Four Central Alberta communities have put their game face on and are competing to be crowned Kraft Hockeyville 2010.
Kraft Canada has sponsored the contest for the last four years, in partnership with the CBC, the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association.
The winning community receives $100,000 to upgrade an arena and will become the site of an NHL pre-season game. Hockey Night in Canada will also broadcast from the community.
Bentley, Blackfalds, Bowden and Springbrook are already in the running by posting photos and stories supporting their bids at www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockeyville. Olds and Red Deer are also featured on the website, but have not become official entries yet because no photo or stories have been submitted.
Applications will be accepted until Jan. 18. An in-house panel will select the top 12 communities; two from each of four regions and four wild cards.
On March 15, CBC will feature the 12 finalist communities and then will open the contest up to voting. Voting will be conducted online, by phone and by texting. The top five communities will be chosen through an audience vote and announced on March 27, with the winner announced on April 3.