Staff
Fort Frances is vying to become the next Kraft “Hockeyville.”
Local resident Jonathan Glueheisen, who works at Fort Frances General Supply, submitted a bid onto the “Hockeyville” website prior to tonight’s midnight deadline for communities looking to host a NHL pre-season game and also earn $100,000 in arena upgrades.
While the opportunity to host a NHL pre-season game is a unique one, Glueheisen feels the $100,000 presented to the winning community, or the $25,000 awarded to the four runners-up, will be more beneficial in the long run.
“I remember being in the old [’52 Canadians] rink when I was younger and it looking like it was brand new,” he noted.
“But when I recently went in there with my girlfriend, we were astonished at the seating now as a result of years and years of use,” he added.
Glueheisen now will have to wait and see if Fort Frances is one of the three Ontario communities that will be among the 15 finalists, which will be announced Saturday, March 3 during Hockey Night in Canada on CBC.
Even if Fort Frances doesn’t become one of the finalists, Glueheisen already is planning to try again come next year.
“As soon as they announce it, I’ll be putting in another bid, along with hopefully dragging a few other people along to see what we can do,” he explained.
“If you look at a town like Nestor Falls and see what they were able to do a couple of years ago in the ‘Ultimate Fishing Town’ competition, I don’t think there’s any reason whatsoever why we couldn’t be able to do the same thing here in Fort Frances,” Glueheisen said.
