A little more than a year from now, the puck could be dropping in Whitehorse for the entire country to see.

At Monday evening's first city council meeting in 2010, a proposal was brought forward that travel and per diem costs be approved for Coun. Ranj Pillai to attend CBC's Hockey Day in Canada later this month in this year's host community of Stratford, Ont.

"It's not just a leisure trip,” Pillai stressed as his travel plans came up for discussion.

Rather, as both he and Coun. Dave Stockdale explained, Pillai would travel to Ontario to get a sense of just what it would take for the Yukon capital to host the annual CBC telecast next year.

Pillai would also be joined by a representative of the Outside the Cube consulting agency who would be there on behalf of Sport Yukon.

Last year, the city was contacted by the CBC about possibly hosting Hockey Day in Canada. The city hasn't made any decision, but both Pillai and Stockdale noted the media exposure for Whitehorse would be a positive for the city.

"The marketing opportunities are comparable to the Canada Winter Games,” Pillai said.

The only reason he felt comfortable seeking the funds to represent the city in Stratford is that he's worked in the field for years through managing his Northwest Summit Hockey School company, Pillai said.

Not only would the journey permit him to learn about the application process to become a host and to see first-hand what it would take for Whitehorse to host Hockey Day In Canada, it would also give CBC officials the opportunity to understand just how serious the city is about hosting the events around it, said the rookie councillor.

"There seems to be an appetite,” Pillai said of the CBC wanting next year's events to happen in the North.

Given what's been happening in Whitehorse hockey, he suggested, Hockey Day in Canada could be a perfect fit for the community, he added.

There are more than 20 hockey players from the Yukon playing at the junior level. One of those players, Ted Stephens of the Moncton Wildcats, was invited and took part in a Montreal Canadiens camp last spring.

Later this month, a number of those Yukon junior players from the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League junior B league in B.C. will be back in town when the Creston Valley Thundercats take on the Fernie Ghostriders on Jan. 19 and 20 at the Takhini Arena.

Minor hockey is also booming between the Mustangs rep teams and others as well as the Wolverines organization for young aboriginal players, Pillai said.

And, he added, a number of other plans are in the works to bring high-calibre hockey action to town.

The exact price tag for Pillai's travel would be determined later, based on flight prices and other variables; however, the councillor expects the total to come in at around $2,500 for a trip running from a Tuesday to a Saturday.

Council will vote next week on whether to send Pillai to Stratford.

Outside the Cube president Dee Enright told the Star this morning the organization's role in visiting Stratford for the event comes from its contract with Sport Yukon to support sport marketing.

That means identifying events that could potentially be hosted here and looking at requirements such as volunteers, technical needs, hotels and other factors.

"I have no doubt we could host it,” Enright said.

In the meantime, volunteers and organizers in the Ontario community are just three weeks out from their big day and after years of planning, Mayor Dan Mathieson (who also serves as co-chair on the organizing committee) believes the event will be a success.

"We believe we have put a good package together,” he said.

All 6,000 students in the community's schools will attend motivational talks by NHL alumni and CBC personalities, he added. As well, each of the more than 1,500 minor hockey players will have access to a 40-minute ice clinic.

While the CBC telecast will air Jan. 30, it will be preceded four days earlier by an NHL alumni game; the hockey and referee clinics; nursing home, hospital and school visits; a chamber of commerce luncheon; a Hockey Hall of Fame Trophy/Art Exhibit; a community banquet; homecoming dance; community and junior hockey games; a family fun fair and a Randy Bachman concert hosted by Hockey Night in Canada host Ron McLean.

Along with the immediate benefits it brings to the community at the time, Mathieson said, he's seen new partnerships form among various groups that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Those links, he suggested, are now likely to continue.

"We really see this as a two-fold piece,” he said. Along with the work among community groups, he added, there's also the benefit of building up Stratford's reputation across the country with the national telecast.

It appears residents are also buying into the event between the 4,000 to 5,000 hours the 400 volunteers have put in already and the ticket sales for the events.

The junior hockey games are sold out, with the 75 per cent of tickets for the NHL alumni game sold.

The chamber of commerce luncheon is also sold out, while 80 per cent of the tickets for the community banquet are gone. Concert tickets also continue to sell well, Mathieson said.

While the city put $15,000 into the events, the remaining $100,000 has come from fund-raising. The money produced through things like ticket sales for the hockey games will go back into hockey programs, Mathieson said.

Work on Stratford's Hockey Day in Canada started in 2007 after the city's mayor attended the day held then in Nelson, B.C. with a current member of the organizing committee. After that, the community began planning to submit its proposal for Hockey Day in Canada.

"We put together a really strong proposal,” he said.

It also helped that city officials visited the Hockey Day in Canada festivities last year, he said, a point that was confirmed by Joel Darling, CBC Sports' director of production.

Attending previous Hockey Day in Canada events gave Mathieson an idea of what goes into hosting and added to the proposal, Darling said.

"Honestly, they came back with a proposal we were thrilled by,” he said, pointing to the hockey games, clinics, school visits and so on that will be held over the five days. CBC officials approached Whitehorse last year as one of a number of places it contacted. Iqaluit has played host to Hockey Day in Canada in the past, but it's been a while since the event has come north and it hasn't been to "thispart of the country before,” Darling said.

Along with the possibility of Pillai and an Outside the Cube official from the Yukon taking in Stratford's Hockey Day, Yellowknife representatives will be also be on hand to look at hosting the event.

If either community decides it wants to host Hockey Day in Canada for 2011, CBC officials would visit to look at each city's proposal before making a final decision toward the end of March.

Though it's the CBC that acts as the telecaster, Darling noted it's the host city that really makes it a community event, so it is up to the organizing committee to take it to the next level.

Along with the benefit of community events around the day, there's also been an economic payoff for many of the past hosts, with the CBC crews in the city as well as the additional people it brings to town to take in some of the events, he pointed out.

While Darling acknowledged there are likely costs for each host community, he noted the host is not obligated to spend anything.