Hockeyville

Kraft Hockeyville is an annual competition sponsored by Kraft Foods, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association in which communities compete to demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey. The winning community gets a cash prize dedicated to upgrading their local home arena, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game. Runners-up also get smaller cash prizes to upgrade their ice rinks. The contest is normally held in the winter and spring during the latter half of the NHL regular season, with the pre-season game usually held in September before the following regular season.

The idea and theme was developed by Capital C, a Canadian Advertising Agency that was founded by Tony Chapman. The contest itself was developed by Fred Nicolaidis, Pamela McNair, and Harry Doupe of the CBC. The competition was first held across Canada in 2006 as a reality television series aired by CBC Television, but since 2007, it has been relegated to segments aired during CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. In 2015, Kraft Hockeyville was expanded into the United States, with a separate competition for communities in America; segments of the US contest are aired on the NHL on NBC.

The Kraft Hockeyville games are televised nationally. From 2006 to 2014, the game was broadcast across Canada on CBC, while Sportsnet took over airing it in 2015. The Hockeyville USA game is televised nationally in the U.S. on NBCSN.

The inaugural 2006 season of Hockeyville featured finalists Smithers, British Columbia, Falher and Airdrie, Alberta, Barry's Bay, Ontario, and as its very first champion, the community of Salmon River, Nova Scotia. Salmon River's entry, the "Deuvilles Rink", beat 450 other entries from across Canada. The initial four episodes for the 2006 season were shot at the Memorial Centre in Kingston, Ontario, with the final three episodes shot in Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena & Skating Centre in Hamilton, Ontario.

...
Wikipedia