Kraft ‘Hawkeyville’ comes to St. Adolphe

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This article was published 26/03/2021 (1514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is a buzz of excitement in St. Adolphe these days.

Last Saturday evening, during the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, St. Adolphe was announced as one of the four national Kraft Hockeyville finalists.

In St. Adolphe, they are dubbing it Kraft Hawkeyville, in deference to the nickname of the St. Adolphe Hawks hockey teams.

St. Adolphe is up against the communities of Lumsden, Sask., Bobcaygeon, Ont., and the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick.

There is a lot at stake here to the winner, which would include $250, 000 for arena upgrades at St. Adolphe, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game in the fall.

St. Adolphe is already guaranteed a substantial prize as the three remaining finalists will each receive $25,000 for arena upgrades as well as $10,000 to purchase new hockey equipment, courtesy of the NHLPA Goals & Dreams Fund.

Many of you may recall the events from the winter of 2009 in La Broquerie, when that community was one of the finalists for Kraft Hockeyville that year and the excitement that was generated in La Broquerie at that time.

Because of COVID, and the ensuing restrictions that everyone must abide by, this year’s Kraft Hockeyville is very different as the community of St. Adolphe cannot gather as one, as they would like to, to celebrate being named to the final four in the country.

This all started in February, when the ice plant at an already dark St. Adolphe Arena, broke down and was in need of major repair. Normally, a February date like that would have been catastrophic in the timing as regular seasons would be just winding down, and teams would be heading into playoffs and provincials through much of March.

But of course hockey rinks across the province were shut down all winter because of COVID. And in that sense there is a silver lining in St. Adolphe in the sense that with the ice plant breaking down when it did, it didn’t disrupt any of their programming.

This set in motion the Kraft Hockeyville idea for St. Adolphe and what that much-needed quarter million dollars could do for their arena.

There is currently a six-person committee driving this endeavour in St. Adolphe, parents in the community whose children use the arena. They are: Lorrie Stade, Darcy Mauthe, Kori Plesiuk, Amber Mamchuk, Andrea Vermette and Monica Phaneuf.

This Hockeyville committee launched a social media campaign to get the stories and photos out about St. Adolphe as part of the Kraft Hockeyville contest this year.

There were one of thousands of communities from across the country that entered this year and needless to say they were blown away when they were named one of the finalists.

There was no voting in the first round of the process, the national finalists were selected by Kraft Hockeyville based on the social media submissions.

The next round however will be a voting process, beginning on April 9, and this where the entire region and province for that matter, can get involved.

Mamchuk, who is also the Director of Recreation Services for the RM of Ritchot, says if they become the first community from Manitoba to ever win this thing, the bulk of the money, about $140,000, would go towards the ice plant, which requires a new chiller. Another $75,000 would be earmarked for replacing a mold-damaged portion of the arena. The remainder of the money would be used for dressing room improvements.

Mamchuk says although insurance will cover a part of the ice plant repair, additional money would need to be raised. She says, at any rate, that minimum $25,000 would go towards the ice plant repair fund.

One of the major aspects of winning a Kraft Hockeyville title is the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game.

But unfortunately, the St. Adolphe committee has been told they might require a building that has a minimum seating capacity of 1,000, which the St. Adolphe Arena does not have. Although those details would be worked out at later date, the committee is looking a possibly hosting the game at the U of M.

Mamchuk says they are asking residents to decorate their lawns with hockey paraphernalia as the vote nears. A parade of some sorts could also be in the offing in the next couple of weeks as they try to keep the momentum up during these COVID times.

Voting will be conducted over a two-day period online at www.krafthockeyville.ca, beginning Apr. 9, and only Canadian residents can vote. Voting opens at 9:00 a.m. eastern time on Friday, Apr. 9 and closes at 5:00 p.m. eastern time on Sat. Apr. 10. Votes can only be cast on the website during the voting phase and voting per person is unlimited.

The final announcement of the winner will happen on the evening of Apr. 10 on Hockey Night in Canada on Sportsnet and CBC during the first intermission of the early game, which begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern time.