Grandview picked as province’s ‘Hockeyville’

Grandview is celebrating after its local rink won the Kraft Hockeyville contest for the Manitoba region — and the community is hoping to be named a national finalist later today.

Grandview was named as one of 13 regional winners of Kraft Hockeyville during a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast last weekend and was awarded $60,000 for arena upgrades and new equipment.

Alia Marcinkow, chair of the Grandview and District Recreation Commission, along with three other women who had been fundraising for upgrades to the community centre, all celebrated the regional win after they found out.

“It was just really awesome — we were all on the phone together,and just really excited to hear that we got selected,” Marcinkow said.

One winner was selected from every province and territory, with each community receiving $50,000 for upgrades along with $10,000 for equipment.

Today, two overall finalists are scheduled to be named. The second-place finisher will receive an additional $50,000 for arena upgrades. The winner will receive an additional $200,000 for upgrades, along with the chance to host a pre-season National Hockey League game.

The $50,000 Grandview is receiving will help the community with building a new ice plant for the arena and curling rink in the Grandview Agricultural Community Centre.

The cost for the new plant is $1.6 million, Marcinkow said.

The money could also be spent on new boards for the hockey rink or upgrade the lobby to make it more accessible, she said.

The goal is for the new ice plant to be built by the fall.

“We have been lucky in our fundraising efforts. We have a community that’s behind us, and I always say that’s why our rink is called the Grandview Agricultural Community Centre,” Marcinkow said.

“It’s really a community centre. It’s not just a hockey rink.”

Marcinkow didn’t have the total number for funds raised so far. The organization has also applied and won grants.

“We have a big gala on April 18, and we have some 50-50s and such going on. So, we’re just trying to do our final push to make sure that this happens for the fall time.”

The arena was built around 1956, she said, with the ice plant not being much younger than that.

“For us to continue enjoying our winter activities — and the rink really is the heart of our community in the winter — we need a new ice plant to do that,” Marcinkow said. “We’ve done lots of repairs — pretty much every fall we have our fingers crossed that it’s going to turn on. It’s just time for a new one.”

She said she was “dumbfounded” by the $10,000 the organization will receive for new equipment, as they didn’t know that was part of the program at first.

Organizers haven’t talked much about what the equipment money will go toward, but Marcinkow suggested it could go toward goalie pads, gear that will help people learn how to skate or devices to help with hockey skills.

Grandview Municipality Mayor Lyle Morran said he is very happy and a little surprised that Grandview was chosen, as it is a smaller community.

He credited the fundraisers for bringing attention to the cause.

Morran said the arena and community centre is the main meeting centre in town, where a lot of people played hockey themselves. It also helps the local economy, he said.

Regional winners were chosen based on community spirit, the rink’s local importance, how funding would make a difference and through “rally points” earned through community participation, the NHL said in a press release.

Asked about the one-in-13 chance of winning and hosting a pre-season NHL game, Morran said it’s great to have gotten to this point.

“It’s just amazing. I still find it hard to believe that we’ve gotten that far, and it would be fantastic if we did that next step,” he said.

“I know there’s probably bigger places in the running and everything, but we’ve got a very enthusiastic bunch of people here, bound, determined we’re going to keep our rec facilities going and our town going.”

Marcinkow said winning the final round would be a big boost for the community and would put the recreation commission close to its end goal financially.

“I think that would be so interesting and so awesome for our community,” she said.

She said there’s a buzz around town when New York Islanders defenceman Ryan Pulock comes home to visit.

“I can’t even imagine a whole team, or two whole teams coming to play in Grandview. I think everyone would just be ecstatic.”

After the two finalists are announced Saturday, people can vote for the winner online at krafthockeyville.ca on April 3 and 4, with the winning community to be announced on April 4.

» alambert@brandonsun.com