Lakeview Arena reaches finals in Hockeyville competition

MARQUETTE — Lakeview Arena is one step closer to being named Hockeyville USA.

Lakeview Arena has advanced to the finals in the Kraft Hockeyville USA competition. Supporters have reached out across all platforms on social media and that’s how organizers believe they have been able to spread the word about voting for Lakeview.

“People can take that message, share it through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, anything that’s online. Plus just reaching out to all friends and family, and whatever contacts you have in the hockey community has been great. Everyone has contacts everywhere in the United States and Canada. It’s been great to see the amount of people that are chiming in and saying “We’re voting here from Arizona” and “We’re voting here from Maine” and “We’re voting for you here in Ontonagon” and it’s great to see,” Marquette Parks and Recreation Coordinator Andrew MacIver said.

The grand prize for the competition is a $150,000 grant to be used for arena upgrades, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL 2016 pre–season game. And as Lakeview currently sits in the final round of voting, the goal has become much bigger.

“The U.P. can say “we have Hockeyville USA here in the U.P.” And also the state of Michigan can say that, too. It’s just a great thing to see with everyone coming together and rallying behind, even if they don’t play hockey or even know what hockey is or even watch the game. They know what this means to us and they what it means for our whole community in the U.P. It’s money and an NHL preseason game coming here,” said MacIver.

Voting is already underway and continues until Tuesday night at 11:59 p.m. You can vote in two ways: go to krafthockeyville.com or text LAKEVIEW to 35350. You can vote up to 50 times, per method, per person, per day.