Nova Scotia community rallies behind Tyne Valley Hockeyville bid after rink burns

Responding to "dire straits"on P.E.I., the Sackville Flyers of Lower Sackville, N.S., are withdrawing their Kraft Hockeyville bid to support Tyne Valley, P.E.I.

Jamie Munroe put together the nomination for the Sackville Flyers, and said their local rink was starting to get some attention. But as he tracked his own group's progress he couldn't avoid Tyne Valley.

"Every time I'd go on Kraft Hockeyville I kept seeing all the pictures and stuff in Tyne Valley,"Munroetold CBC Radio's Island Morning Monday.

"I just I was wondering how they had so many rally points and so many people posting photos."

He heard the full story last weekend when he took his son to a minor hockey tournament in Montague, P.E.I. He struck up a conversation with one of the localfans, who happened to be a Tyne Valley firefighter, and learned how the rink was destroyed by fire a few days after Christmas.

"It just pulled at my heartstrings," said Munroe.

"We have two rinks that work. Our kids go there every weekend. Yeah, they need upgrades, but we're not in as dire straits as Tyne Valley, P.E.I., is."

When he got home, Munroe posted on Facebook that he was withdrawing Lower Sackville's Hockeyville bid and throwing his support to Tyne Valley. He wants to see other Maritime communities do the same.

"When something like this happens we should all band together and become one big giant province and help out our neighbours," he said.

Munroe said Lower Sackville can wait another year, and he will put together a bid again in 2021.

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