Junior Hockey Lives On In Cransbrook

By E. Spencer Kyte
Love of Sports Correspondent

Theoretically speaking, 4,616 people can file into the Cranbrook Recplex on any given night.

Whenever the hometown team’s playing, that’s exactly how many people are in the building, not including the future NHL stars on the ice.

While hockey’s engrained and essential in many communities across Canada, the true impact and love of the game is best exemplified in towns like Cranbrook, British Columbia, where the Western Hockey League’s Kootenay Ice reside.

Major junior hockey extends well beyond the rink itself; it’s a community driven and supported entity that would fail without the neverending support and assistance of communities like Cranbrook.

With a population pushing 30,000, it’s far from a major metropolis; it’s a small town with a small town feel, where you never need to get beyond three degrees of separation to figure how you know someone.

While the Ice serve as the biggest sporting attraction in the area, they wouldn’t survive without the community, and that doesn’t just mean cheering fans in the stands.

Very few of the players who skate for the Ice are Cranbrook residents and need someplace to live. That’s where the community really steps up, as numerous families serve as billets for budding superstars and young journeyman alike.

This isn’t about having the “Next Sidney Crosby” in your home; it’s about giving a kid a place where they can feel like home even when they’re miles away from their actual address.

This dedication to the team isn’t reserved for Cranbrook. Across Canada, from Vancouver to St. John’s and countless points in between, families open up their doors to kids chasing their hockey dreams and give them everything they need. They do it for kids in the smallest of towns and the largest of centers, regardless of whether they’re playing in the top leagues or the lowest level around.

But in Cranbrook, it’s all about the Ice - and it’s a beautiful thing.

(You can read more of Kyte’s work at http://spencerkyte.blogspot.com.)