OHSWEKEN — The Gaylord Powless Arena (GPA) is one of several arenas in Canada in the running for Kraft’s Hockeyville prize, $250,000 in arena upgrades and an opportunity to host an NHL game.
The contest is currently open and seeking community members to submit stories, photos and other memories about the GPA as part of the Nominate and Rally phase. Each submission earns points for the arena’s entry. Entries are tallied and the top 4 communities will be judged to determine a winner.
Kraft’s Hockeyville explains that the score for the contest comes 80% from the top story submission telling the story of the arena and its hockey community. The remaining 20% of the points are tallied from additional nomination stories, sharing the contest on Twitter, adding photos and videos of the arena, adding notes or reacting to content on the arena page with emojis.
In order for Six Nations and the GPA to qualify for the prize, community participation is needed. The contest is open for community participation online at krafthockeyville.ca until February 14.
Kraft’s Hockeyville initiative has been upgrading arenas across the country for 14 years. Last year’s winner, the George Hawkins Memorial Arena in Twillingate, NL, was originally built in the 1960s from recycled air hanger materials.
The GPA, in the heart of Ohsweken, has a similar story. A core group of dedicated community volunteers fundraised, collected donated materials and manpower to build the original arena — then called the Ohsweken Sports and Memorial Centre.
