The City of Lacombe and Mayor Grant Creasey announced that the City has been selected, alongside three other Albertan communities, to host this year’s edition of Rogers Hometown Hockey.
“The City of Lacombe is proud to partner with Rogers to offer this once-in-a-lifetime community event,” said Mayor Creasey. “Hometown Hockey provides us with a great opportunity to showcase our beautiful city and community spirit to the many visitors who will attend the festival, and to television audiences across Canada.
“It also allows us to share Lacombe’s rich hockey culture and history, which began with the storied Lacombe Rockets of the 1950s and continues today with the Lacombe Generals, three-time Allan Cup champions.”
The event will come into Lacombe from Feb. 3rd to 4th and will coincide with the airing of the Ottawa Senators versus Montreal Canadians game at 10:30 a.m. local time.
The day will include a free family-friendly hockey festival with music and activities and will be featuring NHl alumni appearances. An outdoor live broadcast of the NHL game will also include Ron MacLean and Tara Sloan hosting live from the Sportsnet Mobile Studio.
“Set up for Rogers Hometown Hockey take places on February 1 and 2,” said Community Economic Development Manager Guy Lapointe. “The festival grounds will occupy 50 Street from 50 Avenue to 51 Avenue, 50 Avenue from Highway 2A to 51 Street, and the northernmost section on 49C Avenue. The area will be closed to vehicle traffic; local detours will be in effect.”
More than 10,000 people are expected to take part in the event and the Lacombe Generals game against the Innisfail Eagles has been moved from Jan. 31st to Feb 4th at 11 a.m. to allow the Sportsnet crew to grab footage of the game.
“This will surely be a positive source of national attention for our league and brand of hockey so we hope to see you at the rink,” Generals General Manager Jeff McInnis said.
-Vaughan