Cariboo-Chilcotin hockey superstar Carey Price is now a member of the BC Hockey Hall of Fame.
The dominant NHL goaltender is of Ulkatcho/Southern Dakelh and Nuxalk First Nations heritage.
He is the son of Lynda and Jerry Price, brother of Kayla. Lynda is the current chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation; Jerry was a goaltender drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers. Both were leaders, not just parents, Price would describe in interviews.
Price spent his entire professional hockey life with the Montreal Canadiens organization before injuries cut short his storied career.
Other inductees to the 2024 class of the BC Hockey Hall of Fame (BCHHOF) include player Shea Weber, the 2010 Fort St. John Flyers in the team category, builder Scott Bradley, and official Tom Kowal.
“Carey Price was simply described, probably accurately, as the best goaltender in the world, period,” said master of ceremonies Jim Hughson, chair of the BCHHOF board of directors and himself from Fort St. John. “That was exemplified with a near perfect performance in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics, and then in 2015 when he was named by his peers as the best player in the game.”
Hughson made special mention of how apparent Price’s impact was on the Indigenous population of B.C. when his Habs would come to play the Canucks in B.C. The First Nations spectatorship was large and enduring over his career.
“This would be a very, very proud day for the First Nations communities around the province that Carey Price is being inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame. He got his start in his hometown of Anahim Lake.”
Playing in the Cariboo, primarily with the Williams Lake minor hockey system, led Price to play 18 games each for the 2002-03 Quesnel Millionaires and Williams Lake TimberWolves of the BCHL, before getting the call to the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans for four seasons, then transition to the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs when his draft team Montreal Canadiens took him under their wing. He would play only 12 games for the Bulldogs before jumping to “the show” and never looking back.
So powerful was Price’s play in the NHL that he would be named an all-star seven times, and in 2015 alone won the Hart trophy as league MVP, the Lindsay award as the players’ choice for MVP, the Vezina trophy as best goaltender (the only player to ever win all three in one year), and threw in the Jennings award as well for best overall goals-against record.
He backstopped the Bulldogs to the AHL Calder Cup championship in 2007, winning the playoff MVP trophy in that process, and was also named the CHL’s top goalie that same year for his season with the Americans.
Price was also the goalie for the national team at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in 2007, where he was named the tournament MVP.
Also in Team Canada uniform, he won Olympic gold in 2014 where he was named top goalie of the tournament, then won the semi-regular superstar showcase World Cup in 2016.
He won the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s top athlete in 2015, and the same year won the press writers’ Lionel Conacher Award as Canada’s top male athlete, and in 2016 won the Indspire Award for Indigenous achievement.
Although disappointed to fall short of the Stanley Cup, he and fellow 2024 BCHHOF inductee Weber won the Prince of Wales trophy and took the Canadiens to the finals versus eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
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