The annual Glace Bay Minor Hockey Draw is the hottest ticket in town this time of year, and Sunday’s draw was one of the biggest ever.
They came from all over Cape Breton for a piece of the pie, many already making plans for what they would do with the money.
“Give it to my grandkids and my kids, make sure their RSPs are okay. Maybe take a cruise, who knows?” says Pat Applin.
“I need the money, I would pay off all my bills,” says Bill Windsor.
Sunday’s long lineups once again proved that the Glace Bay Minor Hockey 50-50 draw is as popular as any of its kind in Canada.
In fact, the jackpot for this year’s 50-50 draw was so big, organizers needed a bigger drum.
“We were anticipating today’s draw to be higher, just based on the previous weeks leading up the Christmas draw, which is historically always the biggest draw,” says Glace Bay Minor Hockey President James Edwards.
The excitement grew in the arena as the moment everyone was waiting for finally arrived.
“For a total of $123,696.50, the winner is Alexandra Guthro”, announced Edwards.
Organizers then reached Guthro via a phone call that she will likely never forget.
“Oh my God!” Guthro repeated from her New Waterford home, when she was informed that her lucky ticket made her the winner of nearly $124,000.
The Minor Hockey association used to fundraise using NHL hockey pools, but when the NHL went on strike in 1994, it left Edwards wondering about different ways to fundraise.
“There’s no question it sells itself,” explains Edwards. “We get calls from people and merchants, I’ve had friends call from Lunenburg County and P.E.I.”
The funds raised by the draw go towards keeping the cost of playing hockey down. It works so well, that most of the kids registered to play hockey in Glace Bay don’t pay to play at all.
Last year’s Christmas draw winner received more than $116,000. The largest hand-out in the history of the draw was in 2014, when Frank Pickup of Dominion cashed in a cheque worth more than $144,000.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
