Halton Hills Newspapers

Independent & Free Press (Georgetown, ON), 8 Mar 2006, p. 4

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Main Street in downtown Georgetown was turned into a street hockey venue Sunday as local organizers are bidding to have the town named Hockeyville-- as part of a CBC reality show set to air later this month. CBC crews filmed the event and were expected back last night at Memorial Arena to film a local minor hockey playoff game. Photo by Yves Desjardins `We're on the short list,' says organizer Continued from pg. 1 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. (Eamonn Maher can be reached at emaher@independentfreepress.com)

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