The Millarville Sports Association is the big winner of the Calgary Hitmen Foundation's Community Facility Restoration funding contest.

Association Chairman Bryan Pederson says over the last three days over 21,000 votes came in to put them over the top and it took a lot of effort from everyone.

"I can say it's not different than any of the effort that's put into our hockey season, it's made up of many, many people and, you know, people were voting religiously and it finally paid off," Pederson says. "My wife was actually playing basketball in New Zealand and she was literally meeting people on the bus and telling them to vote for Millarville, and all the teams she played against, same sort of thing."

The Millarville Sports Association will receive $50,000 from the Hitmen Foundation, which Pederson says is a good start to getting a concrete floor down on the outdoor rink so they can extend the season of both their outdoor pond hockey league and the other sports and events that the rink is used for throughout the year.

He says they will still require some more volunteer efforts from the local community to make it all happen. They also plan on moving the players benches and building platforms for the parents to watch the games from.

A cheque presentation and community celebration will be held at the Millarville School Tuesday May 2, at Noon with the Hitmen and the Flames food truck providing grub. Pederson expects the whole community to come out and take part.

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