Crossfield is vying to be the next Kraft Hockeyville, and to achieve it, the community is looking for support to crack the Top 4.
Tayla Grochowich, who is in charge of fundraising and grants with Crossfield Minor Hockey, explained that the top four finalists will compete head-to-head to have a WHL game played in their home arena and awarded prize money of $250,000.
"I'm very hopeful that people will rally behind the community," Grochowich said. "We just have such a small town love for hockey. Just look at the ice time being booked. It's a huge chunk of the population."
The Kraft Hockeyville competition is an annual contest in Canada that celebrates the spirit of hockey by recognizing communities across the country that deeply value the sport. Now in its 19th year, the competition begins with the "nomination and rally" phase, during which communities submit stories explaining why their community should be the next Kraft Hockeyville.
Judges then review the nominations, calculate the total scores, and select the Top 4 finalists with the highest scores. The Top 4 then compete head-to-head in a round of voting to determine the winner.
Grochowich said she has crunched the numbers, and places Crossfield a mere 140 points away from being in the Top 4.
"We really need three full submissions to surpass the Top 4 mark," she explained. "It's about 41 points earned per submission. You log on with an email. There are three part questions worth 10 points, Adding five photos to the submission earns another 15 points. The submission itself gives you a point."
For those feeling confused about how to help out, Grochowich assures that the whole nomination process takes five minutes.
"For those who don't want to type, you can do a two minutes video instead, and that earns points," she said. "It's very easy."
Points and competition aside, it's of course all in a bid to better Crossfield's Pete Knight Arena.
Locker and change room space are often booked up on busy Sunday nights, Grochowich noted. She also noted a new scoreboard, lobby bathrooms, and better benches for fans would all come from the prize money.
“It's all about keeping kids in sports," Grochowich noted. A video on Crossfield Minor Hockey's Facebook page makes the case for the variety of different leagues and teams that the Pete Knight Arena houses.
Anyone can vote, which is what Grochowich is encouraging people from all over the region to do.
"Any community nearby would benefit from voting. We share the rink with Carstairs, Didsbury, and Olds, so it would certainly benefit them to help us out," she said.
The first round of community voting closes on March 2nd. The Top 4 are announced the following week with final voting happening on April 4 and 5.
Even if Crossfield fails to take the top prize, the three runner-ups will be awarded $25,000 for arena upgrades while all Top 4 finalists nabbing $10,000 in brand new hockey equipment.
Until then, people can help put Crossfield over the top by visiting hockeyville.kraftheinz.com
An approximate of $5 million has been awarded to 101 communities across Canada over the past 19 years.
Cochrane was the only the community in Alberta in the running for Kraft Hockeyville 2024, but came up short in the final voting.
