Hockey is the lifeblood of Canada, and Strathmore has been given the amazing opportunity to be one of the host towns for the 2019-2020 Roger’s Hometown Hockey. 

The Town of Strathmore was approached to apply to be a Hometown Hockey Tour stop and after a successful application, the town has received a coveted spot, “We heard back a couple months ago that we were officially one of the hosts. Everything was embargoed until September 10 when it is released and coincides with the NHL schedule, they try to match up games with host communities,“ explained Mark Pretzlaff, Recreation and Culture Manager for the Town of Strathmore. 

The Hometown Hockey Tour has been running for six seasons since October 2014. Each tour stop has a weekend festival with activities. Following the festival, Sportsnet will broadcast a Sunday national game which will be co-hosted by Ron MacLean and Tara Slone. 

“Once we finalize that with Rogers of where it is going to be in the town, then we are going to look at what other events we can plan and coincide with to make it a little bit bigger and better,” explained Pretzlaff. 

Pretzlaff added that the transformation of an area into hometown hockey will start early in the week before the weekend game. Festivities start on Saturday at noon and will run until 6 p.m. The festivities will include a Parade of Champions where the town will be partnering with the Strathmore Minor Hockey Association to assist in some of the planning. 

This will benefit the community by not only bringing business to town, but by helping to put Strathmore on the map, “Ultimately that is what we are trying to do here within the town is to bring events, such as this, to Strathmore to encourage people to recognize great things about Strathmore,” said Pretzlaff.

The Hometown Hockey Tour will stop in Strathmore for the December 22 game of the Calgary Flames versus the Dallas Stars.