Hockeyville Hub: West Lorne

Kraft Hockeyville, now in its 15th year, awards winning communities in Canada a once-in-a-lifetime experience for hockey fans. This year, two different communities, West Lorne, Ontario, and Sydney, Nova Scotia, are hosting preseason games, with the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs playing at Joe Thornton Community Centre in St. Thomas, Ontario, on Wednesday, and the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators facing off at Centre 200 in Sydney on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; NHLN). In each community, the local rink received $250,000 in arena upgrades, and there will be festivities and player appearances prior to the games. NHL.com staff writer Jon Lane is in West Lorne to provide all the sights, sounds, highlights and news.

Wednesday

Sabres at home in Maple Leafs country

Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson grew up in London, about a half hour north of St. Thomas, and played for several local teams. He was first off the bus Wednesday to walk the red carpet and greeted a sea of kids and adults wearing Maple Leafs blue and white.

He felt home again, knowing he's in for a unique experience.

"You can tell they're happy and that this doesn't happen or occur often," Bryson said. “They're so excited and so are we. It's awesome to see them smile and even the parents are smiling too. I don't think I've ever seen this rink full, honestly. I've only practiced here but it's a pretty good barn. It's got everything you need to make a good game."

Hockeyville is also a first for Dylan Cozens. The Sabres forward never has been part of a police escort. Once off the bus, he happily obliged the opposing and dominant fan base.

"I signed a few Leafs jerseys, which I wasn't too pleased about," Cozens said with a laugh. "I couldn't say no to the kids, just putting myself in their position. No matter what team you cheer for, anytime you get to see an NHL player it's really cool."

Buffalo coach Don Granato has embraced the atmosphere. His message is enjoy it and realize it's another day closer to the regular season.

"I'm not sure how we were selected or appointed, but it's an honor and a privilege to be in a game like this," Granato said. "You see this atmosphere and you get excited about it from that point, and then you say OK, what other business do we have to attend to getting ready for the season how can we use this to best march toward that initiative."

The best day ever

The look on the face and the tone of Lillian Siertsema's voice said it all.

"This is the best day of my life," said the eighth-grade student from Aldborough Public School in Rodney shortly after Sabres defenseman Owen Power gave her an autograph.

Siertsema and her friends were at the red-carpet ceremony welcoming the Maple Leafs and Sabres to Hockeyville on Wednesday, one day after the Stanley Cup visited their school as part of a day-long tour through West Lorne.

The "best day of my life" angle is well-played here at Hockeyville.

About an hour before the Sabres walked the red carpet into Joe Thornton Community Centre, the Maple Leafs did theirs. Captain John Tavares got off the bus and went toward a group of kids from St. Mary's elementary school.

Their teacher, Krista Donovan, has waited 43 years for the Cup to return to Toronto. Today she's settling for the best day ever.

"Die hard bleed blue and white my whole life," Donovan said. "I remember my dad taking me to Maple Leaf Gardens back in the day, but I never got this close before. The excitement around the school and the community are amazing."

The Maple Leafs finished practice and the Sabres are on the ice. The atmosphere here is already a party and Toronto forward Matthew Knies was amazed. The 20-year-old grew in Phoenix as a fan of the Arizona Coyotes and this welcoming party was something he never experienced.

"It's a good feeling," Knies said. "I remember being one of those kids when I was younger and so to kind of give back and be on the other side of it, it's pretty fun and warms my heart to give those kids joy."

Tuesday

Pandemonium

AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blared through speakers set up inside West Elgin Secondary School. None of the kids in the bleachers of the gymnasium needed riling up. That didn’t stop faculty or the mascot from turning the decibel level higher.

The Stanley Cup then arrived, and it was cranked to 11. Though the trophy leaves town after a community celebration, Hockeyville is here through eternity. The fun continues when students and teachers from West Elgin Secondary, St. Mary’s Elementary down the street, Dunwich Dutton Public School and Aldborough Public School travel to Joe Thornton Community Centre in St. Thomas to see the Sabres and Maple Leafs walk the red carpet.

The staff at every school were sworn to secrecy. That may have been harder than the planning.

“It really is an opportunity of a lifetime for many of them,” West Elgin Secondary principal Mary Saunders said. “What a privilege, right? It’s one of the nice rewards from winning Hockeyville. I've never seen like this anything like this in my career. It’s really special.”

Community Royalty

Two of West Elgin's most beloved residents were surprised with a visit from the Stanley Cup to begin a two-day celebration of Kraft Hockeyville 2023 on Tuesday.

Chris Cipu is 54 years old and living at the Bobier Villa Nursing Home in Dutton, one of a handful of small communities including West Lorne under the West Elgin municipality. Down syndrome never stopped him from enjoying life, whether it was his swagger that family members say always made him the life of the party, rooting for the Detroit Red Wings or cheering on the West Lorne Comets as their No. 1 fan. Even with Chris' declining health, his ability to draw people to him remains unbreakable.

Many of those people were outside Chris's room to watch him get his hands on the Stanley Cup, his grip strong enough to offer resistance when it was time for Stanley to be packed and sent on the next leg of its tour. Though it's often hard to tell whether he's aware of his surroundings, there was a sense that Chris' emotions were tangible. One family member said, "He kissed the Cup."

Charlotte Littlejohn is Chris' first cousin and caregiver, bonded by family and their mutual love for the Red Wings. Anytime there was a big party or event, Chris was there like he was in charge.

"He just brought so much joy and love and light to the world and everyone who knew him, and our family was so lucky to have him in it," Littlejohn said. "His No. 1 passion were his people and everyone was his friend. Anything that they were involved in he just wanted to get behind all the time. He just loved everyone."

Minutes from downtown and West Lorne Arena lives Mike Rivard, a local hockey coach for more than 30 years whose name is synonymous with community spirit and those who came through the West Lorne Minor Hockey program, including New York Islanders center Bo Horvat. His neighbors were perplexed when a convoy filled the side streets of his neighborhood, kids playing street hockey who put that aside to gather on Rivard's driveway, the front of his house decorated with balloons colored in Comets black and gold.

The Cup was then settled in front of the house. True to this reputation, Rivard shared the wealth.

"There's a lot of other people that were entitled to it just as much at me," he said. "I guess I was lucky."

The NHL and Kraft worked with Ryan Rivard, Mike's son and a retired forward who played professional hockey in the Central Hockey League, ECHL and SPHL. Ryan flew from his home in Atlanta to Detroit and drove 90 minutes northeast for "the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Breathtaking," Ryan said. "One of things that you would never dream of in a million years that it would ever happen. I know it rejuvenated this small town. It's going to give us some ability to grow our franchising, promote the game hockey. I talked to some of the folks that running West Lorne minor hockey and they said that their registration double from last year ever since they even announced that we're in the running for Hockeyville."

Synergism in Southwest Ontario

Top of the morning from London, which brings breakfast and my first visit to West Lorne for a tour that will take the Stanley Cup to local nursing homes and schools in the community. The Cup will be present when the community celebration begins at 4 p.m. ET with the ribbon cutting of "Hockeyville Lane." NHL Alumni Darcy Tucker and Rob Ray will sign autographs at the event, that features food, fun and games. Always my favorite part of the trip.

Kraft Hockeyville has given out more than $4.5 million and an abundance of priceless memories to at least 93 communities across Canada beginning with Deuville Rink in Salmon River, Nova Scotia, at the inaugural 2006 event. Unique to West Lorne and Sabres-Maple Leafs on Wednesday will be a homecoming of sorts with Toronto forwards John Tavares (Mississauga) and Mitchell Marner (Markham), and Buffalo defenseman Owen Power (Mississauga) all on the ice.

Hockeyville 2018 was a landmark event for Tavares. It was his first game with the Maple Leafs after signing a seven-year, $77 million contract and he scored two goals in a 4-1 win against the Senators.

"I had a great experience," Tavares said. "People were fantastic, so no doubt it should only be similar in St. Thomas and obviously Joe Thornton playing here a few years ago and the connection with him to St. Thomas just adds to it as well."

Marner turned down a scholarship from the University of Michigan to play for London of the Ontario Hockey League, helped the Knights win the 2016 Memorial Cup and was named tournament MVP. His billet families are in the area, and he considers himself lucky it remains a home away from home.

"It's very close to my heart," Marner said. "That area is amazing for hockey. I know it's a little bit outside of London but it's a very close drive and I know there's a lot of fans there that support the Knights and support the Leafs, so to go play there is a special thing."

The synergism extends to St. Thomas, where Thornton grew up playing minor hockey for the Travelers and bantam for the Junior B St. Thomas Stars of the Ontario Hockey Association. The community honored the forward of 24 NHL seasons with a ceremony June 23, 2018, that renamed Timken Community Centre. Present was Thornton's former teammate, San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture. His hockey roots are in Lucan, where he helped his Ontario Minor Hockey Association team to the Red Lobster Cup in 1998 before playing for the London Junior Knights.

"Southwestern Ontario area, it's hockey," Couture told me in August. "The Lucan arena needed an upgrade, the West Lorne one needs an upgrade. It just means a lot for those kids in those small communities that some NHL players come out of there and it gives them a chance to think it could be them one day. To think a game is coming to your community and to experience that and what that's all about is pretty remarkable so it's great to see the support they show for the event."

NHL.com independent correspondent Dave McCarthy contributed to this report

Monday

Cars, tractors and Hockeyville

West Lorne is linked by Elgin County Road 76 to Highway 401 giving access to Windsor, Chatham, St. Thomas, London, Brantford and Toronto. I landed in Toronto on Monday and drove two hours southwest down Highway 403 to the 401 to London, my headquarters for the first leg of another Kraft Hockeyville adventure.

The journey was a milestone and a sense of déjà vu. I covered my first Hockeyville Canada five years ago, taking the same route to London and then 30 minutes north to Lucan Community Memorial Centre. Voting has kept me on the East Coast for subsequent visits: Renous, New Brunswick, in 2019, and after a three-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick, for Hockeyville 2021.

The NHL has had to make up for lost time by holding two events each of the past two years. Last fall, Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador, the 2020 winner, preceded Elsipogtog First Nation. This time it's West Lorne and Sydney, Nova Scotia, victorious in 2022, later this week. Geography is allowing me to visit both communities, each with tales of coming together to campaign for a noble cause.

West Lorne, 45 minutes from London, is a small community offering natural wonders and roadside attractions. The population is 1,300, and their rallying cry is, "We may be small, but we are mighty." That resolve helped them host Hockeyville and the Sabres-Maple Leafs preseason game, and receive funding to renovate West Lorne Arena.

The town hosted a car show in July and a tractor pull at an annual fair in Rodney last weekend, drawing crowds from around the region. Though Hockeyville leaves town after the game, hockey is forever rooted in West Lorne, where people will return again and again to experience and relive something new.

Ask Jessica Small, who with Maryjo Tait organized the winning bid.

"It shows that hockey is everywhere, and it touches everyone in this community," she said.