By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Local organizations partnering up to show Hometown Spirit ahead of U Sports National Hockey Championship

Mar 5, 2019 | 12:07 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The countdown is on until the U Sports National Hockey Championship and Hometown Hockey take over Lethbridge beginning on Mar. 14.  To gin up support seven local organizations have announced a new “Show Hometown Spirit” initiative.

The initiative is broken down into four different brackets:

1. VisitLethbridge.com is spearheading the “What Hockey Means To You” Social Media contest encouraging people to submit their picture, video or story describing what hockey means to them, with three winners receiving prize packages worth over $725 each.

2. Downtown Lethbridge BRZ and Heart of the City is encouraging businesses located in the Downtown core to decorate window fronts, reception desk, interior space … and to encourage employees to dress in their favourite hockey jerseys from March 6-14 in order to ‘Show Your Hockey Spirit’. Downtown BRZ will be awarding top prizes worth up to $1,500 on March 13 and letting Rogers Hometown Hockey know so they can include winners in some of their broadcast.

3. Lethbridge Sport Council and Tourism Lethbridge are encouraging people to join in on the fun at the Hometown Hockey festival at the ENMAX Centre for a Hometown Hockey Shootout on Friday, March 15 from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. Hockey fans are encouraged to try their best slapshot against local celebrity goalies such as Councillor Blaine Hyggen and Pronghorns’ Women’s Hockey Goalie Alicia Anderson. Prizes will be awarded throughout the ball hockey shootout with a grand prize being announced at the Men’s Hockey National Championship Game on Friday night.

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4. Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce is asking all businesses to Celebrate Our Community and Celebrate Our Game by displaying signage to “Welcome Rogers Hometown Hockey” and “Welcome Men’s National Hockey Championship” from March 14 to 17.

Lethbridge Lodging Association Project Manager Shilpa Stocker, speaking on Tuesday, Mar. 5, said the four initiatives have been planned to allow residents to show their Home Town Spirit.

“This is our opportunity to showcase Lethbridge and our love for the game. We want all residents in Lethbridge, and Southern Alberta, to get involved as well as businesses to show that love and that we are capable of hosting a national event to put Lethbridge on the map as a destination.”

Stocker explained that there’s well over $5,000 worth of prizes attached to the initiatives, and some of the prizes available in the ball hockey shootout include an autographed Lethbridge Hurricanes stick, an autographed Calgary Flames stick as well as a Flames jersey.

A tournament of this stature is a boon not just for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s hockey team, but also for the community at large.

“Right now, all our accommodations are getting filled up with seven teams from out of town coming in for the championships. It’s a major boon in terms of economic impact, our hotels are filling up and all of those people will be at restaurants and lounges before and after the game. They’ll all be celebrating with us, and we hope that people come downtown to shop, eat, or relax – just to enjoy our city and the beauty of what we have to offer,” Stocker stated.

The social media contest is launching today, and the winner will be chosen just before the championships start.

The Downtown BRZ contest starts on Mar. 6, leading right up to the championship and the ball hockey shootout will be on Friday, Mar. 14.

Additionally, City Hall colours will be Blue and Gold to cheer on the men’s hockey team leading up to the U SPORTS Men’s Hockey National Championship.

Executive Director of Downtown Lethbridge BRZ, Ted Stilson, says they’re proud to be part of the events and festivities taking place at the ENMAX Centre for U SPORTS and Hometown Hockey.

“Downtown businesses are excited about welcoming players, fans and visitors to our community. We will be encouraging our businesses to decorate their stores and offices for the week leading up to the event, and we want people to wear their favourite hockey jerseys as well to get in the spirit of hockey.”

As far as what the visitors to the city representing teams from Canada West, OUA West, OUA East, and AUS can expect, Stilson is hopeful that they’ll get to taste a little bit of what we have to offer in the community.

“We want to start this right away, and we definitely want people to start getting in the spirit as soon as possible. We hope that the people who come to the downtown core will wear their hockey jerseys as well because we’re very excited about this national event and we hope all of our community responds to greet the visitors coming to our community.”

That’s the community and business side of things, but it’s inside the ENMAX Centre where Executive Director of Sports and Recreation for the Pronghorns Ken McInnes hopes the community has the most impact.

“For those who took in the January 10th game at the ENMAX Centre, that’s all the guys could talk about. The excitement, we’re not used to playing in front of those kinds of crowds with that kind of energy, and it really does make a difference on the ice. It’s huge for the guys playing to have that community support and rocking like it was in January,” McInnes said.