Each week at Global BC, we highlight our stories to bring a bright spot to your Friday and into the weekend.
Here are the five stories we want to share:
Team Canada rises above racist comment, wins world ball hockey championship
The goaltender for Canada’s world champion junior men’s ball hockey who was subjected to a racist comment says he used it as “fuel” to help power the team to its gold medal win.
Canada’s U16 and U18 ball hockey teams were in Žilina, Slovakia, last week to compete in the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation tournament.
The teams were excited to compete, but the event got off to an ugly start at the opening ceremonies. When U18 team goaltender Aalamdaya Singh Kailay was selected as Team Canada’s flag-bearer, a player from another team spoke out.
“A U16 team USA player, someone who was standing right there, commented: ‘You’re not even from Canada.'”
Kailay and Canada ended up facing down the U.S. squad for the gold medal.
“I definitely used that comment as fuel,” the goaltender said. “I was like, ‘You know what, it’s time to shut up these haters. Let’s go win this gold.'”
Kailay let in just one goal as he backstopped his Canadian team to a 5-1 victory over Team USA.
B.C. physics students turned TikTok sensations get the experience of a lifetime
Two Metro Vancouver physics students who have become a big draw on TikTok have had the experience of a lifetime overseas.
Anthony Rajkovich and Ryan Curtis are the creators of The Physics House channel, with almost 650,000 followers.
They got the attention of leaders at CERN, the largest particle accelerator in the world in Geneva, Swizterland, and were invited to the facility’s 70th-anniversary celebration.
“(They) gave us a tour around the anti-matter factory there at CERN, and like the name suggests, that’s where all the antimatter at CERN is being created,” Rajkovich explained.
“So it was amazing to see that, especially since antimatter is what got me into physics in the first place.”
Heiltsuk Nation celebrates ‘powerful, emotional’ return of historic Chief’s Seat
Heiltsuk Nation chiefs, council and members are celebrating the return of a historical artifact.
The nation on B.C.’s Central Coast is celebrating the first step of a repatriation effort to bring home a decorated chief’s seat from the Royal BC Museum.
The seat has been in the museum’s possession for more than 100 years, dating back to 1911.
It was carved by renowned Heiltsuk artist and chief Captain Richard Carpenter (Dúqvay̓ḷá Hawallis).
“The repatriation of the chief’s seat is a powerful and emotional moment for our family and the Heiltsuk Nation,” said Marilyn Slett, the elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation and a descendent of Carpenter.
“Hawallis’s artwork has been on display in museums and collections around the world, from Berlin and London to Alaska and New York.”
Global News Morning team rides Playland’s newest roller-coaster
The Global News Morning team tested their bravery on Playland’s newest roller-coaster, the Thundervolt.
The ride is Canada’s fastest electric launch coaster, according to the amusement park.
The $9-million coaster resides in the old Corkscrew Coaster location.
It has more than 1,200 feet of track and rises and drops from more than six storeys in the air.
New SFU medical school names dean, aims for first classes by 2026
Students at British Columbia’s first new medical school in decades could be taking their seats within two years.
Premier David Eby confirmed that timeline in a Tuesday announcement on the planned Simon Fraser University School of Medicine.
The school will offer a three-year competency-based curriculum model and will operate on an interim basis out of SFU’s Surrey campus and a nearby building.
The province also named the school’s founding dean, Dr. David J. Price, a medical doctor with a decade of experience of family medicine in Vancouver and who has served in faculty and leadership positions at McMaster University’s department of medicine since 2000.