Terrace Is Hockeyville!

CBC presents the top ten communities for Kraft Hockeyville 2009 Wednesday night on television.

Terrace, my small hometown in Northern British Columbia, is one of the final ten communities.

You can learn more about the Terrace bid here, here, here and here. You can also learn about my hometown and surrounding areas in this old blog project I never kept up with.

I am really impressed with how the community has come together in our first real bid at Hockeyville. People braved one of the worst snowstorms in years to get out to Lakelse Lake and play in a big game of shinny while CBC was up here. The whole town is decorated in hockey jerseys and such. Even the rare Kermodei Bears (not Spirit Bears, damn it!) are wearing Hockeyville jerseys.

It really is amazing to witness. Terrace has hit hard times long before the world even hinted at economic recessions. The mill shutdown. Mining projects have disappeared over night, as now have nearby aluminum smelter expansion plans. Many people have moved away.

Hockeyville has brought together community spirit like I have not seen in years. It has helped to reinstill pride in Terrace, and hope for the future. A big thank you must go out to the organizers of this impressive bid.

If you are a regular reader of mine, and have no particular affiliation to any of the other cities, you might want to drop a vote or ten for my hometown, Terrace BC - where the bears are white and the fish are red, and everyone loves hockey! Go to www.cbc.ca/sports/hockeyville and vote for Terrace many, many times! Hurry, we only have until Sunday evening to get the votes in.

I will be offering a contest rewarding those who vote for Terrace. More soon.