St. Paul, MN – April 22, 2017 – Bloomington is now one of just two communities remaining in the Kraft Hockeyville competition to find America’s most passionate hockey community. Bloomington has advanced to the finals of the competition after getting past Bloomington, Illinois in the last round of voting. Standing in the way of $150,000 of arena upgrades is Belle Vernon, PA and the Rostraver Ice Garden. By getting to the finals, Bloomington is assured of at least $75,000 in arena upgrades. The final round of voting opens at 11:00 PM on Sunday, April 23 and closes at 10:59 PM on Tuesday, April 25. The winner will be announced on Saturday, April 29.

Players in the Bloomington Jefferson, Bloomington Kennedy/Richfield and Bloomington Girls Youth Hockey organizations play at Bloomington Ice Garden, which was built in 1970 and is affectionately known as “BIG.” With three youth organizations hosting numerous games and tournaments, Bloomington Ice Garden is one of the busiest ice arenas in the State of Hockey. It has served as home to some of the best high school teams and best players the United States has ever produced, including current Minnesota Wild star, Zach Parise. “BIG” was also the training home of the 1980 United States “Miracle on Ice” team, which was coached by the legendary Herb Brooks and won the gold medal in Lake Placid.

In addition to money for the upgrading of the rink, the winning community of the Kraft Hockeyville contest will have the honor of hosting an NHL Preseason game at their home arena.

“What a run for a very deserving hockey community in Bloomington,” said Minnesota Hockey President, Dave Margenau. “It’s been so great to see the entire state getting behind Bloomington on social media. Let’s keep the momentum going to push Bloomington into the winner’s circle!”

Bloomington was one of over 7,500 communities that were nominated. Initially, 10 finalists were selected based on criteria that reflect the community’s passion for hockey, community spirit and creativity/originality. St. Michael-Albertville was the last Minnesota community to reach the top 4 of the Kraft Hockeyville competition, doing so in 2015.

There are three (3) methods to vote once the voting period opens on Sunday night: (a) visit the Website and follow the links and instructions to vote; (b) visit the Website and follow the links and instructions to click on the tweet button to vote via Twitter. To vote via Twitter, you must be a registered Twitter account user and must be in compliance with Twitter platform rules; or (c) use a two-way text-messaging capable device and text the applicable Finalist Submission's keyword (BloomingtonMN) to 35350 to vote. Each eligible voter may vote fifty (50) times via the website and via text per day during each Voting Phase.