Golden resident, Curt Thorne, along with his community, will be receiving $100,000 for their minor hockey association from the Kraft: Hockey Goes On contest.

Less than two weeks ago the Golden community came together to throw their support behind the minor hockey coach, junior hockey president, restaurant owner, and community leader. Nearly 450,000 votes were cast in the Pacific region, giving Thorne $100,000 for the Golden Minor Hockey Association.

“I just want to thank Kraft, and all the volunteers,” he said after the announcement on TSN. “I’m just one of 100 people who could have won this here. I’m just glad to be the loudest one that they recognized.”

The awards, sponsored by Kraft Canada, were to recognize and thank those who dedicate so much of their time to hockey in their community. And Curt is eternally grateful to the women who thought so much of him, to put his name forward.

“All of us owe it to these two girls who took the initiative to write a letter about me… They recognized what we do in our little town. I can’t thank them enough.”

After that, the community took over.

Facebook and Twitter were buzzing for over a week, T-shirts were made, minor hockey players spread the message around town, and several businesses set up voting stations for people who didn’t have a computer.

“There’s lots of people to thank. There’s all of you first of all. I know that so many of you sat there and voted over and over again,” said Mr. Thorne to the crowd at the Wolf’s Den.

“Golden actually had the most likes and Tweets in all of Canada on our Kraft page. That’s pretty good for a small town.”

Mr. Thorne was also sure to thank Golden Minor Hockey president Brad Cable, all the coaches, parents, volunteers and board members, not to mention one thank you that was very close to his heart.

Contributed by Jessica Schwitek from the Golden Star