Tyne Valley misses out on Hockeyville grand prize
Community takes home $25,000 runners-up prize instead
Tyne Valley, P.E.I., lost out on the Kraft Hockeyville title and the $250,000 Grand Prize that comes with it.
The grand prize and the right to host an NHL pre-season game went to Twillingate, N.L., instead.
But the community, and two other runners-up (Pense, Sask., and Saint-Félicien, Que.) will each take home $25,000 to go toward rink upgrades.
The announcement was made by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday.
The winner was chosen based on the number of votes submitted through the Kraft Hockeyville website.
The Tyne Valley rink was destroyed in a fire in December.
Adam MacLennan, chair of the Tyne Valley's Kraft Hockeyville committee, and former manager of the rink, said the $250,000 top prize would have gone toward the cost of building a new rink for the town.
Earlier this summer, the federal, provincial and municipal governments agreed to collaborate in contributing $10.3 million to a new sports centre.
The municipality needed to raise $3.1 million as part of the agreement, much of which was going to be covered by insurance, Mayor Jeff Noye said in July when the new rink was announced.
But MacLennan said upwards of $1 million still needs to be raised. The $25,000 runners-up prize will go toward that cost.
O'Leary, P.E.I., won the Kraft Hockeyville title in 2017.