Rankin Inlet (Apr 10/06) - Hundreds of people showed their community spirit and love for the game of hockey on Williamson Lake in Rankin Inlet this past week.

The crowd was filmed as part of a video to promote Rankin in the Canada-wide Kraft Hockeyville 2006 contest.

More than 450 communities from across Canada entered the contest being shown on the CBC.

The communities were placed in five divisions, with 10 from each division advancing to the second round.

Rankin was one of 10 communities to advance from the Northern Division.

It is the only community selected from the three territories.

The next airing of the contest will be this coming Wednesday, April 12.

Rankin is known as Hockey Town in the Kivalliq region.

Doug McLarty is one of the committee members behind Rankin's entry to the contest.

He says the community is buzzing after surviving the first round.

"It's been a lot of work getting everything together for this, but, when you see the pride that was evident on Williamson Lake this past week, you don't worry about the hours you put in," says McLarty.

"Myself, Mayor Lorne Kusugak and our hamlet rec co-ordinator, Jackson Lindell, put the original submission together.

"We got Brian McKay involved because we needed his expertise in putting the video together.

"The videos of 25 communities will air on April 12 and the rest on April 19."

Kusugak wasn't surprised when Rankin made it to the final 50.

He says the people of the community can accomplish just about anything when they put their minds to it.

"Just like a hockey tournament, we don't go into something looking to finish second or third," says Kusugak.

"When Rankin goes for something, it goes all the way and I entered this thinking we had a chance to win.

"We have a tremendous sense of community spirit and we love hockey.

"Hopefully, that will be enough to let the country in on what we already know - Rankin is Hockeyville!"