Glace Bay minor hockey team wins Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup

A Glace Bay, N.S., minor hockey team has won thenational ChevroletGood Deeds Cup for exhibitinggood behaviour on and off the ice.

There were some glitches along the way for the GlaceBay Pee Wee A Miners, who led the competition before the plug was pulled late last month due to voting irregularities.

"It's wonderful, they're pumped," coach KenzieWaddensaid after the official announcement Saturday.

This is the first year for the contest. It comes with a $35,000 prize that will be divided among a charity, the team, local league and provincial association.

The rules for the cup are one vote per electronic device every 24 hours. The Miners, who represented Nova Scotia as one of the 13 finalists from the provinces and territories, were leading with more than 5,000 votes on the first day before being swamped by a flood of votes for two other teams.

Chevrolet then announced that online voting had been "compromised" and reset the competition. This time around, voting was held between March 30 and April 20.

For the team's entry, the Miners organized a Valentine's Day celebration for the67 residents of theTaigh Na Mara continuing care home in Glace Bay, passing outcupcakes, cookies, plants and good cheer. A videowas made of the event.

"I learned that a good deed can go a very long way," said player Carter MacNeil about the experience.

Wadden said he's proud of the team.

"They are an amazing group of young men," he said."The way they've matured over the past year."

Wadden said members also raised money for a fellow player in another division who has cancer.

The Alzheimers's Society of Nova Scotia will get $15,000 of the prize money, while $5,000 goes to the Glace Bay Minor Hockey Association and $5,000 to Hockey Nova Scotia. The teamwill receive $10,000.

During the competition, Glace Bay and a team from Alberton, P.E.I., battled for first place, Wadden said.

"It went back and forth. One day we would be first, then the next, it was them," he said.

Wadden said the Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup will be presented at a ceremony soon and team members plan to include someTaigh Na Mararesidents in the celebrations.