Great opportunity for the fans
Stanley Cup winner mingles with Hockeyville crowd
Until he stepped through the doors of the O’Leary Community Sports Centre on Saturday, the last memory Colin White had of the place was his team’s triple overtime loss in the championship final of the Irving Atlantic Bantam Challenge Cup many years earlier.
“It was a tough loss but a lot of great memories,” White, in town to participate in the community’s Kraft Hockeyville Winning Weekend celebrations, said. He went on to many more great hockey memories, including two Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils, the team the Ottawa Senators will play today in O’Leary’s Kraft Hockeyville NHL exhibition game in Summerside.
During his visit to O’Leary, White assisted with skills competitions, signed autographs and mingled with community members during a well-attended public skate.
“Are you a real hockey player?” a youngster in a Kraft Mustard jersey, about five years old, asked White as he skated up beside him.
“Yes. Are you?” White responded. “Yeah.”
White said young fans are so much more aware of the National Hockey League today than they were during his generation.
And they know what’s possible if they put the time and effort in, he said.
White remains involved in grassroots hockey promotional activities with the Devils. He agrees it is no secret who he will be cheering for Monday.
But the important part, he suggests, is the opportunity the delivery of the game portion of the Hockeyville prize presents to the local community.
“It should be great for the fans; get to see some of the (league’s) young talent.”
This is White’s first guest appearance at a Hockeyville celebration but he demonstrated his familiarity with the national contest.
“I understand (O’Leary) came real close in ’06,” he commented.
Indeed it did, finishing in the Top 10 out of 400 and some entries in the inaugural competition.
This time the same committee of five pulled off an even greater achievement in a competition that started with 3,000 communities in February. They will receive their $100,000 firstplace cheque during Monday’s game.