SHARED CAUSE
N.S. town withraws Hockeyville bid, holding rally for Tyne Valley
TYNE VALLEY – There’s another Rally for the Valley scheduled for this Saturday in support of Tyne Valley’s bid to become Kraft Hockeyville 2020.
Islanders who want to attend, though, have a bit of a drive ahead of them. The rally is in Lower Sackville, N.S.
It’s all a follow-up to Sackville, N. S. native Jamie Munroe’s decision to withdraw the Sackville arena from the Kraft Hockeyville competition in favour of encouraging his community to send all of its support to Tyne Valley.
He thinks the P.EI. community, which lost its arena to fire on Dec. 29, stands a pretty good shot at winning the national title.
“I didn’t know their rink burned down, but I knew they were part of Hockeyville because, every time I went on the Kraft Hockeyville website all I kept seeing was Tyne Valley because they had so many entries,” Munroe said.
Then, last weekend, Munroe's family was at a minor hockey tournament in P.E.I. and they found themselves cheering for a P.E.I. team, because, if the Island team won their game, Munroe's son’s team stood a better chance of making it to the tournament final.
It was during that game that he struck up a conversation with a Tyne Valley hockey dad who is one of the firefighters that responded to the rink fire.
Tyne Valley’s loss was on his mind during his four-hour trip home. He subsequently posted that he wanted to withdraw his nomination of the Sackville arena so that supporters could redirect their support to Tyne Valley.
“We’re all supporting Tyne Valley. We have a big rally planned for this Saturday at 10:30 at our arena here in Lower Sackville and we’re going to show our support,” he said.
Adam MacLennan, who is heading up the local fundraising committee for a new Tyne Valley rink has arranged for a bus to take P.E.I. residents to Lower Sackville to take part in the rally and to thank the Nova Scotia town for its support.
“We need upgrades but it’s still there, still usable,” Munroe said of Sackville’s needs.
“It’s a lot more important for Tyne Valley to get a rink than for us to get upgraded, for sure,” he said.
Munroe said his pitch has generated widespread support in Lower Sackville, and he has gained 40 or 50 Facebook friends from P.E.I. His family has even received an invitation to the Tyne Valley Oyster Festival’s Rock the Boat Music Fest. It will be his first opportunity to see the P.E.I. community he is now hoping wins the Kraft Hockeyville title.
He anticipates Canadians coast-to-coast are learning about Tyne Valley and its need for a new rink.
His gesture has been picked up by several media outlets, including the Canadian Press.
A Rally for the Valley last weekend in Tyne Valley attracted an estimated 1,000 Tyne Valley Hockeyville supporters.