The town of Sylvan Lake, Alberta, could fit its entire population into the home arenas of both the Calgary Flames® and the Arizona Coyotes® with room to spare; however, as the winner and host of Kraft Hockeyville 2014, the community will welcome both teams to the Sylvan Lake Multiplex on Wednesday, September 24th for a pre-season NHL© game that will air nationally on CBC.
The game will be available live online at CBCSports.ca beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, and on CBC-TV at 7 p.m. ET in Ontario and to the east, and at 7 p.m. local time in Manitoba and to the west. Sportsnet 360 will also carry CBC’s broadcast of the game live across Canada beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
“CBC is proud to continue to support and celebrate the spirit of community and grassroots hockey across Canada with the Kraft Hockeyville broadcast from Sylvan Lake,” said Jeffrey Orridge, executive director, CBC Sports. “Initiatives like Kraft Hockeyville and the Hockey Night in Canada Help Fund have long been an important part of CBC’s support of amateur and grassroots athletics at the local level, and to see the product of these efforts shared with viewers across the country is always rewarding.”
Ron MacLean will host the broadcast and welcome Canadians to Sylvan Lake. Once the puck has dropped, the play-by-play team of Rick Ball and Kelly Hrudey will call the action with Cassie Campbell-Pascall providing additional insight and reports from ice level. Don Cherry will join MacLean during the first intermission for a special on-site edition of Coach’s Corner. Fans across Canada can connect with the celebrations in Sylvan Lake by following @hockeyville on Twitter and facebook.com/krafthockeyville.
As the winner of Kraft Hockeyville 2014, the community of Sylvan Lake will benefit from $100,000 in arena upgrades in addition to hosting the pre-season game. The Hockey Night in Canada Help Fund has also been providing assistance to eligible groups across the country for several years to help break down financial and geographical barriers and make hockey more accessible to more Canadians.
The Hockey Night in Canada Help Fund has donated more than $163,000 to community hockey teams, leagues and organizations across Canada since 2006. Since 2009, funds have been raised through an annual online auction with the support of the NHL, the NHLPA and Scotiabank. This year, nine organizationswill benefit from a share of more than $54,000 in financial assistance. For more information, visit CBCSports.ca/helpfund.
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About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages.
A space for us all is CBC/Radio-Canada’s new strategy to modernize the public broadcaster and ensure that it continues to fulfill its mandate for Canadians and for future generations. Through to 2020, it will increase its investment in prime time television programming, and continue to create radio programs of the highest quality, while promoting the development of digital and mobile platforms and content.
For more information including series synopses, press releases, hi-res images, video clips and bios, please visit the CBC Media Centre at cbc.ca/mediacentre. Follow CBC’s publicity team on Twitter @CBC_Publicity.
For further information, please contact:
Simon Bassett, publicist, CBC
simon.bassett@cbc.ca 416-205-8533 (Office) 416-988-1590 (mobile)
