The town of Wolseley, Saskatchewan has made it to the Top Four finalists for the 2024 Kraft Hockeyville competition, and the Wolseley Kraft Hockeyville committee are hoping to secure the win with help from as many Saskatchewanians as possible. 

“Winning Hockeyville would be an amazing accomplishment for Wolseley, and we feel, actually, for Saskatchewan,” said Vance Weber, spokesperson for the committee. “It’s been 18 years that Hockeyville’s been running, and no Saskatchewan team has ever won it! 

“And I personally think that’s a tragedy, at this point. We’re hoping to change that. I know, with the support of Saskatchewan, we definitely will be able to.” 

Wolseley is a small town, but Weber said that practically all 850 residents are united to try and win Kraft Hockeyville. The Wolseley Sportplex became home to the Wolseley Minor Hockey Association in 2016, establishing a successful franchise for a Junior "C" hockey team competing in the Qu'Appelle Valley Junior Hockey League. 

Winning the $250,000 Hockeyville prize would enable the town to replace their 44-year-old artificial ice system, which was meant to have a lifetime of only 25 years. 

“Honestly, winning will be the difference between us having an ice plant that means we’ve got a great, environmentally friendly rink, and a concrete parking lot that Wolseley really just doesn’t need,” Weber explained. 

“Our town’s only 850 people, but the committee has at least 20 active people doing various roles. ... We’ve got a lot of different people involved ... and I can’t list all the names because I know I’ll miss somebody, but for a community our size, we’ve got a healthy percentage of the population helping out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen our whole community rally like this.” 

The upgrades to the town’s ice rink are not the only prize — the Kraft Hockeyville winner also gets the chance to host an NHL pre-season game. 

To help Wolseley win, register to vote at krafthockeyville.ca and follow the story on social media at facebook.com/WolseleySportsplex. 

Voting is open to all Canadian residents 14 and older, and participants can vote an unlimited number of times. Voting opens March 29 at 9 a.m. Eastern Time and closes March 30 at 5 p.m. ET. 

"What we need the people of Saskatchewan to do, is ... register to vote, and then, starting at 7 a.m. March 29th, all the way straight through to 3 p.m. on March 30th, we need you guys to vote. You can vote more than once — you can vote an unlimited amount of times. 

“Just keep on voting. Like I said, Saskatchewan’s never won it before, but I do know that Saskatchewan can win it now.”