The Chad Staley Memorial Arena was unveiled today (Tuesday) among the former Spruce Kings captain’s friends, teammates, and billet family.
Even his mothers, Pam and Jennifer, were dialed in on FaceTime all the way from Washington State.
The 25-year-old died of an accidental overdose last year on March 9, and on the one-year anniversary of his death, the arena has opened its doors officially.
The Chad Staley Athletic Foundation entered into an agreement with Northern Ice Sports to rename the new arena, located at the Prince George Curling and Golf Club.
For Staley’s billet mother, Lynda Pattie, it was a powerful experience seeing a project that was months in the works come to life.
“Chad was one of those people who always had a smile on his face, whether it was game day or practice day, it didn’t matter. He was just fun-loving,” she recalled fondly.
“He was just like one of the family. I loved him to death but sometimes he was messy, and a pain in the butt too. That’s just who he was, always happy.”
Staley billeted with the Patties for three and a half years, named captain of the Spruce Kings in his 20-year-old season.
He went on to play for the University of Alaska Fairbanks for another four years, before graduating with a bachelor’s in Psychology.
From Alaska, Chad moved on to play professional hockey in both the German and Italian leagues.
Off the ice, he had a passion for family, kids, and athletics, Pattie says, and loved to volunteer around the community.
The memorial foundation, established by AscenTech alongside the Pattie family, is just one way she remembers Staley.
She thinks of him every day on her commute to work, and certain songs —Â ‘You should be here’ by Cole Swindell and ‘Show me around’ by Carley Pearce — will always remind her of him.
“Driving down the road, or I’ll look up and see a cloud, those are the things that I connect with him,” she explained.
“He had different music taste than I did for sure, I’m the country bumpkin and he was definitely more Metallica. I mean really loud. Whatever got him pumped up for games.”
The foundation will be focused on youth development using various coaching, mentoring, animal therapy, and developmental opportunities.
It will also have a heavy focus on sport and mental health with a goal to provide financial resources and developmental experiences for local youth.
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