'Compromised' online voting skewers contest for minor hockey's Good Deeds Cup
Glace Bay team says it was in first place until votes for two other teams 'skyrocketed'
Online voting for the national Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup, awarded to a minor hockey league team which exhibits good behaviour on and off the ice, has been halted midway through the contest.
That's a disappointment to the Glace Bay Pee Wee A Miners, which represents Nova Scotia as one of the 13 finalists from the provinces and territories.
The team had been leading in votes, with more than 5,000 on the first day, team coach Kenzie Wadden said Monday.
The rules are one vote per electronic device every 24 hours.
Online voting process compromised
"We were doing really well at the start of the day, we were in first place. Then two teams just sky-rocketed," Wadden said.
Chevrolet Canada announced on its website the online voting had been compromised and that it was resetting the voting process, starting again from zero.
In the meantime, the company said it is taking measures to increase security and will re-start the voting when it is confident of its fairness. No date has been set.
The young Glace Bay hockey players visited a local nursing home to celebrate Valentine's Day with the residents and created a video of their experience for their contest entry.
Needs to be a fair contest
"It's unfortunate it happened and stuff, but I mean, we can bounce back from it, that's not a problem," Wadden said.
"People were really active with it and it was fresh in their minds. We're just nervous people won't come back to vote again."
Most importantly, he said he wants to make sure the online voting issues get resolved and it's a fair contest.
"Because it is the Good Deeds Cup, right? So we don't want any cheating or any of that going on and if we lose and we did it the right way, well, we put up our best battle, that's the main thing."
The winning team gets $15,000 — $5,000 for the charity of their choice and the remainder for the team. The Glace Bay Pee Wee A Miners have selected the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia as its charity.