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File photo of the October 2019 renaming ceremony at the Logan Boulet Arena (Lethbridge News Now)

Logan Boulet Arena nominated in Kraft Hockeyville competition

Mar 15, 2021 | 9:57 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Logan Boulet Arena is in the running for some upgrades.

The Lethbridge facility, formerly known as the Adams Ice Centre, is one of many sites nominated in the Kraft Hockeyville competition this year. The winner of the contest gets $250,000 toward upgrades and the opportunity to host an NHL game.

“I kept hearing the Hockeyville contest advertised and then I’m like, ‘hey, that would be cool. I wonder if we’d been nominated,’ and so I went on the website and it hadn’t been,” said Nancy Mitchell, who put the nomination forward for Logan Boulet Arena.

She told LNN that she has a personal connection to the Lethbridge centre.

“I know that [Logan Boulet Arena] needs a lot of renovations. That’s where I learned to skate, so it’s old,” she said with a laugh.

“It’s in desperate need of some upgrading for all the kids that play there. We get $250,000 if we win, so who wouldn’t want that?”

HOSTING AN NHL GAME

In addition to funding for upgrades, the winning arena and its community gets the chance to host an NHL game.

“That would be awesome,” Mitchell commented, at the idea of Lethbridge hosting a game.

She added that her father, a World War Two veteran, also inspired her to nominate Logan Boulet Arena.

“My dad is a World War Two [vet] and he’s about to turn 99 this coming Saturday and he has loved hockey all of his life,” she said.

Mitchell noted that her family’s favourite team is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“He [her father] no longer goes to the bigger centres to see the Leafs and I thought that would be so cool if an NHL game came here, and it would be even better if the Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the teams.”

HOW CAN PEOPLE SUPPORT

Anyone in the community looking to support Mitchell’s nomination can visit the Kraft Hockeyville website here and vote for Logan Boulet Arena (listed on the site under its former name of Adams Ice Centre).

“Lethbridge is quite small. It doesn’t have all the things that the big cities offer, so I just think it would be cool for our community,” Mitchell told LNN.

“I think hockey has a place for everybody, whether it’s on the ice or watching it.”

In addition to Logan Boulet Arena, the Memorial Community Centre Arena in Pincher Creek has been nominated.

The competition’s top four finalists will be announced on March 20.