Gord Ouimet is an Elliot Lake, Ontario, resident since the 1950s and what one would call a hockey lifer. His father, Gord Sr., was a significant fundraiser for the Arena Fund Committee that led to the construction and opening of Centennial Arena.
Gord Jr. was a forward for the original Elliot Lake Vikings that debuted in the International Junior B Hockey League in 1965. He played for Lakehead University (Thunder Bay) in 1976-77, returned as Vikings president in 1970 and has devoted his life to coaching minor hockey in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League for more than 40 years.
Ouimet recently told a local girl the story of a dormant 55-year-old landmark. He showed her a beam he helped build when he was 14.
"All the different interest groups in town were assigned one arch to assemble in the building and then a big crane would put it in place on top of the pillars," Ouimet said. "We all literally had a hand in building it."
Virtually everyone throughout Northern Ontario had a hand in Elliot Lake winning Kraft Hockeyville, $250,000 in arena upgrades and $10,000 worth of youth hockey equipment from the NHLPA Goals & Dreams fund. A community overlooking Lake Huron with an estimated 2024 population of 11,768 and 5 1/2 hours northwest of Toronto will be celebrated when the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Ottawa Senators at Sudbury Community Arena on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, SN1, SN-PIT).
The Penguins make their Hockeyville Canada debut after going 1-1-0 in the United States. The Senators are 3-4-0 in Canada and participating for the third straight year. Forward Drake Batherson played hero at the 2021 event that exalted Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick, by scoring 2:45 into overtime to lift Ottawa to a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at J.K. Irving Centre in Bouctouche. Fifty-one weeks later in honor of 2023 winner Sydney, Nova Scotia, Batherson returned to where he played major junior hockey with four points (one goal, three assists) to defeat the Florida Panthers 4-2 at Centre 200.
Hockeyville 2024 is holistic medicine for a community with a checkered past. Elliot Lake was established in 1955 following the discovery of uranium in the area. According to legend, it was named after a cook from a logging camp lost in the bush while fishing. He was found in good health on a shore of what would be called "the lake where Elliot got found," shortened to Elliot's Lake and then Elliot Lake.
The town's original Ojibwe tribe name is Mooshgodne'gamiing, translated to “The lake is full of an abundance of fish.” The original Vikings brought a surplus of joy followed by what felt like nonstop bad news. The uranium mines closed in the early 1990s. The Vikings left for Nickel Centre in 1999, returning as a NOJHA expansion team in 2014 and then a roof collapse just before the end of the 2018-19 season forced a move to Blind River. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a one-year leave from the league in 2020-21. Rebranded the Red Wings, a sale effective Oct. 1, 2022, brought back the original Vikings name.
Once Centennial Arena reopens, facilities will be modern and fully operational, kids no longer traveling two-hours plus to play a game.
"What it means to me is (Hockeyville) should be here," Ouimet said. "What it means to me is it's something that is going to continue. There's a buzz in the town that something positive is happening."