Community volunteer Tammy Whitebean says she has done all she can do this year to push for Kahnawake to be designated the winner of the Kraft Hockeyville competition and that when the four finalists are announced this weekend she can only hope Kahnawake will be among them.

Submissions have closed for the online competition, which seeks out entries from cities across Canada and pits them against each other in a vote for the title of Hockeyville for a given year. The designation also comes with a $250,000 arena upgrade and the winning community also gets the opportunity to host an NHL preseason game the following autumn.

The Kraft Hockeyville top four finalists will be announced tomorrow.

Whitebean said she was hoping for more engagement than she got from the community this year, but that she is hopeful that Kahnawake will be among the top four listed on the Kraft Hockeyville website tomorrow.

“Definitely,” she said. “I think it went well but that I was hoping for more this year. I don’t know, I think we have a chance. We had more testimonials on the site and people did a lot of write-ups and there’s a lot of stuff there, so we’ll see.,”

Mohawk Council of Kahnawake chief Harry Rice has also supported the bid, saying the Kahnawake Sports Complex has an “extensive” list of things the $250,000 arena upgrade could be used for.

“Obviously, it would be a dream come true for some in the community, such as myself,” he said. “We need a lot of upgrades and improvements on the Kahnawake Sports Complex and there’s an extensive list if this money comes in that we could address.”

Rice said the notion of hosting a preseason NHL game is also extremely appealing to him and others in the community who love sports.

“Oh, that would be something. We love the idea of being able to have people come in from Montreal, from Chateauguay, from other places and see what we’re all about,” he said, musing that the ideal matchup would be between two Original 6 rivals.

“Obviously, that game would probably involve the Montreal Canadiens since they are so close, and we would love to see them play the Boston Bruins,” he said, saying the Bruins are the favorite squad of many community members. “Some people here would love to see the Toronto Maple Leafs, or maybe the New York Rangers, but either way, it would definitely help the community.”

For more information, please visit the Hockeyville page at hockeyville.kraftcanada.ca.

Marc Lalonde, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Iori:wase