BLAKE ELLIS/LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

Alvinston wants to win Kraft Hockeyville this year.

Jenny Redick thinks the community will be a good pick for the honour, as she recognizes the passion the community has for sports, whether it be on the ice or on the ball diamond, as well as the support the community gives to each other, in good times and in bad.

Redick, a Brooke-Alvinston councillor, said she was thinking about putting forward a nomination in January, but she was beaten to the punch. Chiara Free made the initial nomination, which got the ball rolling. Free is from Watford, but has been a member of the Brooke Alvinston Skating Club and her parents run the canteen at the Brooke-Alvinston-Inwood Community Centre Complex.

Soon after the nomination was made, Redick rallied East Lambton Minor Hockey, the Alvinston Killer Bees Senior Hockey team and the Brooke Alvinston Skating Club to get on board and start posting stories, photos and videos about the arena on the Hockeyville website.

“We think we are in the thick of it,” said Redick.

Each community nominated has a community rally page on the Kraft Hockeyville website.

Redick encourages everyone to make submissions to the rally page either through a written story or a two-minute video about why the Alvinston arena should hold the title of Kraft Hockeyville 2024. The written stories and videos will account for 80 per cent of the score that the Alvinston bid will be given.

The other 20 percent will be due to photos, encouraging rally notes and reactions made to the various items on the community rally page.

The more that is included on the community rally page the better.

Alvinston arena users have until Feb. 18 to make a submission. Judging then begins and the four communities, which will be moving on to the next round, will be named.

After that, people across the country will then be asked to vote with the 2024 Kraft Hockeyville
winner who be announced on March 30.

Winning the Hockeyville title is not only prestigious, it comes with a $250,000 prize to renovate the winning community’s arena, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL game.

Alvinston’s arena is hitting its 50th year, said Redick and the facility is in need of some renovations, including new washrooms and dressing rooms. She said the existing washrooms are not accessible.

There is a need for a new canteen and benches, as well as infrastructure that is not seen by the public from the ice plant to the flooring and piping. The Optimist Club in Alvinston has a plan to do the work, but it comes with a price tag of over $900,000. And that money has to be raised first before the work
begins.