Halifax-area minor hockey association wins $100,000 after national competition

A minor hockey association that serves Halifax-area communities inHammonds Plains and Tantallon has received a $100,000 award through a national competitionthat aims to provide financial assistance to Canadian hockey families.

TASA Minor Hockey Associationfirst won a $25,000 regional prize through the Kruger Big Assist program. That put them in contention to win an additional $75,000 prize. They were named the winner of the national contest on Wednesday.

"We feel really great about it and we certainly didn't expect to win it," said TASA president Mary-Lou Paetznick. "We know people in our community all got their votes in and here we are, we're very excited."

The association serves a community of hockey families that were impacted by wildfires last year, resulting in the evacuation of residents and the destruction of 150 homes.

During that time, the association rallied to cover registration fees for affected families by providing new gear for kids who lost their equipment.

"We had plenty of hockey families that lost their homes and we all just pulled together," said Paetznick. "We had some gear drives and it wasn't just our community, all of the hockey community including other minor hockey associations, had gear drives to help us."

As the Kruger Big Assist grand prize winner, TASA can now provide more help to families in need of financial support and create new diversity and inclusion initiatives to reach more kids in the community.

The TASA executive team is planning a meeting this weekend to decide where the funds could be used.

"We're thinking about a come-try-hockey program that might run for six weeks or something," said Paetznick, who has been involved with the association for 25 years. "That would allow kids to try the game, and it's one of the things we'll be discussing when we meet."