‘Small but mighty’ West Lorne, Ontario, set to host Kraft Hockeyville

West Lorne, Ontario, loves being the underdog and showing why it's never about the size of who's in the fight.

The village is 45 minutes from the nearest city, London, Ontario, and home to West Lorne Arena, a 55-year-old rink with a seating capacity of 377 and an ice surface measuring 180-by-80 feet. What felt like the entire population of 1,300 packed into a high school gym for an April 1 viewing party and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman unveiling the winner of Kraft Hockeyville 2023.

The people had a rallying cry during three weeks of lobbying: "We may be small, but we are mighty. We are the West Lorne Comets." They won the grand prize of $250,000 in arena upgrades, a $10,000 donation of youth hockey equipment from the NHLPA Goals & Dreams Fund and an NHL preseason game when the Buffalo Sabres play the Toronto Maple Leafs at Joe Thornton Community Centre in St. Thomas on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS). For good measure, the Municipality of West Elgin gave an additional $150,000.

Sight and sound turned into bedlam, and that caught John Tavares' attention. The Maple Leafs captain is a Mississauga native rooted in the region. He was granted exceptional player status by the Ontario Hockey League at the age of 14, which allowed him to be eligible to be selected by Oshawa with the No. 1 pick in the 2005 OHL Draft. Tavares made his Maple Leafs debut at Hockeyville Canada 2018 in Lucan, scoring two goals in a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators.

"I don't think the support surprises you, but it certainly gives you perspective just because you don't do it very often or ever for a lot of players," Tavares said. "Growing up in Ontario and being from the area, experiencing southwestern Ontario growing up as a kid, it brings you back to a lot of those times of hoping to see the Leafs or the NHL. To think a game is coming to your community and to experience that and what that's all about is pretty remarkable, so it's great to see the support they show for the event."

Funding is giving West Lorne Minor Hockey the support it needs with growing men's and women's leagues, and an under-7 division and 11 minor hockey teams setting record participation numbers that left space a precious commodity. Locker rooms were expanded, and a new front entrance was built with larger and more accessible doors. Spirits are reinvigorated after restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic prevented many from practicing or playing the past few years because of cancellations or social-distance regulations.

"When you watch that video, we have to remind ourselves this is why we did it," said Maryjo Tait, a West Lorne Minor Hockey volunteer who with Jessica Small organized the bid for Hockeyville 2023. "You look at those kids and they're going to remember this for the rest of their lives and what it showed them, the experiences and opportunities it's going to give all of these kids that would have never had it. Very few kids in our community have ever been to an NHL game. It's mindboggling. It almost makes us speechless and teary eyed.

"We have fought hard and long and hard for that for many years, so it's kind of already been this mantra that we've had, that were small but mighty."

Resolute as well. The bid was submitted six days before the deadline, creating organized chaos to get more than 800 submissions in under a week through nomination stories.

"The NHL said we came out of nowhere," Small said. "If that just gives you a little bit of an indication on how we can rally, obviously in addition to winning Kraft Hockeyville, yeah, that was pretty incredible."

Rebuilt in 1968 after a fire, West Lorne Arena is the heartbeat of a community with a rich hockey history. New York Islanders center Bo Horvat was born in London, grew up in Rodney as a West Lorne Comet and won an OHL championship with London in 2013. The Horvat family supports Gooday Lets Play, a nonprofit helping local kids participate in organized minor hockey organizations founded in memory of John Horvat, Bo's grandfather who died from colon cancer in 2010.

"One of the biggest things my parents taught me is never forget where you came from, and I definitely haven't," Horvat said. "They supported me throughout my hockey career and for me to show my support to them, it's the least I can do. That's where I started to learn how to play the game. It's where I started to power skate. So, it just always hits home for me, and I'm just really happy that they got to host this and build the game around the community."

Regional pride will be present with Tavares and Mitchell Marner (Markham) playing against Buffalo defenseman Owen Power (Mississauga). Forty minutes from West Lorne is Joe Thornton Community Centre, renamed after the 24-season NHL veteran and London native that has a seating capacity of 2,200 and an additional 300 standing room.

"They've been waiting for this," Marner said. "It's a passionate fan group, so it's great we are going there."

The kids are dreaming big, tethered by a connection to the intimate hockey community that often pulls together through adversity and sometimes tragedy. West Elgin Mayor Duncan McPhail died March 11, two weeks before his 70th birthday and hours after West Lorne was named a finalist. Last Monday, kids skated on fresh, new ice for the first time all year with the old compressor unable to keep up during warmer weather and the entrance opening right into the ice surface.

Tait was again rendered speechless and teary eyed. Hockeyville is coming to West Lorne because they are mighty.

"To see them come flying off the bench and go over to the Kraft Hockeyville logo and the NHL logo, that was super cool," she said. "It was almost like none of them wanted to step on it. They're starting to see the school kids' calendars come home and they put the Kraft Hockeyville logo on the day. Everyone's getting pretty excited."

NHL.com independent correspondents Dave McCarthy and Stefen Rosner contributed to this report