(Four-time Olympic speedskating medalist Denny Morrison discusses his plans.  Photos 250 News)

Prince George, B.C. – It’s not that often you get to speak with a world-class athlete so when you do get the chance, it makes sense to take advantage of it.

And the chance presented itself not once, but twice on Saturday during the Open House festivities at the Pacific Western Brewery.  Fort St John’s Denny Morrison, who has won four Olympic speedskating medals while wearing the Maple Leaf on his chest, was in town to announce the four new members of PWB’s Hometown Heroes Program.  And one of the four honourees, current UBC women’s hockey player Danielle Dube, wore Canada’s colours while a member of the National women’s hockey team.

Morrison says he’s taking a new turn in his training leading up to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea.  “I’m actually training right now for a little bit of track cycling instead of speedskating and I’m hoping to compete at the Canadian national championships in October.  We’ll see how that goes and that’ll be a crossroads there.   If I make the team then I’ll at least train with the national team and if not then I’ll just keep training for track cycling for another season and then come back to speedskating for 2016 and work toward the 2018 Pyongchang Olympics.  I’m committed to another Olympics in speedskating” says Morrison, who turns 29 on September 8th.

Asked whether he’s looking to become a two-sport athlete Morrison says “that’s a hefty goal, for sure.  I mean Clara (Hughes) did it (6 time Olympic medalist in speedskating and cycling, and the only athlete in history to win multiple medals in both Winter and Summer Games) and that’s super impressive but for me, it’s more of just a change-up and to sort of re-ignite my motivation in speedsdkating.  And maybe to try something different and train in a different way than I’ve been training for the last eleven years that I’ve been  on the national team.  I kind of feel like I’ve been beating a dead horse with these training methods in speedskating and I want to try something new, and hopefully use that to become an even stronger speedskater for the next Olympics.”  And he notes that speedskating and cycling compliment each other in terms of the leg use involved.

Morrison says he’ll be sticking to the 1,000 and 1,500 metre distances in the next Olympics “because genetically that’s sort of my key area.  If there was a 12-hundred metre event I’d probably skate that event because I’d probably be the best at that but, given the events that exist, I hope that there’s a team sprint event in the next Olympics because we’d probably be incredibly strong.”

Danielle Dube was on the National women’s hockey team from 1994-98 and then 2000-2002.  “I’m a goaltender and I played a little Junior B hockey here in Prince George too, a very short stint.  Now I’m a full-time firefighter (in Richmond), a mother of two, and also a varsity athlete at UBC, where I got pulled out of retirement and play for the Thunderbirds hockey team.”

                                            (Hometown Heroes Danielle Dube and Adam McCraw}

She says “my coach at UBC pointed out this great opportunity to be a Hometown Hero and I think he put together the whole idea of me being a firefighter, a mother and then with my hockey history and now playing with girls that are probably half my age and supporting them and showing them that at any stage of your life you can do whatever you want, I think he thought it would be a good fit and so I applied and they brought me up here to receive one of the awards.”

Dube says the $2,000 bursaries can be used to support the athletes “whether it be directed to coaching or just allowing them to be able to train.  For me it’s going to be used toward school and my education that I’m adding on to my firefighting job.”

Asked whether she has considered moving into full-time coaching, she says “it’s funny you ask because that’s kind of how I ended up at UBC.  Team Canada asked me to come back as a goalie coach so I did a couple of camps with them and then it was suggested I get more experience working in a team environment as a goalie coach so someone suggested approaching UBC so I did, to coach, and they somehow convinced me to put my gear on after ten years of not playing.  It worked out.  UBC went, the year before, from one win out of 28 games to the first year I was there we won the Western Conference, went to nationals.  And I think it wasn’t necessarily myself that did that, it was my experience from national teams and my history that proved to those young girls that hey, you can win.  They had that mindset that they couldn’t so I think coming in and showing them that if you work hard you have the talent to do it.  So this all stemmed from me wanting to coach turned into me actually having a playing career again and getting an education.  I’m working towards a counseling degree, something that I can do on the side while firefighting.”

Dube says “being able to go back and play with girls that are pretty much half my age and still compete and do well is a nice thing to do.  My kids are able to see me as a hockey player instead of just a mom now.  They always knew that I did play hockey but they never experienced it and now they are experiencing it.  It’s really cool, the icing on the cake.”