Christmas came early for an Abbotsford girls hockey team, as they learned last week that they'd won a trip to Prince Edward Island to participate in Hockey Day in Canada.
On Tuesday, the Abbotsford Ice atom squad, comprised of 16 girls in the age 9-10 bracket, were practicing on the ice at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre when CBC hockey broadcaster Ron MacLean appeared on the jumbotron screen. He told the team they'd been picked as winners of a Scotiabank contest to fly a team to Charlottetown, P.E.I. for the annual hockey celebration on Feb. 11.
"It was a lot of fun," Ice team manager Rod Wiebe said, recalling the moment. "Ron MacLean gave them the message they were going to PEI, and they couldn't quite believe it. The looked at the coaches and myself and said, 'Did we win?' We said, 'Yeah, you've won.' And then they threw their gloves in the air, started screaming and jumping. It was quite exciting."
The Ice won Scotiabank's Bigger Save contest, in which minor hockey teams from across the country were encouraged to save money toward a team goal. The Abby squad raised $900 to attend a tournament in Surrey, which they accomplished by selling coupon books and doing other fundraisers.
As part of the Hockey Day in Canada festivities, the Ice will play an opponent from P.E.I.