Howdy, Hockeyville: How Twillingate is tapping into N.L. pride for campaign to win contest

The George Hawkins Arena opened in Twillingate in 1968, having been rebuilt from a former airport hangar in Gander. (Kraft Hockeyville)

The mayor of Twillingate hopes that if people can’t come to come for a “staycation” this summer at the famously scenic coastal town, they can do something just as nice: vote like a demon when balloting opens Friday in the Kraft Hockeyville final. 

Mayor Grant White is delighted that Twillingate’s George Hawkins Arena has made the final four in the annual Hockeyville competition, in which the winning community gets a preseason NHL game plus $250,000 for upgrades. 

“We’re just a community that’s passionate about the game and the arena’s a place that we go to socialize and obviously for recreation,” White told The St. John’s Morning Show on Monday. 

“We just love the game of hockey here, and it just shows.” 

To get this far, the four finalists had to make a case for their respective arenas — and the majority of points scored are linked to what Kraft Hockeyville calls the arena’s story. 

For the George Hawkins Arena, there’s a doozy of a backstory: the rink started its life as an airport hangar in Gander, before a team of volunteers moved and reassembled it, piece by piece, for a new life in Twillingate. 

“If it depended just on the story alone I think we would win,” said White, who knows the arena quite well, having played and coached for decades. 

The town has already secured $25,000 in funding as a finalist, but is looking for the big win — and there are big-ticket items that need to be repaired and replaced. 

Apart from a leaking roof, the ice plant is aging, and the arena’s Zamboni ice cleaner dates back to the 1980s. White cites the canteen and dressing rooms as also needing some attention. 

Mayor Grant White, seen in a Kraft Hockeyville video, says the arena is a focal point of community life in Twillingate. (Kraft Hockeyville)

Kraft Hockeyville uses an online voting model to determine the final winner — and unlike a one-ballot-per-voter model in a typical election, online voters are allowed to vote as much as they like, or physically can. 

“Voting is unlimited. We can’t stress that enough,” White said. 

“We know there’s people here in the community [who are] going to stay up for 33 hours to vote and that’s going to be pretty exciting.” 

A hub of the campaign is a Facebook group promoting Twillingate’s case, which had more than 4,800 members on Monday afternoon. 

Voting concludes Saturday, with the final winner announced later that day. 

Twillingate is competing against Tyne Valley, P.E.I., Pense, Sask., and Saint-Félicien, Que. 

Newfoundland and Labrador communities have had good luck in the Hockeyville competition before. In 2011, Conception Bay South won top prize, while Bay Roberts, Harbour Grace and Bishop’s Falls have each made it to the final. 

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