WENTWORTH CREEK, N.S. — West Hants council is eager to launch a new project, one that will see hockey fans from across the globe considering the area to be a must-see destination.
Warden Abraham Zebian and Coun. David Keith recently pitched the idea of creating an Atlantic Canada National Hockey Hall of Fame, and council voted in favour of directing staff to investigate the proper structure for a committee to begin working on the idea. They may also reach out to the Town of Windsor to work on the project jointly.
“It's a David Keith brainchild that is a fantastic idea and we're going to go with it,” said Zebian in an interview.
Zebian said the idea is modeled after the Hockey Hall of Fame, which is located in Toronto. The Hockey Hall of Fame was first established in 1943 in Kingston, Ontario as a way to celebrate the sport and its athletes, but was later relocated. Nearly 300 players, more than 100 builders and upwards of 20 on-ice officials have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
It also serves as a museum and houses various memorabilia, including the coveted Stanley Cup.
“There are a lot of people who have built the game that aren't honoured in the national Hockey Hall of Fame that we could honour at the Atlantic Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame,” said Zebian.
The warden said since the region lays claim to being the birthplace of hockey, it makes sense for them to pursue building a state-of-the-art attraction to honour those who contributed to the sport.
“How can we celebrate the birthplace of hockey and how can we honour the game of hockey?” asked Zebian. “It was floated around that there's a lot of builders to the sport, there's a lot of players from all four Atlantic provinces that nobody even knows are from here. There are Stanley Cup champions that nobody knows about.”
He cited a number of athletes that could be honoured in the Atlantic Canada Hockey Hall of Fame, including Al MacInnis and Colin White, both retired NHLers from Nova Scotia, who, he says, deserve to be in the spotlight for their contributions to the sport.
Current Nation Hockey League stars like Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand and Nathan MacKinnon could also be highlighted at the facility.
Zebian said while the idea is in its early stages, council is committed to seeing the project progress sooner rather than later.
“It's very preliminary right now. It's a great idea that we're committed to making a reality with the help of many levels of government, other provinces, our own government here and municipal units,” said Zebian, who indicated he has already had some early discussions on how the project could be funded.
“It'd be a national draw, it'd be an international draw,” said Zebian.
The warden said the project is currently separate from the hockey arena that Windsor is working on getting off the ground. He said council believes that the community will support their vision as they move forward with the project.
“We're confident the community will be more than on board,” said Zebian. “It's only a positive for us. Our council is looking to build the positives, capitalizing on what we have here, what we're known for. So it's hockey, pumpkins, equestrian, vineyards. There's a lot of aspects that we're trying to capitalize on.”
