It's the middle of August 2007 and a sunny 28 degrees outside. The ocean is flat and my boat is fuelled and ready to go. But I'm not in it — why? I'm in a closet in a house on Willow Avenue pulling down lath and plaster onto my head. It's hot and sticky and I'm sucking in more dust than a vacuum cleaner in the Sahara Desert but I'm loving it. I'm a Kings' volunteer.
Kings' House — what an accomplishment for a team of workers who purchased, tore down, restored and placed a young family in a new home. Okay, maybe it took a little longer than was first projected but the wait and rewards were certainly worth it to the Powell River Kings hockey club and its supporters.
The massive undertaking, originally expected to be completed in six months to a year, was a major fundraiser for the Kings that netted $35,000. The biggest problem with the original prognostication is that the words renovation and completion date are seldom used in the same sentence. The house was purchased on January 30, 2007, and occupied by the new owners on December 1, 2008 –almost two years later.
Doug McCormick, the President of the Powell River Kings Hockey Society and the BC Hockey League's top executive last year, has a clear recollection of the meeting that spawned the idea.
“When we had our first meeting with the membership,” McCormick laughed, “we thought we were looking at a six-to-eight-month project, maybe a year. It turned out to be about two and a half [years].”
Carla McKamey, a realtor with Coast Realty Group Powell River Ltd., whose son Mark is the captain of the Kings, drew up the purchasing agreement but could hardly believe her eyes when she looked at the finished product.
“From where we started, Doug had a vision that no one else did and I really didn't see it coming out as nice as this,” she said. “It's pretty amazing. A lot of people pulled together and the support from everyone young and old, player or society member, has been a huge team effort.”
One of the common threads of an effort like this seems to be that each member of the team will deflect praise toward others.
Kings' director Rick Hopper, who donated the kitchen cabinets through Country Woodworkers Ltd., is one of those team members. When asked about his contribution, he shook it off and said, “When Doug calls you and asks you to put something into the house, you can't refuse because it's almost embarrassing compared to the amount of work he puts in.”
To know McCormick is to know that everything he does is well thought out. A conversation with his wife Carole revealed that he had a good reason to start the project when he did.
“He'd planned it for quite a while but knew that he couldn't do it until he retired,” she explained. “He was here [at Kings' House] six or seven days a week and he loved every minute of it.”
Besides being a fundraiser, she said it was just a really good story for so many.
“At the end of the day this is just a gem of a little house,” she beamed while looking around. “We saved a house in the Townsite. It's a fabulous neighbourhood, nice people that live here and it has a great view.”
The motivation was to make money needed to put a winning team on the ice for Powell River. Coach Kent Lewis is the man charged with that task. He said that Powell River is blessed with a lot of hockey people like McCormick.
“Without our diehards, and I think per capita we have more diehards than anybody,” he chuckled, “you never lose sight of that. You see the same goal judge for 20 years, the same timekeeper for 20 years or you look up and see the same people in the same seats for 20 years and you have Doug who does this. This is a special organization in a special community.
“We have to compete with wealthy private ownership.” There's no question that for most this project would have been overwhelming, but for the Kings' President it was a dream.
“I had a great time out here,” McCormick said. “In two and a half years I never got up and thought, 'Oh crap, I don't want to go to the old Kings' House today.'
“The only real stressful part of it,” he said, “was that once we sold it then there was a timeline to finish it.”
The initial project was thought to be mostly paint and cleanup but volunteers had to go down to the studs, raise and put in a foundation, rewire, re-plumb and finally rebuild the house. Those challenges and volunteer schedules extended the timeline but McCormick wouldn't have had it any other way.
“I was always amazed that the busiest people were the ones to make the time and come out and help,” he said. “Any time we needed someone it was one phone call and three people showed up.”
Corporate sponsorship was also on the appreciation list for McCormick.
“People were instantly on board,” he said, “and there are probably 60 people who have donated time, machinery or supplies such as concrete and building material and no one that I approached said no.”
The obvious question for McCormick is: why?
“Hockey is a passionate game and and you're working with people who share your passion and that makes it satisfying.”
McCormick often travels with the Kings to other arenas and at league meetings.
“As an organization right now, we're one of the four elite organizations,” he said. “In hockey circles, Powell River is a hot topic all across Canada.”
