Joey Payeur
Jonathan Glueheisen wants the whole nation to hear the hockey heartbeat of Fort Frances.
The local resident once again is spearheading the community’s bid in the Kraft Hockeyville 2014 contest, which is back after a one-year hiatus due to the NHL lockout at the start of last season.
“This year’s structure is a little different,” Glueheisen explained.
“It will be a bracket pool with East competing against West.”
Glueheisen said Fort Frances will be competing in the West side of the bracket (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, British Columbia, and the Yukon) against communities from Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces.
The first round sees the top eight successful bids receiving at least $25,000 in arena upgrades, with the top two teams moving on to the west semi-finals for $50,000 in arena upgrades.
That winner then will advance to face the winner of the East semi-final for a chance at $100,000 in arena upgrades.
The national winner also gets to host an NHL pre-season game at their local arena and receive a visit from CBC TV.
A total of $1 million in prizes will be awarded to 16 communities throughout the “Hockeyville” contest.
“With the recent [Fort Frances] Curling Club win in the [Kraft] Celebration Tour, I could see this as something people around the district can rally behind,” Glueheisen remarked.
“This is an opportunity for us to show our pride in our local hockey talent and our town spirit, and show the rest of Canada that Fort Frances is ‘Hockeyville’ 2014,” he added.
For the bid to successful, though, Glueheisen is putting the call out for help.
“What I’m looking for is simple—support,” he declared.
“This begins with the leadership of the area to show their backing of this effort,” he noted.
“There is absolutely no cost in entering this contest and absolutely everything to gain.”
To help generate local interest in the “Hockeyville” quest, Glueheisen has joined forces with Boston Pizza owner Dale Fortes to come up with two separate contests related to the bid.
“No. 1 is the business contest,” noted Glueheisen.
“Businesses in Fort Frances will be challenged to decorate their window[s] with the theme of ‘What hockey means to Fort Frances’ and include the ‘Hockeyville’ logo.”
The businesses must post a picture of their display on the Memorial Sports Centre page on the Hockeyville website (www.krafthockeyville.cbc.ca) in order to be eligible to win the contest.
The business contest ends Feb. 7, with the winner announced in the following days.
The winning business will receive an office pizza party courtesy of Boston Pizza, as well as four “Go Local” cards valued at $25 apiece.
The second contest is geared towards individual area residents and bid supporters.
“Individuals who join the community on the ‘Hockeyville’ website and become members have the option to post a memory, picture, or story of the arena,” said Glueheisen.
“Members also can ‘Like’ theirs or other people’s stories, so we are working on a contest where the person with the most ‘Likes’ wins the prize.”
The individual contest, which ends Feb. 9 at 11 a.m., will see the winner get $100 in “Go Local” gift cards.
Glueheisen said he and Fortes also are challenging other businesses to “throw in the ring,” as well, to add to the prizes for the contest.
If any businesses want to donate to make these prizes bigger, they can e-mail Glueheisen at mjglueheisen415@yahoo.com
