Is our town Hockeyville? Town bids to win CBC reality show

Organizers were a little disappointed with the turnout for Sunday's giant road hockey game on Main Street, but their optimism about Georgetown's bid to be named Hockeyville Canada hasn't waned. Approximately 300 enthusiastic local residents turned out Sunday morning, dressed mostly in Raider red and black, to play a 15-minute contest in the heart of the downtown. It was part of a campaign struck up recently by the Georgetown Minor Hockey Association and the Hockey Heritage Council to win an upcoming reality TV show contest produced by the CBC and sponsored by Kraft.

Earning the moniker of Hockeyville will require much more work by the dozens of volunteers over the next couple of weeks and supporters of Georgetown's bid were buoyed by the fact that a CBC crew spent six hours in town on Sunday accumulating footage for the show, which debuts March 29. "I think that because the CBC people were here for that much time with us says something about what they think of us," said Geraldine Hardcastle, one of the local organizers. "I would say that we're on their short list, for sure." There are just a couple of weeks remaining for prospective towns and cities across Canada to submit their case for being named Hockeyville 2006. The winning bid will get to play host to a National Hockey League exhibition game in September. Halton Hills Mayor Rick Bonnette and Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong turned out on Sunday to offer their support. Hockey Heritage has also collected thousands of signatures for a massive banner that will cover the circumference of the Memorial Arena rink dimensions-- where the NHL preseason contest would be played if the bid is successful. In the March 29 show debut on CBC, a list of 50 cities and towns will be named as official contenders for the Hockeyville title. Each entry will get a chance to submit a two-minute video presentation on either of the April 12 & 19 episodes and viewers then can vote on-line for their choices. Georgetown organizers were hopeful of a good turnout last night (Tuesday) for a minor hockey game featuring the Atom AA Raiders in the Ontarion Minor Hockey Association semifinals against Oakville to provide some more compelling scenes to attract viewers with the video presentation. "It's really important that we get as many people as we can-- whether they're from this area or not-- to vote for Georgetown as Hockeyville 2006 on the night the show airs," added Hardcastle. More events in Georgetown may be scheduled during the next couple weeks.