Pride lacking?

It looks like another opportunity to rouse community pride here is about to go by the wayside.
We talk about being a hockey town, and certainly seem to be, yet we’ve never bothered to enter the annual Kraft “Hockeyville” competition. And with the nomination phase for the 2012 title set to close in less than two weeks, sadly that appears to be the case again this year.
Fort Frances has produced some excellent hockey talent over the years. We’ve had players crack the NHL and wear Canada’s colours on the international stage. Countless others starred at the U.S. collegiate level, where many continued on in the coaching ranks or in administrative posts with Hockey U.S.A. and the various NCAA conferences.
Even today, young players are honing their skills at different levels on both sides of the border after first getting their start in minor hockey here.
Residents rallied to build the second ice surface in town, and to keep Junior ‘A’ hockey in Fort Frances. And we have an arena named after the local senior men’s ‘AAA’ team which captured the Allan Cup back in 1952—a legacy the Thunderhawks are trying to revive.
Yet here we are sitting on our hands; unwilling, or perhaps too lazy, to toot our own horn to the rest of Canada.
When the inaugural “Hockeyville” was held back in 2006, four members of the Lady Voyageurs in Atikokan nominated their town and then rallied everyone to the cause. They didn’t take the title, but their amazing job of instilling community pride and spirit made them true winners.
Or how about when Nestor Falls residents carried their tiny community to second place in the WFN’s “Ultimate Fishing Town” competition, battling tooth-and-nail with Port Alberni, B.C. before eventually falling short.
Fort Frances entered that same competition—thanks to a young boy from Thunder Bay who took the bull by the horns.
Is community pride lacking here?
Do we not want the title of “Hockeyville?” Would we not like to see an NHL pre-season game played at the Ice For Kids Arena? Could we not use $100,000 in arena upgrades, or the $25,000 up for grabs for the four runners-up?
Is it not important to showcase our community?
Evidently not.