Top 12 announced for Kraft Hockeyville 2010

What hockey-crazed village will follow Terrace, British Columbia as Kraft Hockeyville 2010? Canada took a step closer to finding out on Monday night.

After reviewing more than 12,500 submissions, the Kraft Hockeyville 2010 judging panel has selected the top 12 communities for this year's competition. The criteria focused on community passion, spirit and love of the game of hockey.

The dozen communities advancing in the competition are: Tri-County, New Brunswick; Bishop Falls, Newfoundland; Alexandria, Ontario; Dundas, Ontario; Chateauguay, Quebec; Stanstead, Quebec; Cranbrook, British Columbia; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories; Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia; Timmins, Ontario; Drummondville, Quebec and Blackfalds, Alberta.

Canadians will determine which of the top 12 will advance to the top 5 by voting for their favorite community via any of the following official voting mechanisms; online by visiting CBCSports.ca/hockeyville, via telephone by calling 1-866-533-8066 or by texting "vote" plus the community name to 111888. Votes submitted outside these three channels will not qualify.

On Saturday, March 20, there will be a recap of the top 12 on CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada." Voting will close the following night at 11:59 p.m. ET. Once the votes have been tallied, the top 5 communities will be announced on "Hockey Night in Canada" on March 27. Canadians will then be asked to go back to the polls to determine which of the top 5 will be crowned Kraft Hockeyville 2010.

On Saturday, April 3, the Kraft Hockeyville team and "Hockey Night in Canada" crew will visit and broadcast live from each of the top 5 communities. The Kraft Hockeyville 2010 winner will be announced live that evening on Hockey Night in Canada.

The winning community will host a 2010-11 NHL pre-season game this September and win $100,000 in arena upgrades courtesy of Kraft Canada. Four runner-up communities will receive $25,000 each for arena upgrades from Kraft Canada.

The Kraft Hockeyville team will keep fans up-to-date throughout the competition. To view videos and receive insider updates, fans should join the Kraft Hockeyville Facebook Fan page, check out coverage on NHL.com and follow @hockeyville on Twitter.