Sharon Cairns’ earliest hockey memories involve being dragged out of a warm bed and driven to a cold place.
Her older brother Bill first started playing hockey at age five in the old Civic Arena at the foot of Alberni Street.
“I remember crawling around the wooden bench seats very early in the morning,” she said.
That was the start of a relationship with the sport that has evolved from little sister to hockey mom to minor hockey board member and president, to pee wee managing director for Vancouver Island Zone of BC Amateur Hockey Association.
Her father Dick was involved with minor hockey for many years as well, serving on the board in various capacities including president.
“I still have his old papers stuffed in a drawer,” explained Cairns. “He worked on providing more structure to the association than was there when it started out.”
Cairns started out as “just a hockey mom” while all three of her boys played, spending time scorekeeping.
She remembers as each of her sons played in the midget division that “it was not a place a lot of people wanted to be because of colourful language. I told the players if they kept it up, I would call over the referee and there would be a penalty. It didn’t take long for them to tone it down.”
Cairns often handled scorekeeping, the penalty box door and running the clock.
“I got pretty good at doing it all myself,” she said.
The highlight of her hockey history was watching her sons grow and evolve from “little people into mature young men.”
All three were referees, which taught them discipline and “that there was a reason for rules.”
Adding with a smile, she said she can tell by watching players which ones have refereed “because they know from experience where the blind spots are and how they can get away with a little dig.”
Once Cairns was on Powell River Minor Hockey Association (PRMHA) board of directors, there was a year she filled the positions of treasurer, tournament coordinator and assistant equipment manager.
She explained that it was because of Cliff Milne that she became president of PRMHA.
“When we were going into the AGM, he looked at me and said ‘Sharon, it looks like you are going to have to put your money where your mouth is.’ I guess that’s because I’m a person who says what I think. In the meeting he nominated me for president, which I served as for three years.”
She said she was fortunate to have “the best board” with everyone pitching in with the work that needed to be done.
They documented their positions and created a handbook for the association.
After decades volunteering, Cairns is stepping down from her official capacity in May.
Next season she won’t be dealing with multiple game, incident, referee and team official reports, or some 1,100 pee wee games annually.
“I’ll miss the people,” Sharon explained. “I’ve met some fabulous people and made some really good friends in Powell River and outside this community.”
