'It's crunch time': Wolseley hopes to be first Sask. community to win Kraft Hockeyville

Since Kraft Hockeyville began in 2006, no Saskatchewan town has ever won the coveted title, but the Town of Wolseley is hoping to change that this year.

“Saskatchewan’s never won this in all the years of Hockeyville and I think we’re the sixth finalist from Saskatchewan. And we hope we can win it for Wolseley and win it for Saskatchewan,” Vance Weber, Wolseley’s media rep for Kraft Hockeyville, said.

Saskatchewan communities named to the final four in previous years include Pense, Ituna, Lumsden and Wilkie and Weber said they have been a great support system for their campaign this year.

“They’ve talked to us and we’ve asked them what they did that worked. They’ve kind of mentored us and we’ve added to that. And we’re hoping we can take all their good and use all their good and add to it. It’s almost felt like there was an alumni group cheering us on,” Weber said.

Earlier this month, Wolseley was listed as one of four finalists from across the country alongside Enderby, B.C., Cochrane, Alta. and Elliot Lake, Ont. The winner of the annual nationwide competition receives $250,000 for upgrades to the community’s arena, the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game and the title of Hockeyville.

Wolseley is in desperate need of some arena upgrades and that includes their ice plant, which comes at a high cost.

Weber said that a few years ago, they noticed the ice plant was suffering to keep going.

“We’re on year 44 of a 25 year design. It’s only through due diligence and careful consideration by caretakers that we’ve been able to keep it alive this long, but we have to replace it.

A group of people got together and started raising funds about a year and a half ago. We’ve got over $100,000 toward it and we really feel if we can get Kraft Hockeyville, we’ll be able to finish it off at $250,000,” he said.

“Every winter this place becomes a second home for this community and if we don’t get the money to replace this ice plant, the lights may go out. It’s too important to the community for that to happen.”

Blake Dureault, a local hockey coach and arena volunteer, said the ice plant is just a financial barrier at this point.

“It has been working for eight or nine years in addition to what it should have but this warm weather is really hard on it so it could last until today, it could last until next year. We’re not too sure,” he said.

Like many small communities in the province, Wolseley is home to plenty of local hockey teams and figure skaters and even serves as a host for other surrounding towns to use their facilities.

“We have U7, U9, U11, U13, U15, a Junior C team and also our Senior Team. We also service a lot of neighbouring communities. There’s a lot of places that like to rent ice from us, they have natural ice so we help them out early on [in the season]. We’ve had five other cities bring tournaments and teams here for practice times,” Weber said.

Janelle Bieber, a local parent, said she has two daughters in figure skating and one son in hockey so the arena is a big part of their winter.

“We’re here a lot. We’re here between four and five night a week between hockey games and skating practices. It’s a huge part of out winter so to keep things going is extremely important,” she said.

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The process for Kraft Hockeyville began two years ago when the ice plant desperation sank in for the community.

“I did some searching and remembered Kraft Hockeyville and got us to try and get it going last year and it wasn’t quite successful. We added a few more people on the committee this year and kept pushing and getting people going and nominating, liking, sharing, and that was successful,” Natasha Perras, a member of the local Arena board, said.

“I didn’t think it would ever come this far, this soon and now it’s here. It’s crunch time and it’s a pinch me moment every day.”

People have to register online now, before the voting window opens. Voting is a short time period this year, beginning at 7 a.m. on Mar. 29 and closing at 3 p.m. on Mar. 30.

The winner will be announced at 5 p.m. during Hockey Night in Canada’s broadcast on March 30.

“I’m going to be speechless [if we win] and It’s going to be one heck of a party. We’re going to be up for probably 24 hours voting in town and make it another 24 hours partying as well,” Weber joked.