Thursday, May 9, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Spruce King Jason Chu just about missed the bus to Brooks, Alta., on Wednesday morning. The team is headed to compete in the RBC Cup.
Confident Kings leave for national tournament Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca Jason Chu just about missed his ride to the national junior A hockey championship. Prince George Spruce Kings driver Bobby Huard had the bus in gear about to leave the parking lot at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena heading to Brooks, Alta., Wednesday morning when a frantic Chu rushed up to knock on the door. The 18-year-old defenceman got there just in time. Good thing. The Spruce Kings could require his services next week as they try
to bring home their first national title. They begin play at the fiveteam tournament in Brooks Sunday afternoon against the Oakville Blades, the Central champs from Ontario. Chu, a BCHL rookie this season, was inserted into the lineup just before the Kings advanced to the Fred Page Cup final against the Vernon Vipers to fill in for injured defenceman Liam Watson-Brawn and played an even more critical role on the blueline when the Kings dropped down to just five defencemen when they lost Jay Keranen to injury in Game 2 of the Doyle Cup series.
The good news is Watson-Brawn and Keranen are healthy again and are expected to play in the national tournament, which gives the healthy Kings a full crew of seven rearguards next week when they take on the best teams in the country. Watson-Brawn suffered an upper-body injury in Game 2 of the Victoria series and was in street clothes when the Kings won the Fred Page Cup and Doyle Cup. He plans to be wearing his uniform and skates two Sundays from now in Brooks to help carry the National Junior A Cup, if the Kings get that far.
“It’s good to be back,” said Watson-Brawn, as the team loaded up the bus Wednesday for the trek to Calgary, where they’re based for two nights. “I’m going to be a little bit rusty so I just want to make as much of an impact, whatever I can do to have the boys win the cup.” On Saturday in front of a full house at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, the BCHL-champion Kings captured their second trophy this season, winning the Doyle Cup Pacific regional championship in six games over the Brooks Bandits. They’ll try to complete the championship trifecta in Brooks on Sunday, May 19, at the end of a
nine-day tournament. Watson-Brawn, a 20-year-old Colgate University recruit from Vancouver, is one of 10 Spruce Kings moving on to college hockey next season and he knew nothing would be better than to add a national title to his hockey resume. “We believe in each other, our lineup is very deep – even with five D, all of them played very well, said Watson-Brawn. “We work really hard and we’ve put all the preparation in, now it’s our time to shine right now. This is our goal, our dream, and we’re just trying to make it come true.” — see KINGS, page 7
Gold miners have eye on Cariboo Indigenous court
marks a year of healing
Nelson BENNETT Glacier Media For about a century, starting in the 1860s, the most prolific gold mining region of B.C. was the Cariboo. The town of Barkerville, which sprung up in the Cariboo gold rush, was once a bustling town of 5,000. But by the 1950s, gold mining had pretty much dried up in the area, and the town of Barkerville was saved from becoming yet another B.C. mining ghost town only when it was turned into a living museum. But gold mining in the Cariboo now appears to be set for a sequel with the development of what has promise of becoming a significant gold mining district by Barkerville Gold Mines and Osisko Mining Inc. Mickey Fulp, who publishes the Mercenary Geologist, is betting on Barkerville to be not only B.C.’s next new gold mine but, ultimately, a mining district, with the potential for more than one gold mine. “They control 67 kilometres of ground on this trend, and most of it’s never been tested,” Fulp said. Under new management, the company
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LOCAL HOROSCOPE OPINION SCIENCE SPORTS NEWS
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
BARKERVILLE GOLD HANDOUT PHOTO
A worker pouring molten ore at Barkerville Gold’s assay lab in its QR mill south of Barkerville. has been rebuilding both its reputation and its resource estimates into something a little more reliable than what
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they had been under founder and former CEO Frank Callaghan. — see ‘THE DISTRICT, page 3
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Royal baby named Archie
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One of the success stories was on hand when the first anniversary of a legal proceeding aimed at reducing the number of Indigenous people revolving through the criminal justice system was celebrated on Tuesday. During a midday ceremony, Wesley Mitchell performed a traditional Wet’suwet’en drumming song to give thanks for the launch of the Prince George Indigenous Court. Mitchell credits the process for making sure he has stayed out of trouble after a few too many brushes with the law. Mitchell had pleaded guilty to breaching a recognizance but instead of adding the offence to his criminal record, a judge and a trio of elders saw fit to order him to report back on the steps he was taking towards personal improvement. Many of those steps were things he had already been pursuing – volunteering with various groups like the Prince George Spruce Kings, the Khast’an drummers, attending events at the Fire Pit Cultural Drop-In Centre and taking counselling and going through the Alcoholics Anonymous program. — ‘I HAD NO SPIRIT, page 3
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