CITY FACTS:

• The Alberni inlet was named after Don Pedro Alberni, the Spanish officer in command of the Nootka garrison in 1791 during the Spanish occupation.
• Hudson's Bay company employees led by Adam Horne started fur trading with the region's Natives in the 1850s. The English shipping firm Anderson and Company erected a sawmill 1860 as the inlet offered easy access. Pioneers came to the area to farm and mine and many eventually turned to logging.
• Lumbering has always been Port Alberni's most important industry. It has the largest forestry complex on the island and one of the largest in the world, and also benefits from the manufacture and servicing of forestry-related equipment. The lumber industry has helped make Port Alberni the third- largest port by volume in BC. Fishing and mining are important.
  
  

HOCKEY FACTS

• Current NHL veteran referee Rob Shick is from Port Alberni.
• Carly Haggard is a member of Canada's Womens under-21 hockey team and currently plays U.S. collegiate hockey. She's from Port Alberni.
• Last season - the inaugural one in the Multiplex - the city hosted international womens hockey when Team Canada met Team Sweden in a pre-olympic tilt. This event was sponsored by minor hockey and they sold out the arena (1,700+). The idea was to promote female hockey.
• Last year Port Alberni also hosted the Canadian Hockey Association Nike Skills Development Camp. More than 100 atom house and pee wee house players spent two days in a hockey camp run by skilled professionals.
• Since the new rinks opened at the Multiplex in September of 2001, hockey has grown considerably - especially in female hockey and adult novice hockey.
• There are more than 200 adult men and women playing hockey now who were not two years ago. This year, for the first time ever, Port Alberni has a dedicated minor female hockey program.
• Retired Vancouver Canucks radio play-by-play legend Jim Robson got his start in radio here in Port Alberni.
• Intermediate hockey and Junior B hockey was a huge draw back in the late sixties through the seventies.
• The Alberni valley won its first B.C. hockey championship in 1985/86 when the Bantam Rep. AA team won the title.
• The new multiplex, which seats 1,500 people, has become the centre of activity in the community.
• Port Alberni hosted the 'AA' Peewee provincials in 1998.
  
  

Notable NHLers from Port Alberni:

• Five players born in Port Alberni have made it to the NHL.

• Notable alumni include Paul Cyr, Jim Hillier and John Newberry.