Tyne Valley rallying for Hockeyville votes amid pandemic restrictions

Tyne Valley's Kraft Hockeyville bid comes down to a 33 hour windowof votingand community members are rallying people near and far to vote online Friday.

VotingopensFriday for the competition that awards $250,000 and the right to host an NHL preseason game to the community that gets the most votes.

Tyne Valley is one of four finalists hoping to win the competition.Online voting begins Friday at 10 a.m. and ends on Saturdayat 7 p.m.

TheTyne Valley rink was destroyed in a fire in December, leaving many in the community devastated.

Adam MacLennan, chair of the Tyne Valley's Kraft Hockeyvillecommitteeand former manager of therink, saidthis money is crucial to building a new sports centre for the town.

"This $250,000 it's everything that we have. It's critical," saidMacLennan.

"We're probably never going to have another opportunity like this, our community, in our time, I guess to be in this competition it's a special time for us."

Earlier this summer, the federal, provincial and municipal governments agreed to collaborate incontributing$10.3 million toa new sports centre.

It's something unbelievable. We can't do voting stations, we can't really talk to people. We just have to depend on everybody's kindness. Jarod Colwill, Tyne Valley Minor Hockey Association

The municipality needed to raise $3.1 million as part of the agreement, much of which was going to be covered by insurance, Mayor Jeff Noye said in July when the new rink was announced.

MacLennan said upwards of $1 million still needs to be raised.

Jarod Colwill, president of Tyne Valley Minor Hockey Association, saidhis main goal is getting to that number.

"It's fantastic that we got federal and provincial funding but we still have a long way to go on the municipal funding," said Colwill.

Rallying support during COVID-19

Colwill said the rules and restrictions around physical distancing have posed an additional challenge to rallying people to vote.

"It's something unbelievable. We can't do voting stations, we can't really talk to people. We just have to depend on everybody's kindness," said Colwill.

Colwill said the team has spread the word to different municipalities and minor hockey associations have been alerting their members, but the primary tool for getting the word out has been social media.

The support for Tyne Valley is being felt from communities in other parts of the Maritimes.

"We've had fantastic support especially from the Nova Scotia areas; Sackville, Tatamagouche, those places," Colwill said.

"They picked up on us right away and they've had our back the whole way."

Those who want to cast a vote can do so online at krafthockeyville.ca., said MacLennan.

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