Bryce Balmer wasn’t watching the broadcast of Kraft Hockeyville’s top 10 finalists, chosen from a list of almost 3,200 nominees, with a $100,000 grand prize and a pre-season NHL game in the offing.
“I didn’t think for a second it would be us,” said the St. Paul Minor Hockey president, who nominated the CAP arena to receive needed funds for repairs from Kraft Hockeyville, as hundreds of other people from across the country did the same. Much to his surprise, however, a fellow board member sent him a message that St. Paul was in the top 10 running for the first place grand prize.
“I was like, ‘What?’” he recalled. He needed to check the Kraft Hockeyville website for himself, and sure enough, there was St. Paul among nine other communities from Canada, which guarantees the St. Paul rink at least $25,000 to help with repairs for the arena. “I didn’t really believe it; it’s crazy.”
Over the past 10 years, Kraft Hockeyville has handed out $2 million to 53 communities across Canada. This Sunday, St. Paul will vie to join that list. Having been through the judging period, the rink now advances to the first round of voting, from March 13 to 14, to choose two communities that will each win a $100,000 prize. A second round of voting will determine which community claims the title of Kraft Hockeyville 2016 and gets to host a pre-season NHL game, with all the broadcasting visibility that offers and the proceeds from all ticket sales.
“We can benefit so much from this. People don’t even realize what Kraft Hockeyville is all about. It’s just to keep hockey growing and keep building communities,” he said.
The CAP Arena’s unique story is what set it apart from the hundreds of other nominees, he believes.
In his submission to the Kraft Hockeyville challenge, Balmer explained how, in 1983, a group of hockey parents realized that the one arena, now known as the Clancy Richard Arena, would not be enough for the growth of the sport, and that kids would have to go to other communities to play, without a second rink in town.
“So they formed a committee called the (Community Arena Project). As a result of mortgaging their homes, fundraising, canvasing for donations and serious commitment and hard work. They DID it! The CAP Arena was Built!” he wrote. “From this story, you can see that our community lives and breathes hockey. For parents to risk finances, time, energy the way they do to keep kids on the ice...is testament that Hockey is what we love.”
Balmer said those parents’ dedication set them apart, and gave the community another arena and a hockey home.
“I would love to showcase them; it’s all about them; they did this. If they didn’t do that, I don’t know where we would be.”
But 30 plus years is a long time in the life of an arena, and the CAP is in need of some serious upgrades, most pressing of all, a new roof and work on its ice plant. The roof’s insulation has deteriorated to the point that when the weather changes, moisture “leaks and drips onto the ice which causes bumps like frozen marbles which poses a risk to players,” he stated in his submission.
Balmer guessed that a new roof may cost as much as $100,000, without the other needed improvements, a tall task for the non-profit entity that still has to fundraise and work for donations to keep the rink going, so getting through the first round would be monumental.
“For me, it’s all honestly about keeping the CAP open,” he said, adding the rink is used from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. every weekday plus all through the weekend. “It’s impossible to have the hockey we have and the figure skating we have without the CAP. It’s pretty black and white.”
The window to vote is this Sunday between 7 a.m. and 9:59 p.m. on Monday. Balmer encourages everyone to register to vote on khv2016.com, and then to vote and vote often. He’s hoping to get schools involved as well, since anyone over the age of 13 can vote.
People on social media were reaching out to the community’s homegrown celebrities, such as Jamie Sadlowski and Brett Kissel, and asking them to take part in spreading awareness about the challenge, while everyone can encourage their friends to vote using Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
While bigger communities from Toronto to Okotoks are also among the top 10 finalists, Balmer says that St. Paul could still win the challenge.
“Really, I think it all boils down to how you campaign and motivate everybody,” he said. “Set your phones, set your timers – if you don’t go out and vote, nothing will happen.”