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Okotoks in the running for Kraft Hockeyville

This hockey-mad community could be Canada’s next Hockeyville. Okotoks has officially tossed its hat into the Kraft Hockeyville 2016 ring after a hockey mom drew some inspiration watching Hockey Night in Canada. “It all started last Saturday night.
Okotoks’ passion for all levels of hockey is being touted as Okotoks is one of the communities up for Kraft Hockeyville 2016.
Okotoks’ passion for all levels of hockey is being touted as Okotoks is one of the communities up for Kraft Hockeyville 2016.

This hockey-mad community could be Canada’s next Hockeyville.

Okotoks has officially tossed its hat into the Kraft Hockeyville 2016 ring after a hockey mom drew some inspiration watching Hockey Night in Canada.

“It all started last Saturday night. I was watching the Flames game and they had a commercial that said nominate your town on Hockeyville,” said Deana Halifax, the lynchpin of Okotoks’ Hockeyville bid. “My daughter had a sleepover with all her hockey friends, there were three of them and I typed in all the information and said ‘here you go girls, tell them why you want to nominate Okotoks.’”

Once the written submission was sent away, Halifax got an email Monday morning confirming the approval of the nomination. Since then the campaign has caught on like a wildfire with social media playing a major role in the news spreading.

Twitter has been flooded with the official hashtag of the campaign #KHV_PasonCentArena while the Okotoks Hockeyville 2016 Facebook page garnered over 1,700 likes in a mere matter of days.

The annual Kraft Hockeyville campaign awards one Canadian community the right to host a National Hockey League exhibition game and gives $100,000 towards arena upgrades.

The funds would be put towards the twinning of Pason Centennial Arena which is expected to have its construction begin by the end of 2017.

“It’s snowballed,” Halifax said. “It’s kind of like a blur, a good blur, but it’s gone so fast.

“The first day when I put it on Facebook there were people I didn’t even know offering to help. They understand how big this could get and we need as many hands on as possible.”

Fellow hockey mom Connie Drake caught wind of the campaign early and jumped on board as co-chair with Halifax. The two are part of an already 25-person volunteer committee.

“Deana has worked so hard to get this up and running,” Drake said. “Between her contacts and my contacts we’ve just tried to get things rolling as quickly as possible.

“It’s all about community involvement, generating as much community spirit and showing how much we love hockey in this town.”

It’s hard to argue with the town’s love affair with our national pastime.

The Okotoks Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) is bursting at the seams with over 1,300 registered players this season while the community boasts the third largest female hockey program in the province.

With the anticipated growth in the community, the need for a new rink to be set up as soon as possible is crucial to the association.

Currently Okotoks teams see regular practice time in Stavely and at the outdoor rink in Black Diamond due to the space crunch.

“Ice time is really, really tight,” said Jeff Faye, vice-president of the OMHA. “We’ve had to send the Peewee, Bantam, Midgets to Stavely for practices pretty much every second or third time. It’s too bad we have to do that. A lot of parents aren’t too enthused with that.”

OMHA growth projections forecast a five per cent annual increase in minor hockey enrolment until 2020.

“If that rink isn’t ready until 2018 then we have two more years of having to do this,” Faye added. “The Kraft Hockeyville application, that’s going to help towards the second rink at Pason. There is a lot of things you can do that might not be in the budget at this moment.”

The field of communities up for Hockeyville is whittled down to the Top 10 by judges on March 5. From there, the top-two are selected on March 13-14 and the winner is selected on March 20. In the meantime, organizers are asking everyone to get on social media and express their support using photos and videos online along with using the hashtags #KHV_PasonCentArena #Okotoks #KraftHockeyville on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The more posts, the more judges will notice Okotoks’ passion for hockey.

“I want everyone to know about this. That’s why we need a lot of volunteers knocking on doors,” Halifax said. “To me, this is a campaign. This is to show community spirit and we’re campaigning Okotoks right now.”

Drake agreed.

“This is going to be so good for Okotoks,” she said. “Winning will be great, but just getting the community spirit up and everyone involved is going to be reward in itself.”

Saanich, British Columbia was the 2015 Hockeyville winner and saw a Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks exhibition contest come to the community in September.

For more information on Okotoks’ nomination visit the Okotoks Hockeyville 2016 Facebook page.


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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