For the first time in 32 years, on Feb. 18, 2011, British Columbia brought home the gold medal for male hockey at the Canada Winter Games.
B.C. overtook Quebec, 7-4 in a televised final which had many in the province watching eagerly. Forward, Brett Harris, 16, from 108 Mile, was a member of the winning team and he considers himself pretty fortunate to have been a part of it.
"This was the biggest thing that I have ever been involved in. I never knew how big this was until I got there. Everyone at the event was in the spirit of the Games and it was almost like a mini Olympics." With steady noise from the crowd in the stands heightening the hype, Harris says that the pressure of the final game was almost too much to handle.
"You had to block it out somehow and focus on what you had to do on the ice. When something happened, the crowd went crazy and it really got your adrenaline going." He says that the team gelled quickly, probably because many of them had played together before as members of various select teams.
"We got off well from the start. Putting us together as a team was a good thing." Being a member of the victorious Team BC still hasn't fully sunken in for the well-spoken and mannered teen.
"It's something that I will never forget and am really proud to have been a part of it." Harris plays with the Major Midget Cariboo Cougars in Prince George who will soon be entering the league finals in at least third place, and possibly second.
He is also a 2010 fifth round bantam draft pick for the Western Hockey League, Regina Pats.
The upcoming off-season months will see him on the ice at different BC Hockey League camps and training for the Regina camp which takes place in August.
He's not sure what effect that being a part of the winning Winter Games team will have on his future, but he is sure of one thing.
"I've always loved hockey, and I always will."