, there’s no limit.”

dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com