Tommy Grant is the airport and transit supervisor at the Quesnel airport. He manages the day-to-day activities of the airport and works on projects and with Transport Canada to ensure operations at the airport run smoothly.
"A lot of computer work, a lot of emailing back and forth," he said of what a normal day looks like for him. "Making sure everything here at the airport is within compliance of Transport Canada and then different kind of projects and grant funding and trying to enhance everything around here."
He started working with the city when he fully moved to Quesnel in 2015 and eventually transferred to the airport when that job opened up.
"It was kind of one that I always was hoping to get. I was always interested in the airport and wanted to be out here," Grant said. "I didn't really know much about airports when I started here to be honest and the more that I learned, the more I loved it. It's a great place to work."
Something he enjoys about the job is there are new things to do each day at give him challenges to tackle. He's proud of the work the airport has done on the runway rehabilitation project, which is changing everything from asphalt to the the lights on the runway. Coming up he's excited about the update of the holding area and some of the offices at the airport's terminal.
Grant also had a hockey career. Being from Vancouver, he didn't have access to ice as easily as people do in Quesnel.
"We didn't have the ability to go out on lakes or have the backyard rinks, that kind of stuff. So a lot of my childhood memories is street hockey and roller hockey," Grant said.
Once he was around the age of seven he started playing on rep teams. His junior hockey career started in Victoria and briefly brought him to Quesnel where he played 10 games for the Millionaires. He ended up being traded out and got a scholarship to play in Alaska. From there he went to the farm team for the New York Rangers.
"And then kind of bounced around a little bit in the states and then finished it off in Denmark," he said. "It was awesome being able to go to these different places and play hockey as a profession."
He went to between 15 and 20 states playing hockey including Alaska, Idaho and California.
"I was in Hartford for over two years, that was probably my longest stint. One day you're just eating dinner and you get a phone call and then next day I was in Worcester," he said. "Had to move my whole apartment and anything can change at the drop of a hat so it definitely keeps you on your toes, but it's all part of the experience and getting to see these new cities."
His favourite place was when he played in Boise, Idaho.
"The rink was awesome. The rink had a hotel that the rooms actually overlook the rink so you can rent a room and you get, basically, the suite for the night," he said. "It was a good little hockey town too, good little vibes around there so I enjoyed it."
His son was also born in Idaho and Grant was happy to be able to bring his family around to the places he got to play hockey, including Denmark where they got to spend weekends travelling to other countries.
After moving to Quesnel Grant joined up with the Roos for a few seasons and was part of the team that won the Coy Cup in 2023 and is glad to see the team do well this season.
Now that his son has picked up the skates, Grant has taken up coaching. He's coaching the U11 Thunder team. The team has seen some success in tournaments this season and Grant said he enjoys coaching.
"Seeing the kids develop over the years, I think it's probably my fourth or fifth year and every second year, you're seeing kids that you haven't seen for a full season and you get to see them develop," he said is something he enjoys about coaching. "The young teams in Quesnel have had a lot of success lately and I think it's really cool to see and hopefully that can keep going."
Grant enjoys how people in Quesnel support each other and the small-town atmosphere.
"You go down to the rink and there's so many familiar faces and so many people just so willing to help you out," he said. He highlighted how whenever there's a need to raise funds for a community event or organization, Quesnel shows up and supports the community. "And then you go down to the rink and whether it's a Rush game or a Roos game or minor hockey games, there always seems to be lots of people there and lots of support."
Grant also volunteered for the Lhtako-Quesnel B.C. Winter Games and he worked with the city of Quesnel and Quesnel Minor Hockey to help bring the Cougars and Blazers game to the city.
"That was such a cool experience to be able to be a part of that and bring that game here and it be such a success and raise a lot of money for minor hockey," he said. "I'm hopeful that we can continue to do that."
