Oliver Paipoonge, ON | The councils for both the township of Oliver Paipoonge and the city of Thunder Bay have officially thrown their support behind the NorWest Arena's campaign to win Kraft Hockeyville.
The endorsements come ahead of the February 14th nomination deadline, when it will be determined whether the bid will be named one of the 4 nationwide finalists. Both councils have stated that they will be happy to work together should NorWest's bid be successful. “Council unanimously voted in favour of supporting Oliver Paipoonge in their bid to become Kraft Hockeyville,” said Thunder Bay city councilor Cody Fraser. “Thunder Bay wishes our municipal neighbours the best of luck in the application process.”
Oliver Paipoonge mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis is excited at the possibility of her community rink gaining national recognition. “Our community is very proud of the NorWest Recreation Centre and Arena. A dream come true all those years ago and the center of our families activities during the long winter months,” said Kloosterhuis. “The NorWest Arena requires an update of their electrical system, the installation of an electronic timekeeping score board, additional stands on the north wall and the replacement of the arena glass with updated safety glass to ensure that all spectators and players are safe and winning this contest would ensure this work takes place immediately,” she added.
To build on the excitement that the contest has generated, the team will be embarking on a Kraft Hockeyville outdoor rink bus tour this Saturday, February 13th. The Fighting Walleye team bus will be travelling to rinks around the area, with mascot Chomper in tow. Hockey players are encouraged to wear their favourite team jerseys and meet Chomper. Boxes of Kraft Dinner will be made available courtesy of Westfort Foods. All COVID safety measures will be followed.
The bid team would like to encourage community members to head to krafthockeyville.ca to post a story, picture or comment on NorWest Arena and help get the bid to 1000 entries by midnight on Sunday. Every story, picture or comment posted gains the Arena points in the contest and gets Oliver Paipoonge one step closer to being named Kraft Hockeyville.
NorWest Arena's own Eric Staal has sent a video to lend his support and encourage everyone in the area to support this bid.