Shawn Rice

This year, Prince George was in the hockey spotlight as host of the 2017 Hockey Canada TELUS Cup, the national major midget championship. To the surprise of no one in the local hockey and sports community, Shawn Rice was on the front lines, first on the bidding committee and then as co-chair of the tournament.

Rice has a long history of devotion to local sports. He was co-chair and marketing director of the 2009, 2011 and 2013 World Baseball Challenge tournaments, which earned him recognition from the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance for community service.

He served for 12 years with the Prince George Minor Hockey Association, with half of those years as either president or vice-president of the organization.

Other special sporting events he has worked on over the years include the 2015 Canada Winter Games, where he was in charge of hockey officials, Baseball Canada 2012 Senior Men’s national championship (co-chair and marketing director), 2008 Senior Games (marketing) and the 2007 RBC Cup (special events).

Along with serving as a director on the board of the Prince George Spruce Kings from 2014 to 2016, Shawn has served on the board of Prince George Minor Baseball and has worked as an off-ice official for the Prince George Cougars, the Prince George Spruce Kings and the Cariboo Cougars.

Shawn also has his passions outside of com- munity sports.

He has been involved with Ducks Unlimited for 22 years – 15 of those as chair of the local chapter – and he was recognized in 2015 as the organization’s northern volunteer of the year. He organized a banquet to establish a scholarship in recognition of Corp. Darren Fitzpatrick, the Prince George man who died in the line of duty while serving with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan. He also serves as a director-at-large for the B.C. Liberals riding association for Prince GeorgeValemount.