Rally in the Valley shows community behind Hockeyville bid
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The excitement is building by the day as the Nakusp faithful attempt to land one of the 10 bids in the Kraft Hockeyville contest.
Local enthusiasts packed the local arena Saturday night as part of Rally in the Valley in support of landing Kraft Hockeyville 2011.
Nakusp displayed its pride at the arena during an evening featuring a midget rep game with junior and senior novice players showing their skills during period intermission.
One-person committed Andrea Coates is busy encouraging the public to submit letters and pictures explaining experiences in the sport of hockey in Nakusp, which Nakusp leads in Western Canada.
Currently there are more than 160 letters have been submitted, and the list is growing daily.
The letters are looking for community spirit and heartfelt stories of hockey experiences in Nakusp, past and present.
Deadline for submissions is Sunday, January 30, 2011.
Based on submissions a panel chooses the top 10 — two communities from each of the five regions. The regions are Pacific (B.C./Yukon), West, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic.
The top 10 will be profiled on CBC on March 8. Then online and telephone voting begins from March 8-13.
Five communities will be chosen on March 19.
Then online voting from March 19-21 determines the grand prize winner — $100,000 in arena upgrades and the right to host an NHL preseason game. The winner is announced April 2 on Hockey Night in Canada.
The four runner-up communities receive $25,000.
