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| Last updated at 9:03 AM on 05/01/09 |
Harbour Grace after Hockeyville title 
KENN OLIVER
The Telegram
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| Premier Danny Williams (far right) was on hand at the sign unveiling at Hockeyville news conference Sunday in Harbour Grace. Others taking part in the ceremony were (left to right) Hockeyville Chairperson Zoe Anderson; Harbour Grace Mayor Don Coombs; Olympic gold Medalist Jamie Korab and MHA Jerome Kennedy. — Tracy Shute photo |
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If any community or town in this province were deserving of the moniker of Hockeyville, Joanne Taylor will tell you it’s Harbour Grace.
It is after all, home to the three-time Herder Memorial Trophy winning C.B.N. CeeBee Stars, a team steeped in provincial hockey history.
It is the home of Quebec Major Junior Cape Breton Screaming Eagle leading scorer Robert Slaney. The home of Major Junior A Amherst Ramblers coach Corey Crocker. Home to the S.W. Moores Stadium, holy ground in the community, which celebrated 50 years in operation at the start of this season 2008.
Oh, and home to a guy by the name of Danny Cleary, the first Newfoundland-born player to hoist hockey’s holy grail as part of the 2007-08 Stanley Cup winning Detroit Red Wings.
“All those reasons together, if there ever was a year, this is is the year to do it,” Taylor says of the community’s bid to be chosen Kraft Hockeyville 2009, Canada’s most puck-passionate community.
Ten communities are chosen by an in-house panel, which make their selections based on community spirit, originality, and passion for hockey.
The top five communities are chosen by audience vote following a Jan. 14 program detailing each of the final 10 communities. There is no limit to the number of times one may vote.
Harbour Grace isn’t in the top 10 for certain, but with a CBC television crew taking in Harbour Grace for two days this weekend and shooting footage of Hockey Day in Harbour Grace — a day full of hockey activities for young and old, an official nomination launch with Premier Danny Williams and culiminating with a senior CeeBees win — Taylor thinks they have a good chance.
At stake is $100,000 in arena upgrade money from Kraft, a 2009-10 NHL pre-season game played at local arena, and a visit and broadcast by CBC Hockey Night in Canada.
Four runner up communities will also receive $25,000 each in arena upgrade money from Kraft.
It goes without saying that a 50-year-old S.W. Moores could use the money.
“There’s not a whole lot that doesn’t need repairs,” says Taylor, noting the boards have been a source of complaints in recent years.
“The (money) from the adult perspective is the big thing, but talking to the kids, the big thing is the prospect of a pre-season NHL game actually coming to Harbour Grace and the kids are wondering if it’s going to be the Detroit Red Wings, is it possible Danny Cleary could come home to play where he started to play? They’re getting excited.”
Port-aux-Basques finished in third place in the 2008 Hockeyville contest.
The process started well before this Christmas season with the creation of a Facebook group — “Harbour Grace for Kraft Hockeyville” — and a push to get minor hockey players, coaches, volunteers and fans, along with the community at large to submit stories exemplifying the community’s sporting spirit.
Submitted stories are dominated, obviously, by Danny Cleary’s Stanley Cup celebration. But they tell the story of three generations of CeeBee hockey players. The story of watching the St. Paul’s Saints fight for high school hockey supremacy on Friday nights.
There are submissions from current and past CeeBee Stars on what it means to them to don the team’s colours and play before the fiercely loyal crowds at S.W. Moore Stadium.
Joanne Taylor uses Bert Dowing’s story as an example of the passion for hockey in the community of just over 2,300 residents.
“He’s lived in Harbour Grace all of his life, he played hockey on the old rinks around town before there was an artificial surface. He retired from rec hockey last year and this year he’s coaching his three year-old grandson in our beginner’s program.”
In order to get the stories, including those from fans who may not own or have the savvy to us a computer, the bid’s organizing committee set up a table at a CeeBees home game where hand written submissions could be accumulated.
By the end of the submission deadline in December, 206 stories — the most from any community in Atlantic Canada — had been submitted.
Now all they can do is wait for the program to air and hope that during the voting window — open for seven days, 24 hours a day — the votes pour in for Harbour Grace.
“Hopefully they’ll be a lot of people with sore fingers after the week is over,” jokes Taylor.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”
koliver@thetelegram.com
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05/01/09
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Sandy from NL writes: Kenn, excellent article giving reasons why Harbour Grace must be selected.
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| Posted 05/01/2009 at 6:50 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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