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Team is more than money: goalie

Young man from Alberni - by way of Pennsylvania - speaks his mind about the Alberni Bulldogs.

To the Editor,

My name is Max Fenkell and for the past year you knew me primarily as one of the goalies for the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, or the only person in Port Alberni with a Pennsylvania license plate on my car.

Since I left Port Alberni, I have stayed in contact with many people who I consider to be my friends, and some who I consider to be family. My point in writing this letter is to give you a different perspective on why the Bulldogs are important.

Let me start by saying that I grew up in a town that is pretty much the opposite of Port Alberni. My town is a suburb of Philadelphia, has zero community spirit.

People do not really care about you when they ask you “how is your day going?”, nor would they ever pack almost 10 per cent of the people who live in the town into a building once or twice a week in order to watch kids play a sport.

When I got to Port Alberni in August, I really did not know anyone, had no idea where anything was, and had an “I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore” moment as I came over the Hump for the first time and drove through the streets of the town to my billets’.

My life changed in Port Alberni and not just as a hockey player.

No town could care as much about 25 young players every year. No town could make each and every player, coach and staff member of the team feel like they won each and every night, no matter the score of the game.

That is why it is so important to have the team in the town.

That is why it is so important to continue the support that the town has given the team in the past 10 years.

The team is far more important than entertainment or a business. It is something that each and every member of Port Alberni is a part of and it would be a shame for the people of the town to lose that.

Max Fenkell,

via e-ma