If I Had a Million Dollars
I, like many others, dream about winning the lottery or coming into a copious amount of money miraculously. Money certainly doesn't buy happiness, but it can help. Cliches aside, I spoke recently with two of my employees about what they would do if they won the lottery, which was sixty million in Canada at the time. The first one said to me that he'd be on a one way trip to Monaco or Ibiza to have the party of the century. The other wanted a luxurious big city penthouse similar to that of the Sidemen. Now I've spoken with the Mrs. numerous times about what we would do and she agreed to my plan. We would move back to the interior of British Columbia, own a few income properties and do a few other things but primary we would own a junior hockey team. Sicamous and Ibiza share little to no similarities. In fact plugging both into Google maps and asking for directions from one to the other causes an error to occur. But hey that's where'd we go.
Sorry, we could not calculate directions from "Sicamous, British Columbia" to "Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain"
For those reading this that know me well this hypothetical news comes as no surprise, but if you don't understand my reasoning let me explain why I would own a junior hockey team. Just recently I was reading that Kimberly's Mike Gould was honoured at a Kimberly Dynamiters game, in front of 700 people, for making a 7.5$ dollar donation to the Kimberly Dynamiters and Kimberly minor hockey. Firstly I must say, way to go, Mike! I am a huge supporter of sport and I believe playing sports as a child helped shape me into the person I am today. Besides minor hockey, I have always been fascinated by junior hockey especially junior B, despite its notorious reputation.
The first reason for this is the apparent love the communities have for these teams and vice versa. When we were young my friends and I use to go to a lot of KIJHL (Kootenay International Junior Hockey League) games. Specifically, we would frequent Sicamous Eagles, North Okanagan Knights, and Revelstoke Grizzlies games. Fast forward six years, I had a chance to do some volunteer work with a junior B team in Stettler, Alberta. Through those experiences, I noticed how important these teams are for smaller communities. These small towns would rally around these teams, they were proud and loved talking about what happened in the arena the past weekend. Locals would adopt the players that came from elsewhere and the community would welcome them with open arms. I spoke with the former captain of the Medicine Hat Cubs of the HJHL (Heritage Junior Hockey League) and he said places like Medicine Hat are too big to appreciate a junior B team. That's why they struggle in huge hockey markets like Calgary where they compete with numerous other professional, amateur, and collegeiate teams.
Secondly at this level, despite these players trying their best to move up to higher levels, it's still about the game itself. There are no lucrative sponsorships for players or teams. The arena is still called a community centre and doesn't have a corporation branding slapped all over it. Taxpayers aren't being forced to pay for new state of the art arenas... cough cough... Calgary. The sport at this level seems far more organic compared to that in the National Hockey League, Canadian Hockey League, or even Junior A leagues like the British Columbia Hockey League. To me that is what hockey is all about; Canada's game, in a little Canadian town, with Canadians playing the sport because they love it!
Being from Salmon Arm, I would love to one day be the hands-on owner of the Sicamous Eagles. Upgrade the arena, produce a live TV broadcast, and help develop the game's next big stars. But I hear the cost of operating a team is nearly half a million to one million per season so I better hope that if I win, it's the big one. Let me pose the question to you if you had enough money to dive into it Scrooge McDuck style, what would you spend it on? Additionally, if you were to donate some of your money what charities and causes (KidSport, Ronald McDonald House, St. Jude Children's Hospital) would you donate to and why?