Kraft Hockeyville goes big, and goes home, in its 20th year

For 19 years, Kraft Hockeyville has helped grow the game in Canada by building, renovating and maintaining its most important pieces of infrastructure — community arenas where so many pros get their start.

The annual competition, sponsored by Kraft Heinz, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association, turns 20 with a bang this spring by spreading the love — and the money — to a community in each of the 10 provinces and three territories.

There’s a grand prize of $250,000 to the overall winning community, $100,000 to the runner-up and $50,000 each to the 11 other finalists.

In addition, the grand-prize winning community will earn the right to host an NHL pre-season game.

“It’s just remarkable what they’ve done,” said former NHL journeyman Paul Bissonnette, who along with former goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is acting as an ambassador to get the word out about Kraft Hockeyville’s expanded presence in the 20th year. “All the attention and praise needs to be directed to the people that have been there from ground zero and have been doing this for 20 years — 105 communities have been impacted from this, over ($5.4 million) towards improvements for these arenas, whether it’s Zambonis, boards, glass, the locker rooms, you name it.

“So shout out to Kraft Hockeyville and everybody behind it because it’s such a cool experience,” Bissonnette continued. “And the fact that I got to live it and see it and how it can impact communities, it was just awesome.”

That was October 2016, when the tiny town of Lumby, B.C., was named Kraft Hockeyville’s 10th winner. The local rink, Pat Duke Memorial Arena, was built in 1967 and was in dire need of upgraded and additional dressing rooms, and the main prize of $100,000 was sure to give that construction project a shot in the arm.

Lumby also won the right to host an NHL pre-season game, but because Pat Duke Memorial Arena had limited capacity, the tilt between Connor McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers and Bissonnette’s Los Angeles Kings was moved 26 km west to Kal Tire Place in Vernon, B.C.

“I just remember the overall experience and seeing the look on the people’s faces, the grown-ups, especially the children, getting to see, for some of them, NHL hockey for the first time, and these players that they probably look up to like they’re the stars, right?” Bissonnette said.

“So although my personal experience on the ice getting caught out there against McDavid wasn’t that great, I was minus-2 and was made to look like a fool, it was an amazing experience for the community. And the fact that I get to, in the 20th year, become a cheerleader and an ambassador for it, I’m blown away.”

The nomination period for this special edition of Kraft Hockeyville closes March 1. The nomination form consists of three questions and can be accessed at KraftHockeyville.ca.

A panel of judges will determine the 13 provincial and territorial winners, which will be announced March 14.

The grand prize winner will be announced April 4.

dbarnes@postmedia.com