Cape Breton female hockey program wants your vote

SYDNEY – Vote, vote, and vote.

It’s a simple message coming from female hockey players with both the Cape Breton Blizzard Hockey Association and the Cape Breton Capers.

The organizations have partnered in a bid to make the Canada Games Complex on the Cape Breton University campus Kraft Hockeyville for 2022, while also ensuring a home for female hockey on Cape Breton Island for years to come.

Last month, the Canada Games Complex was among four venues named finalists for the national contest with the winner receiving $250,000 for arena upgrades and the right to host an NHL pre-season game. The final voting begins on Friday at 10 a.m. Atlantic time.

Julia Brown, a forward with the Cape Breton Blizzard under-13 ‘AAA’ team, said being part of the top four in the contest has been an amazing experience, but the ultimate goal has yet to be accomplished.

“It’s been an exciting few weeks for everyone in the Blizzard and Capers organizations and it will be even more exciting this weekend,” said Brown, who was inspired to play hockey by her older brother.

“When we found out we were in the final four, we immediately began working towards winning this contest and we haven’t stopped, and I think we deserve this title – we want to be

Kraft Hockeyville.”

The all-female Blizzard program was formed in 2018 and has seen an increase in registration every year since. Today, the association has 330 players with 19 teams, making them one of the larger female programs in Atlantic Canada.

With the rapid growth in female hockey in Cape Breton, the association has seen its challenges in terms of finding ice time for its teams.

Because of this, the association is taking matters into its own hands in securing a permanent home for its program.

The Canada Games Complex hasn’t been used for hockey in more than two years. The venue was a vaccination site during the peak days of the COVID-19 pandemic but the Blizzard and Capers programs would like to see the facility return to its natural beauty – being an arena.

Christina Lamey, president of the Blizzard program, believes reopening the Canada Games Complex makes perfect sense.

“We think this is the right solution here,” said Lamey. “It’s an obvious situation where you have an arena with no teams and teams with no arena, so let’s make this happen.”

Lamey believes the reason for lack of ice time in the municipality for female hockey is contributed to a term known as “grandfathered ice time.”

“We initiated this as an equity and fairness issue and we’ve been raising this issue for a little while now about how ice time is assigned in arenas,” said Lamey.

“Because we weren’t there in the 1960s and 1970s, we don’t get in now. It’s like taking discrimination from 40 years ago and getting to use it again and use it as a reason not to do something – It’s a roundabout way of trying to explain a system that doesn’t work for everyone.”

SUPPORTING THE BID

Since the Blizzard and Capers programs joined forces for the contest, community support for the bid has been nothing short of outstanding.

From video messages from former Nhlers Al Macinnis and Mike Mcphee to professional players in Jessica Wong, who played at the Canada Games Complex during her career, many have showed their support for the initiative.

Meanwhile, Cape Breton Eagles alumni Logan Shaw, Clark Bishop, Egor Sokolov, and Kevin Mandolese, all of whom are playing for the American Hockey League’s Belleville Senators, also shared video messages to encourage support.

Capers’ captain Leah Byrne of Glace Bay was overwhelmed by the support and credits Cape Breton Island for being a unique place where dreams can happen.

“We’ve seen some pretty high-end people really recognize and remember Cape Breton and our efforts and that’s pretty special,” said Byrne. “Everyone is talking about this contest and our teams and it feels good to know that our tireless efforts to win are being noticed both near and far.”

The Canada Games Complex never had a full-time tenant. The venue was used as a temporary home for the Glace Bay Minor Hockey Association when the Miners Forum was being renovated.

The facility, which opened in 1986, was built to accommodate the 1987 Jeux Canada Winter Games, and the operation of the facility was later turned over to the university.

In 2015, CBU announced it would be decommissioning the ice surface at the complex following the 2015-16 season. The municipality later took over operation in July 2016 and ice returned to the venue.

Prior to its COVID-19 pandemic closure, the Capers team used the venue as a home rink for the club’s Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association games.

Because the venue isn’t in operation, the team was forced to play this past year at the Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre.

The arena needs new icemaking equipment and a Zamboni along with some interior renovations, which the program hopes will be covered by the prize money from a Kraft Hockeyville win.

With being in the final four, the initiative will receive $25,000 regardless of the outcome this weekend.

VOTING DAY

Since being named a finalist, both the Blizzard and Capers programs have held rallies and events across the municipality in an attempt to get the word out about their bid.

To support the bid, Mayor Amanda Mcdougall has declared Friday, May 6, as Kraft Hockeyville Day in CBRM. People are encouraged to wear a hockey jersey at school and in their workplace for the cause.

Voting for the contest will take place over two days, beginning Friday at 10 a.m. and finishing Saturday at 6 p.m. Both Atlantic time.

To vote, visit the Kraft Hockeyville website at www. krafthockeyville.ca. Click on sign in or register, if you haven’t already registered do so. A voting option will be made available for the Canada Games Complex on the site’s main page.

There’s no limit on voting and repetitive voting is encouraged. The winner will be announced during one of the two NHL playoff games on Saturday night – either the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins beginning at 8 p.m. or the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars contest starting at 10:30 p.m.

Other venues vying for the right to be Kraft Hockeyville include Saint-jean-sur-richelieu, Que., Douro-dummer, Ont., and Princeton, B.C.