Arena in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan enters Kraft Hockeyville competition

Communities compete by demonstrating their commitment to the sport of ice hockey, and the winner receives a cash prize of $250,000 dedicated to upgrading their local home arena.

The Fox Valley Skating Arena has submitted individual stories of several kids on hockey teams in the town.

Fox Valley Skating Arena, ‘Home of the Blues’. Jayk Sterkenburg/CHAT News

The applications are intended to depict each community’s hometown pride and passion for the game of hockey.

A judging panel selects finalists, and a public vote determines the winner.

Megan Schmaltz, board member of the arena, said that the arena will host events and tournaments where all funds go back to the rink for the hockey season.

Megan Schmaltz. Jayk Sterkenburg/CHAT News

Schmaltz said that the funding has been affective, but not enough.

“Not only does it bring money in, but it also brings people out in the socialization part for the community,” she said.

“But it’s definitely not enough to make the changes we want to make,” she added.

“We currently pay the power, keep the doors open, keep the ice plant running with the funds that we do fundraise throughout the year.”

Donald Schmaltz, Megan’s brother in law, said that currently he feels they have enough people involved in the arena to try the competition.

Donald Schmaltz. Jayk Sterkenburg/CHAT News

“I feel like when I started here, you just kind of come here, use the facility and leave. And nobody was really making sure that it was running properly,” he said.

“There’s been a group of us that have basically said, ‘No, there’s no magical arena fairies that come and clean the arena and do this, this is our job.’,” he added.

“When you have good leaders at the top, I think everyone started to follow behind.”

Tenley Checkley, on the U13 Fox Valley River Kings team, said that the arena just wants to get some help making the rink better.

“It’s a small community and lots of people help us, and try to make it better, and we have lots of volunteers,” she said.

“It’d be nice if we had some help to make it better for us, improve,” she added.

“There’s lots of kids here, and it’s nice to make it a good place for people to skate, because there’s not really much to do.”

Tenley Checkley. Jayk Sterkenburg/CHAT News

The winning community of the competition receives not only a cash prize but the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game at their arena.

Dawson Bonogofski, on the U9 Fox Valley Blues team, also had his story submitted to Kraft Hockeyville.

He recommended some arena improvements.

“I think it should be bigger in the lobby,” he said.

“It’s pretty small in here.”

Bonogofski said that the arena being able to host NHL one day would be “pretty cool”.

Donald’s son Lucas Schmaltz, on the U7 Fox Valley Blues team, was also submitted.

He said that his favourite thing about hockey is playing with his friends, and the most fun thing about it is “winning”.

Lucas Schmaltz (left) and Dawson Bonogofski. Jayk Sterkenburg/CHAT News

Kraft Hockeyville will make an announcement for the top four nominations on March 15, and the winning announcement on April 5.

Megan Schmaltz said that the ideal outcome of the competition would be a cash prize that would prolong the life of the arena.

“I don’t see another facility that is more deserving than ours, whether you’re generational in this building, or brand new in this building, we all come together to keep it open,” she said.

by Jayk Sterkenburg

Arena in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan enters Kraft Hockeyville competition

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