After a successful road trip through the
Northwestern United States, on which the team posted a 4-2-0-0 record, the Pats
returned home on an overnight bus trip from Spokane to Regina. When the team stopped for breakfast in
Medicine Hat, four players and a coach disembarked to join RCMP officers and
head to Vancouver to participate in Project First Goal.
Local players Colby Williams and Carter Hansen along
with defenceman Tye Hand, forward Adam Brooks and Assistant Coach Bill McGuigan
started their trip out on a small prop plane which would carry its passengers
to Abbotsford before they finished by driving into Vancouver. While the plane’s size made the trip over the
Rocky Mountains seem daunting, it was smooth flying.
“It was pretty scary looking at it,” laughed Pats
forward Carter Hansen. “I’ve never flown
on a propeller plane before, but once you get on it’s actually a lot smoother
and I almost prefer flying like that now.”
The objective of Project First Goal is to bring
players to the East Hastings neighbourhood of Vancouver under the supervision
of local police officers and speak with the addicts who live in one of the most
impoverished and drug addled neighbourhoods in North America. The players then bring the messages of those
in East Hastings to schools in Regina and present their experiences to the children. The hope of the program is that, as role
models in the community, the players’ presentations will hold more weight than
might a police officer or teacher’s talk.
