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Lumby cashes in on Hockeyville win

Still no word on where the NHL pre-season game will take place, but Lumby has $100,000 in the bank
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The money is in the bank.

But the Village of Lumby, aka Kraft Hockeyville 2016, is still waiting on word on where an NHL pre-season game Oct. 2 between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers will be played.

Lumby won the 2016 Kraft Hockeyville Title in April, earning the right to host the NHL pre-season contest as well as $100,000 in arena upgrades.

“We got the $100,000 and the cheque is sitting in the bank,” said Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton.

The money will likely not be used this year on projects, which will include the top priority of renovating the girl’s change room.

“We’re going to try and capitalize on what’s going on and raise some extra monies to be put toward arena renovations,” said Acton.

“We’ll likely start the projects in 2017 when we know what we have for a budget.”

Of course, hockey fans in the village and throughout the North Okanagan are waiting patiently to find out at what venue the NHL pre-season game will be played.

Lumby Kraft Hockeyville campaign organizer Angie Clowry said representatives from the NHL, Kraft and Mosaic (marketing agency) recently paid routine site visits to Lumby’s Pat Duke Memorial Arena and Vernon’s Kal Tire Place.

“There is no word as to when an announcement will be made,” said Clowry, “There has not been an arena agreement yet signed.”

Clowry said there will be a question-and-answer event in Lumby on Oct. 2 with a few of the NHL players. There will also be coaching clinics for Lumby Minor Hockey players.

When the arena announcement is made, the ticket lottery for the free pre-season game will be released.

“The announcement has to be close,” said Acton. “We have to figure out how to give the tickets out, set that up and put it in place. That’s an onerous job. Once we find out what’s happening, we can start to promote it and get things going around it.”

 



Roger Knox

About the Author: Roger Knox

I am a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. I started my career in radio and have spent the last 21 years working with Black Press Media.
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