In the lobby of the Coliseum, Alberta's Graydon Robb chatted with Ontario's Sergiy Shatenko as they prepared for the duels ahead on the badminton courts of the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
A block and a week apart, Mitchell Dales stood among the 160-plus throng of Team Saskatchewan outside the Days Inn as the provincial squad got ready to board buses bound for the Prince George Airport and talked about a night short of the podium.
They waited as the Games came and went in Prince George Saturday.
"[Team B.C.] played really, really well, they just made every shot basically, so we didn't have much to work with," said Dales, the third on Saskatchewan's men's curling team that endured an 11-2 defeat to the host province's squad Friday at the Golf and Curling Club in the bronze medal game.
Dales, one of the week one Games contingent departing the city, faced a trip to his eventual destination of Melville, Saskatchewan and a few regrets. For Robb, one of the assorted athletes, coaches and managers arriving from 800 communities across Canada for week two of the national sporting spectacle, his day started in the Vancouver Island home of his uncle Eric Torstensen.
The 20-year-old Calgary native wasn't only beginning the first leg of his journey but also treading in his uncle's footsteps - Torstensten and Robb's mother Karen also competed in badminton in a Canada Winter Games. A 5 a.m. flight from Victoria brought him to Kelowna, then on to Prince George, where he will start the hunt for a medal of his own Monday at the Northern Sport Centre.
No events were scheduled for the Games Saturday as athletes made their various entrances and exits. Near Robb, 16-year-old Emma MacGillivray mingled after coming in from Calgary to compete in squash for Team Nova Scotia; moments later, a long troop of athletes from Team Alberta streamed into the Coliseum to be checked-in for the Games. Over at the Days Inn, near Dales, Saskatchewan's assistant chef de mission Warren Proctor directed his charges onto waiting buses; he'd been in the parking lot at seven in the morning packing a semi truck full of the team's rifles, skis, brooms, sticks, luggage, boots helmets and other gear. He then expected to see Saskatchewan's second wave of around 140 athletes later that day.
"They've had a blast, it's been awesome," said Proctor. "The host committee has treated everybody just wonderful."
Proctor's baggage was something that would weigh Susan Nicklie's mind. The WestJest customer service representative had drawn the duty on Saturday, the busiest day in Prince George airport history, and had already helped process by her reckoning 300 pieces of luggage in a swell of passengers between 6-9 a.m. Between WestJet and Air Canada, regular and charter flights, trips to Vancouver, Calgary, Puerto Vallerta, she and fellow WestJet CSR Carmen DeMerchant figured they'd all seen 1,000 passengers in that three hour-surge.
On a usual day, they might handle 156 - indeed, on a typical day, the entire airport handles 1,250 passengers. But despite historic numbers, both of the WestJet staffers were far from frazzled - they said the Games meant many passengers were arriving early, already checked in and extra staff was keeping the influx manageable.
"It's been smooth," said DeMerchant. "So far, no hiccups."
"And our (baggage handling) guys have been aweseome," said Nicklie.
Lindsay Cotter was also keeping her cool. The marketing manager for the Prince George airport also said it was all good as the facility handled a 325 per cent increase in its regular travel volume.
On average, Cotter estimated the airport handled 40 flights arriving and departing - on Saturday, the airport dealt with 71, 53 of which was directly linked to the Games.
And, Cotter pointed out, the busiest day in airport history would stretch over two days from Friday at 11 p.m. to Saturday at 11:45 p.m.
"It's all very clockwork, it's gone great," said Cotter. "Lots of volunteers have made today possible."
Clad in one of those ubiquitous green jackets, one volunteer, Jennifer Fulljames, took a breather as she waited for Team Manitoba to come into the arrivals area. She'd gone through the departure of two large Games squads - Ontario and Quebec - that morning as well as Prince George residents travelling to St. Lucia, Mexico and Disneyland.
"We're the first face to greet people as well as saying goodbye," said Fulljames, who was among a contingent from Telus volunteering at the airport. "They're loving it, they're saying thank you for everything, we had a great time.
"One fellow came up to us from Newfoundland and said 'I don't want to go home.' He then goes: 'I just want you to know, this cost me a lot... I had to buy all new clothes. I brought warm clothes and it's just too warm out...' And he was wearing all Winter Games gear and it was all the lighter stuff."
Then it was time for Fulljames to go - Team Manitoba was walking in in its bright neon jackets and she had to be there to say hello.
