Renous is Hockeyville
The Tom Donovan Arena is in Renous, New Brunswick. The arena is the heart of the community and its neighbouring community of Blackville. Many children start playing hockey in this arena at a very young age, similar to a lot of their parents. The Tom Donovan Arena was a dream that the locals had decades ago and with hard work and dedication the people of Renous came together volunteering their time to make the arena dream a reality.
Renous and Blackville were in a similar situation when the arena was in jeopardy of closure. The arena not only needed cosmetic upgrades but serious make-or-break upgrades. The need for a functioning arena led to the bid for Kraft Hockeyville.
In 2018, the communities suffered a tragic loss with the death of 14-year-old Thomas Dunn. Thomas had played hockey in the Renous arena since he started and he made a lot of connections with his coaches, teammates, and the arena staff. Thomas left a positive impression on anyone he met; he always had a smile. The organization committee for Kraft Hockeyville got in touch with Thomas’ family and asked if they could run in his memory. The family agreed so the organizing committee and the Brophy/Dunn family blended into one.
There was a Facebook page created to keep the people of the Renous and Blackville areas informed on the whole process. Overnight, the group had over 1000 people showing their support for the Kraft Hockeyvill bid.
The committee started in February and planned events until the day voting ended. Olivia Buggie a member of the community shed some light on the process.
Olivia states that “The committee with Thomas Dunn’s family got everyone involved in the community, we made signs, made posts and social media pages and encouraged people to vote and everything. We ended up getting top four and then spent two days straight, pretty much, voting for Renous.”
Olivia, as well as other members of the communities, get very emotional when talking about Kraft Hockeyville, not only did winning save the arena but the community of Renous was gathered in the recreation center, located in the same parking lot as the arena, where they found out they were named Kraft Hockeyville only minutes before Thomas Dunns’ 15th birthday.
Winning Kraft Hockeyville provided the arena with $250 000 and a chance to host an NHL pre-season game. The community of Renous opted to hold their NHL game in a larger arena in Bathurst, New Brunswick to allow more people to enjoy the reward. The arena also got “decked out” in Kraft Hockeyville logos and Kraft sponsorships. Most notably, their boards.
Daniel Richard, a committee member, and a very close family friend of the Brophy/Dunn family was interviewed about the experience and he too got emotional talking about the events. Richard pointed out some of the upgrades that the arena needed.
“They got a new ice plant, I think it’s called, it helps keep the ice frozen and put the ice in. They redid the kitchen, did small upgrades to the bathrooms and got a new score clock, they got new doors, and they repainted.”
The communities of Renous and Blackville will always remember the overwhelming emotions of winning Kraft Hockeyville, and they will feel it, and see all of their hard work every time they walk into the Tom Donovan Arena.
