Safe to say, Kelly Stearn is a big fan of the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Thanks to the Spruce Kings and Stearn's decision to support the community-owned team by purchasing a $125 ticket, she's now the proud owner of a $710,000 fully-furnished show home.
Stearn was the grand prize winner of the Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery. Her ticket was drawn Friday afternoon at the show home built by Hopson Construction at 2722 Links Drive, where she bought her ticket on Nov. 4.
As a not-for-profit society, the group that operates the Spruce Kings club has come to depend on the show home lottery to provide the team enough to sustain its annual operating budget. Once again the community lived up to its reputation as a city that loves its team. Of the 11,000 tickets printed, 9,768 were sold, just 17 fewer than last year. Proceeds from ticket sales, not including staff and advertising costs, amounted to $1,221,000.
"That's the second-best we've ever done," said Kings president Rick Turgeon.
Turgeon came up with the idea to increase the price of the show home tickets from $100 to $125 last year after he was elected to the head of the board for his second stint as president. At the time the team was going through financial difficulties and still owed money when the season began and there was resistance from the rest of the board members to change the price but they eventually agreed. Turgeon said he wasn't 100 per cent sure if people would continue to buy tickets but they did and that resulted in a record profit for the team from the lottery.
"I had about 10 nights when I wasn't sleeping well," Turgeon said. "I was thinking, 'nobody is going to buy a $125 ticket and I'll be the president that sinks the Spruce Kings.' As it turned out, we sold the third-most tickets last year but of course we made the most money because of the extra $25 per ticket."
Turgeon said this year's ticket sales will be enough to cover the team's entire budget (about $500,000) for the 2019-20 season. The cost of construction of the 2,600-square-foot show home was about $400,000 and the owners of the Aberdeen Glen subdivision where it was built gave the Kings a $20,000 reduction on the cost of the lot which brought the total cost of the house down to about $510,000.
Fortunately for the club in this year's BCHL playoffs the Kings did not have as far to travel as they did a season ago when they played in Powell River, which required ferry crossings, and Wenatchee, Wash., which they visited twice, paying the higher exchange rate while spending U.S. dollars. Last year's show home lottery, mega 50/50 lottery and game-day 50/50 draws raised $686,000 but the team spent close to $700,000 for the season with its extended playoff run, which ended in the league final in Wenatchee.
The Spruce Kings are first community-owned team ever to win the BCHL championship and their playoff run has them heading to the junior A hockey national tournament next week in Brooks, Alta. They won their second championship of the season when they beat the Bandits 4-2 Saturday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena to claim the Doyle Cup series 4-2.
Saturday's game in front of a sellout crowd of 2,112 was the 12th at home for the Spruce Kings in this year's playoffs. Those gate receipts, combined with having only eight BCHL playoff road games while compiling a 16-1 playoff record in the run to the Fred Page Cup, will leave the Kings in good position to cover their budget next season.
The travel costs for the Doyle Cup are covered by the BCHL's league dues and the host committee in Brooks will pick up the costs the Kings will incur at the national championship, May 11-19.
"I'm guessing because of the Doyle Cup games and that we've had less travel we'll do better on our playoffs than last year," said Turgeon, who estimates the Kings spend $6,500 for each day they are on the road.
The downside of wrapping up their four BCHL playoff sees so quickly was the Kings players were home with their billets a lot more, eating more groceries and using up more hot water. Turgeon said there will be bonuses coming to the billet families.
There was one other big winner Friday. Mason Pass of Victoria won the third period jackpot in the Kings' Mega 50/50 lottery to collect a $47,150 cash payout.
