If you trawl around Facebook or Pinterest long enough you are bound to come across some positive affirmation meme that uses a quotation attributed to Margaret Meade: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Entering a contest to be the next Kraft Hockeyville may hardly seem like a world changing thing, and yet for many hockey players, young and old, it is just that.
Enter Wayne Gatza, a man who twice in the last few years has pondered the what ifs of the sport he loves. What if we had a place for our hockey players to play beyond their junior careers? What if we started a Senior AA club in Morinville? Though some may have doubted it at the time, there is no doubting the fact the Morinville Senior AA Kings have twice ended in second place in the regular season. There is no doubting the club in its inaugural year brought high profile provincials to our community or in the fact the Kings hoisted that gold cup over their head at the end of it all.
And then there is the recent entry of Morinville into the Kraft Hockeyville 2015 competition and Saturday’s announcement we were in the Top 10.
Once again one man — Wayne Gatza — pondered the what ifs. What if Morinville was entered into that contest? What if the community rallied behind the idea? What if we made it all the way to the top and brought an NHL pre-season game and $100,000 to town?
It was Gatza’s enthusiams for the project that got 150 people out to the Ray McDonald Sports Center on Superbowl Sunday — itself a pretty incredible feat. It was Gatza’s enthusiams that got Paul Smith and Ed Bulger to “Kraft” an original song about Morinville’s love of hockey, two men who rallied the musical and non-musical troops together to record the same.
It was Gatza’s enthusiasm that got the Morinville News, the St. Albert Gazette and 97.9 — The Range to get behind the idea. From the Green Bean’s Hockeyville Burger to the library, Neighbors Vitamin Shop, Sobeys, Yorkshire Rose, and other businesses putting up displays in support, Gatza united our community on a common theme. All that remains is for us to vote this coming weekend to show our thanks.
