Sylvan Lake is taking being crowned Kraft Hockeyville seriously.
The lakeside community has lined up six days of events and celebrations beginning on Friday and winding up with the big National Hockey League exhibition game between the Arizona Coyotes and Calgary Flames on Wednesday evening.
“It’s more than a game. That’s the word we’re trying to get out,” said Graham Parsons, one of the driving forces behind the community’s winning Hockeyville bid.
The town’s weekly Farmer’s Market that runs downtown from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday will have a Hockeyville flavour.
On Saturday, the town is hosting a free drive-in movie in the Canadian Tire parking lot on the east side of Hwy 20. The Mighty Ducks is the movie and it starts about 8 p.m.
Kicking off the official Kraft Hockeyville celebrations on Sunday is a Fun Fair beginning at noon at Centennial Park. Free to the public, visitors can get a chance to test their slapshot, check out interactive kiosks, take in a music performance from West of the Fifth, or pick up Kraft Hockeyville and Calgary Flames memorabilia.
The Stanley Cup will also be available for photos from noon to 3 p.m.
“We’re inviting everyone in Central Alberta,” said Parsons.
“It looks like the weather is going to be great.”
On Monday, invited local dynamite and peewee hockey players can hone their skills with on-ice clinics running from 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Sylvan Lake Multiplex.
Central Alberta minor hockey officials who have pre-registered have an opportunity on Tuesday to learn the tricks of the trade from top-level zebra stripes at a clinic running 5 to 7 p.m. It will be led by NHL official Kyle Rehman, who was born in Stettler and raised in Red Deer, and will be working the exhibition game.
Wednesday is game day and it will start with the Calgary Flames making a red carpet arrival at 8 a.m. followed by the Arizona Coyotes at 9 a.m.
Those with tickets can take in 45-minute team practices beginning with the Calgary Flames at 9:30 a.m. and followed by the Coyotes at 10:30 a.m.
Even if you weren’t able to line up tickets to the game (and they are all gone), you can take in the action on a big screen set up in the multiplex parking lot.
The pre-game action starts at 3:30 p.m. and runs until the end of the game. Bring a lawn chair.
The game itself starts at 5 p.m. It will be shown live on SportsNet 360 on CBC in Alberta delayed at 7 p.m.