A committee made up of local hockey enthusiasts has started to organize an entry for next year’s Kraft Hockeyville competition.
Hockeyville is a nationwide initiative for communities to show their love of the game. More than 1,000 entries were received in the 2015 competition, describing the importance of hockey in communities across Canada.
David Gregory, recording secretary for the Summerland Hockeyville Committee, said committee members want to prepare an entry which involves the community as a whole. At present, he said committee members are receiving positive responses about the initiative.
“Hockey’s a link with the whole community,” he said. “We’re trying to get the whole town involved.”
Early this year, Gregory and hockey enthusiast Jason Smith submitted an entry from Summerland, but for next year’s competition, they would like more time to prepare.
“We weren’t well organized this year,” he said.
He added that Summerland has a strong history of hockey, dating back to the origins of the sport in Canada.
Two of the players in the first organized hockey game in Canada in 1873 were Summerland pioneers, he said.
In Summerland, the first organized game took place in 1906 and since that time, players and teams from Summerland have had strong showings on the ice.