Cassie comes to town

SALMON RIVER - The longest serving captain in Canadian hockey history is not surprised Salmon River was the inaugural winner of the Hockeyville title.
Cassie Campbell-Pascall, who wore the 'C' for the national team from 2001 to 2006, visited Deuville's Rink Tuesday for an upcoming segment to promote this year's program.
"To me, this embodies everything about hockey: family, friends, community," Campbell-Pascall said from the hallway of the family-owned and operated rink. "I can completely understand why they won."
Deuville's Rink was created by Webb and Marg Deuville in 1958. The story of its evolution captured the community in 2006 as it advanced through the first season of the CBC-TV Kraft program becoming forever known as the initial Hockeyville.
Campbell-Pascall is visiting the winners and putting together followups. Salmon River's is expected to air March 6.
"Each community has something special and a different story on how hockey has helped their community or someone in the community," she said.
But the well-known hockey personality added Deuville's stands out given the building's history and the family, who started it, still lives at the rink. She toured the facility, looked at the scrapbooks containing many of the 10,000 plus photos taken during its bid and even watched a group of women play hockey.
"You can see how proud they are to have won the first Kraft Hockeyville," she said after viewing a shrine in the rink.
Campbell-Pascall spent time with Webb and Ellery, who run the rink today.
"What amazes me over the years is the amount of people who come up to the rink visiting," Ellery said, and "Dad was always there, opening the doors letting them through."
A lot has been accomplished by the community's victory. The rink has received $50,000 in repairs and at least 75 kids have been registered and outfitted in hockey equipment.
"Probably the biggest things that came out of Hockeyville was the society," Ellery said, noting funds raised through summer golf tournaments hosted by the society allowed the kids to play the popular sport.
Women's hockey has also exploded at the rink with six teams playing in the popular Sunday night league. "No one enjoys it any more than those girls do," Ellery said.