Sydney wins Kraft Hockeyville contest
SYDNEY, N.S. – “It was crazy; my heart was racing,” a beaming Myla Mackinnon said moments after learning Sydney had won the Kraft Hockeyville national contest Saturday night.
“I think it will be really big for the Blizzard,” she added, pointing to the hockey jersey she was wearing, emblazoned with her team's name — Cape Breton Blizzard.
The Cape Breton Blizzard Female Hockey Association and the Cape Breton University Capers women's hockey team partnered to put in a bid for the contest's $250,000 prize to revitalize the Canada Games Complex at Cape Breton University and give their teams a place to call home.
“Having our own space, we had limited possibilities, and now we flipped that into unlimited possibilities,” said Christina Lamey, president of the Blizzard hockey association and the one who spearheaded the campaign to win the 2022 Kraft Hockeyville title.
"It's amazing."
The Blizzard program was formed in 2018 and became an independent female hockey association within Hockey Nova Scotia in 2020. It has doubled in size since then to be one of the largest female programs in Atlantic Canada, with over 300 players and 19 teams.
As a newer association, the Blizzard hasn't had a home ice and was forced to take whatever ice times it could get at venues around the municipality, and the growth of the program has made that more challenging every year.
“We don't have enough ice time to do what we have to do," Lamey said. "All the ice time we got was leftover ice time, so something had to change. So, it's, I think, a bit more about flipping the switch on the story, not just here — this is a problem across the country. It's an equity and fairness issue.
“I think a lot of organizations and facilities need to look at themselves and ask, ‘Are we serving the wider community? Are you doing enough to make people feel included in that space?' Because I would say a lot are not.
The $250,000 prize will be used to renovate the Canada Games Complex in Sydney and purchase new ice-making equipment and a Zamboni. The teams also received $10,000 worth of youth hockey equipment from the NHLPA'S Goals & Dreams fund and the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game.
“We were so worried we weren't going to win, and when that moment came in, and he was opening the paper so slowly, and then it was such a moment of relief that all our hard work paid off,” Grace Long, a player on the Blizzard's under-15 AA team, said as she hugged her teammates after the announcement was made.
"It was such a great moment to share with my best friends."
Another Blizzard player, Sophia Briand, said the moment "didn't feel real."
"We were up against such big towns," Briand said, shouting above the boisterous room of excited female hockey players and their families.
"We were sitting in the front, and to turn around and see everyone celebrating, my throat is sore from screaming."
The Canada Games Complex, featuring an Olympicsized ice surface, opened in 1986. CBU decommissioned the arena in 2015 and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality took over operations soon after that, but it hasn't been used for hockey in over two years.
Prior to the pandemic, the Capers women's team played its Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association home games at the venue. This year, the team played at the Membertou Sports and Wellness Centre, one of a handful of venues used by Blizzard teams.
“It's really cool that we're finally getting a home for girls' hockey," said Anna Lawand, member of the under-15 AA Blizzard. "So many of us have been playing so long and having to share boys' ice time, and it's really cool that we get something for ourselves that younger girls are going to have to start out and inspire them."
Since being named one of the four finalists, the Blizzard and Capers have held community events and rallies to build support, and CBRM Mayor Amanda Mcdougall declared Friday Kraft Hockeyville Day in the municipality.
The Cape Breton bid received support from former Nhlers Al Macinnis and Mike Mcphee, Team Canada women's coach Troy Ryan, and Cape Breton Eagles alumni Logan Shaw, Clark Bishop, Egor Sokolov and Kevin Mandolese.
Online voting took place from Friday morning until 6 p.m. on Saturday. Other venues vying for the right to be Kraft Hockeyville included Saint-jean-sur-richelieu, Que., Douro-dummer, Ont., and Princeton, B.C.
For Lamey, the whole experience has been about more than hockey.
“The girls have been on a whole journey and that's a big thing for me," she said. "It's about confidence building, it's about them learning they can do big things and that they can have organizations and structures that are centred on them.”