A hockey group in Prince Edward Island will be forever grateful for what the Sackville Arena did for them five years ago, after they experienced a tragic event.
The Tyne Valley Hockey Association and the Sackville Minor Hockey Association were both in it to win Kraft Hockeyville 2020.
Sackville then withdrew their bid and put their full support toward Tyne Valley after their rink burned to the ground.
To repay the favour, this weekend the P.E.I. group is throwing a rally for the Sackville Arena to the help their rink become Kraft Hockeyville.
Head of Tyne Valley, Melanie Miller tells us, there will be everything from signs, family skates to a nerf gun war to bring in the crowds.
“The teams are all on board. They’re doing videos. They’re taking pictures. We’re going to be uploading it all under Kraft Hockeyville for the Sackville Arena.”
How it all started
It was December 2019 when both the P.E.I. and Sackville rinks were in the competition vying to win $250,000 and host a preseason NHL game.
On the morning of the 29th, more than a dozen P.E.I. hockey communities woke up to the news that their community rink was lost to a fluke fire.
Millar says it was devastating.
“It was electrical. There was nothing salvageable from the rink. We lost everything. All our equipment through figure skating, minor hockey… the rinks equipment.”
That’s when the Sackville hockey community sprang into action by taking themselves out of the running.
This move helped bring Tyne Valley to the top 4 and rebuild their rink.
“It was amazing,” says Miller. “We know hockey is a great community builder around your local communities, but that just shows how much it reaches out no matter how far away you are from another community.”
Hockeyville 2025
Fast forward five years and the Sackville Arena has put another bid in hoping to become Kraft Hockeyville 2025.
This time, Tyne Valley is rallying behind Sackville with everything they’ve got.
“It [the rally] continues on until Sunday but we won’t stop our push at that point. We’ll continue on the social media page and such that we have for minor hockey, just to keep people voting and liking and commenting on the pictures and putting notes in to just make sure we continue getting the points.”
You can have your say until March, just visit the Kraft Hockeyville website.
