Like any good movement, High River’s road to the Kraft Hockeyville final four started with a spark.
“The joke is I was laying in bed surfing social media and I saw the opportunity come up and I shared my story,” said Melissa Pryor, co-chair of the High River Hockeyville Committee. “Being the first story that was submitted I went to my son’s hockey game the following Saturday and just started talking about it with other hockey families and before I knew it I was talking with more people and all these dreams and ideas started happening.”
High River was announced as one of the four finalists on the March 17 Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.
The other finalists are Lafleche, Saskatchewan, Lucan, Ontario and Huntington, Quebec.
At stake for the winner is the grand prize of $250,000 in arena upgrades as well as the chance to host an NHL preseason game at the community rink. The runners-up in second, third and fourth walk away with $25,000 each in arena upgrades.
Pryor, along with committee members Melanie Witteman and Amanda Pawlitzki, set a goal to engage the community to submit 100 stories detailing community spirit and passion for hockey.
They exceeded that goal.
The diligent work of the committee brought forth High River’s passion for all things puck through over 400 pictures and videos and 150 story submissions.
“Now that it is something everyone wants to help out,” Pryor said.
“My gut feeling was always that we have a very strong story and a strong sense of community here and the Kraft Hockeyville contest is about communities that rally together and I’ve always truly believed that we have a really good opportunity at this.
“At first I think people thought it was just about hockey and those that don’t play hockey were a little bit hesitant to get on board because maybe they didn’t understand it. Now I think it’s quite clear it is about community, about rallying and about sharing our story with the rest of Canada. Five years ago who would have ever thought we’d be where we are now?”
The winning community is selected by votes, starting at 10 a.m. on March 30 and ending at 6:30 p.m. the following evening. Individuals can vote as many times as they desire at krafthockeyville.ca as well organizers are setting up a voting hub at the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex.
Pryor said she supported the Okotoks bid as a top-10 finalist in the 2016 Hockeyville contest and it’s been great to see both communities working together once again.
“The Okotoks community has been amazing,” Pryor added. “We’re probably going to be at the Okotoks Oilers games, minor hockey, the 2016 Okotoks Hockeyville Committee have been great, everyone we’ve reached out to has been truly supportive.
“The tagline we all agree on is a win for High River is a win for the Foothills and a win for the Foothills is a win for Alberta.”
The High River committee has pledged to use the winning funds towards upgrades at the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex including a new Zamboni, sound system, arena lighting LED retrofit as well as improvements in painting and architecture.
Organizers are also asking voters to share, retweet and tag posts on Facebook (highriverkrafthockeyville2018) and Twitter (@HRK2018) using the hashtags #KraftHockeyville #Contest and #HRK2018
For more information go to highriverkrafthockeyville.ca
