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From YouTube: Verbrugge View - BIG Hockeyville Party
Description
This week's Verbrugge View comes to you from the viewing party at the Bloomington Ice Garden for the Kraft Hockeyville USA contest announcement. While BIG didn't snag the grand prize, it got the runner-up prize of $75,000 for rink improvements.
A
What
started
as
a
longshot
entry
into
a
national
contest
has
turned
out
to
be
a
fantastic
community
building
event
of
the
year
for
our
Bloomington
area,
Hockey
Association
and
the
Bloomington
ice
yard.
This
week
on
the
Verbruggen
view,
we're
going
to
see
what
happens
at
the
big
reveal
here:
Bloomington
eyes,
garden,
I'm,
city
manager,
Jamie
Rudy.
Why
don't
you
come
along
with
me
and
we'll
go
inside
for
the
excitement.
A
So
I'm
here
at
the
blooming,
tonights
garden,
where
a
lot
of
our
community
came
today
to
find
out.
If
we
were
going
to
take
the
top
prize
in
the
Kraft
Hockeyville
USA
contest,
we
made
it
into
the
top
ten
because
of
an
essay
that
was
submitted
by
Jody
Hogan,
a
parent
in
the
Bloomington
area.
Hockey
Association
and
through
the
voting
of
the
community,
ended
in
the
top
two
other
about
1300
ice
arenas
in
the
country
that
started
out
in
this
contest.
It
came
down
to
us
and
a
nice
garden
in
Belle
Vernon
Pennsylvania.
A
Now
the
unfortunate
thing
is
we
didn't
take
the
top
prize,
which
also
includes
$150,000
and
an
NHL
preseason
game.
Congratulations
to
Belle
Vernon
Pennsylvania
in
the
roster
over
ice
Garden
for
that,
but
for
our
own
arena
by
virtue
of
coming
in
second
place,
we've
won
$75,000
for
arena
upgrades
and,
frankly,
it's
really
due
to
the
support
and
the
advocacy
and
enthusiasm
of
the
parents
and
the
players
and
the
supporters
of
the
Bloomington
area.
A
Hockey
Association
of
the
Figure
Skating
folks
that
utilize
our
arena
of
everybody
who
has
grown
up
in
the
city
of
Bloomington
and
has
spent
time
at
the
Bloomington
ice
garden.
This
place
is
one
of
the
central
gathering
places
of
our
community
and
it
will
continue
to
be
so.
You
can
just
see
by
the
amount
of
activity
that
goes
on
here.
A
How
important
this
is
as
an
asset
for
our
city
in
developing
community
and
the
contest
itself
turned
into
a
tremendous
community
building
opportunity
where
thousands
of
people
we're
indicating
how
much
they
support
the
Bloomington
eyes
dart.
So
we're
going
to
meet
a
couple
of
people
who
were
really
instrumental
making
sure
that
we
got
to
this
point.
A
So
let's
go
and
talk
to
those
folks
right
now
we're
here
with
Jodi
Hogan
Jodi's
essay
is
what
vaulted
Bloomington
ice
gardens
from
the
first
1,300
ice
arenas
into
the
top
ten,
and
so
we
thought
it'd
be
really
important
to
hear
from
Jodi.
So
tell
me
a
little
bit
about
your
history
in
the
city
of
Bloomington,
so.
B
B
They
wanted
you
to
relate
it
to
your
community,
and
the
way
I
related
to
my
community
is
even
though
I
wasn't
that
the
most
popular
person
at
the
Jefferson
High
School
hallways
the
amazingness
of
what
the
team
was
doing,
was
still
exciting
for
everybody.
So
I
got
caught
up
in
the
spirit
and
then
I
turn
around
and
30
years
later,
I'm
back
here,
raising
my
own
Jefferson
jagwire.
Anything.
B
A
Are
the
people
who
were
instrumental
in
putting
Bloomington
Knights
garden
into
position
to
be
considered
for
the
top
prize?
Kraig
Terraria,
the
presidents
of
the
Bloomington
area
hockey
association,
Lennie
Schmitz,
is
the
chair
of
our
parks,
arts
and
Recreation
Advisory
Commission
at
the
city
of
Bloomington.
So
Craig
tell
me
a
little
bit
about
bajas
involvement.
C
Bah-Ha,
actually
Lenny
was
the
first
one
to
kind
of
bring
it
up
to
Baja
that
this
contest
is
coming
up
and
we
just
distributed
communications
throughout
the
Association
throughout
Bloomington
that
we
should
all
consider.
You
know
how
much
the
rink
means
to
us
and
how
we
should
submit
essays
and
Network
a
lot
of
us
did
it
and
it
was
just
spent
happening
so.
D
Know
my
thought
was,
why
not
big
you
know
it's
all
started
with
an
idea.
You
know
if
other
links
can
do
it.
We've
got
one
of
the
greatest
hockey
communities
around
and
let's
give
it
a
chance
and
make
a
concerted
effort
together
as
multiple
associations-
and
you
know,
look
what
we
got.
You
know
so
think
big
we're
still
there
and
maybe
next
year,
so.
A
D
You
know
Bloomington
is
a
great
asset
to
the
community
of
Livington,
also
regional
asset,
when
you
start
thinking
about
all
of
the
people
that
come
through
Bloomington
to
play
here,
whether
you're
in
a
diner
Minnetonka
or
pretty
much
anywhere
in
Minnesota.
If
you
don't
come
through
here
with
your
hockey
career,
you
probably
didn't
play
very
long
because
of
all
the
tournaments
and
activities.