All around the world, in small communities, there are hockey arenas that are slowly falling apart year after year. With the lack of people living in the small counties, the towns cannot afford to give their arena the proper renovations that are needed to please the fans and players coming back for practices and games. Thanks to CBC Sports, Kraft Foods, the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association; Kraft Hockeyville has become the saving grace for small Canadian communities and their hockey lives.
The Gemini Award-winning Canadian reality television series is currently in their sixth season. The show is a contest that revolves around a central theme of community spirit and passion for hockey. For the past six years, Kraft Hockeyville has been very generous towards small hockey communities in Canada. The winning community is granted $100,000 towards upgrading their local arena, a Hockey Night In Canada broadcast in their community and an NHL pre-season game in their community. The remaining communities in the Top 5 are awarded $25,000 towards the upgrades to their local arena and a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast in their community.
In recent years, the winning communities have been Salmon River, Nova Scotia; North Bay, Ontario; Roberval, Quebec; Terrace, British Columbia; Dundas, Ontario; and the most recent winners Conception Bay, Newfoundland.
With the advancement in social media over recent years, Kraft Hockeyville is now a contest that has evolved into something that is so much more than what it originally was. From what started out to be a contest to help out small communities in the rebuilding process for their local arena, it now raises awareness across Canada and the towns that are being broadcasted and exposed as they show people how important the game of hockey is to a Canadian community and how important it has become to the lives of many.
You never know who will be watching when they are showing the downfall of the local arenas on television. The sight of children playing pond hockey behind Ron MacLean as the snow slowly comes down shows everyone what these small communities are all about and how close hockey can bring people. A professional player may see the program and notice that the sheet of ice that the children are skating on is the exact same ice that they learned to skate on and it can open the door to other donations. Kraft Hockeyville has always been, and always will be a great idea, as there are so many arenas around Canada that could use some patching up. Perhaps everyone around Canada will one day get to experience the luxury of a new arena and maybe even one day the entire world will get to as well.
For more information on Kraft Hockeyville, visit http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockeyville/home/en/index.shtml
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