West Lorne welcomes the Stanley Cup as the puck drops on Kraft Hockeyville celebrations

The Stanley Cup is heading to West Lorne Tuesday with a few stops along the way, as the town southwest of London gets ready to host a Kraft Hockeyville event and pre-season game between the Leafs and the Sabres. 

"We're really honoured to be able to provide this to community members that would never have the opportunity to see the Stanley Cup in person otherwise," said Jennifer Small, co-chair of the West Lorne Hockeyville committee. 

The town of 1,300 people was crowned the host earlier this spring beating out three teams from across the country in Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia. 

In 2018, another southwestern Ontario town played host to the event. Lucan residents cast more than 1-million votes to earn the title, and also received money to upgrade the local arena.

This time around, the plan is for the Cup to stop at the Bobier Villa, a retirement home in Dutton in the morning, and then move onto the home of a retired coach, whom organizers are not naming to make it a surprise.

"Everything's been planned with family members who have kept it a secret," said Small.

The cup is then being taken to all four schools in West Lorne and Dutton Dunwich before finishing its journey at Miller Park behind the West Lorne Arena at 4 p.m.

But the Stanley Cup isn't the only thing to see at the two-day community celebration. Organizers have planned a public meet-and-greet skate with NHL alumni Darcy Tucker and "Sugar" Rob Ray at the West Lorne community arena.

Pre-game fun for students

The arena is one of the reasons West Lorne was successful in its bid to host Kraft Hockeyville. The 55-year-old facility is a community hub but is in desperate need of upgrades. Community members rallied hard to secure the $250,000 that comes with the Hockeyville event. 

In addition, an extra $10,000 worth of youth hockey equipment from the National Hockey League Players' Association  is also part of the package. 

On Wednesday, the big draw is the pre-season NHL game between the Leafs and the Sabres with tickets going to players in the Western Minor Hockey Association, the West Elgin Skating Club and winners of a community lottery. 

That game's being held in St. Thomas at the Joe Thornton Community Centre.

"We'll be filling the arena to capacity with all of those small town folks, so there's some pretty significant excitement for that," said William Denning, the Ward 2 councillor for West Elgin.

Spirits high, and on display

On Tuesday, leftover decorations from the massive awareness campaign residents held to garner votes could still be seen, as well as new displays meant to show off town pride, and congratulate residents on the big win.

Here are some of those displays.