RBC Insurance is currently holding their annual RBC Local Hockey Leaders Program, giving people across the country an opportunity to nominate their favourite hockey volunteers until the end of January.

This program has been put on since 2003-04 and is open to anyone whose involvement in the game creates playing opportunities or makes the sport more enjoyable.

'I think if you look at hockey in particular, it is kind of a Canadian tradition,' said Jim Wilson, branch manager at Whitehorse's RBC branch. 'Canada feels very proudly of its hockey heritage and its current hockey achievement, so hockey is to me a little bit special and hockey skills and success in Canada has been built upon the volunteer. So this is a way to recognize these people and their contributions and through their recognition give back to their hockey associations.'

Nominations can be submitted by logging onto www.rbclocalhockeyleaders.com and then by clicking on the nomination form icon.

Anyone making a nomination must fill out contact information about themselves as well as the person whom they would like to nominate. Before a form can be submitted an individual must write, in 50 words or more, an essay explaining why the volunteer they are nominating is deserving of this award, using the judging criteria such as dependability, dedication and helpfulness. They must also write a paragraph describing how the nominee has made a positive and lasting impact on an individual, group or community.

All nominations will be reviewed by a selection panel of five members, including the chair of the board for Hockey Canada, the director of Public Affairs at the Hockey Hall of Fame, a member of the National Women's Ice Hockey team, a player on Canada's National Sledge Hockey team and the president & CEO of RBC Insurance.

One individual will be selected from each of the 13 designated Hockey Canada regional areas across the country. The regions include Hockey North, Hockey British Columbia, Hockey Alberta, Saskatchewan Minor Hockey Association, Hockey Manitoba, Ontario Hockey Federation, Hockey North Western Ontario, Ottawa District Ontario Hockey Association, Hockey Quebec, Hockey New Brunswick, Hockey Nova Scotia, PEI Hockey Association and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Winners will have a $10,000 donation made in their name to any local non-profit hockey organization that is operated by a registered athletic association. Each winner will also be awarded a place of honour at the Hockey Hall of Fame as well as be given a signed Team Canada Jersey.

Finalists will be notified around Feb. 18 to confirm details of the nomination. The public announcement for the regional winners is expected to be on March 6 at the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame.

In the four years this program has been put on, no one from Whitehorse, or even the Yukon has ever won, but Kate White is hoping to change that this year.

White is the manager at the Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters in the Canada Games Centre. In December White was contacted by Nancy Green, the national sales manager at Fairway Media Sales, about whether she was interested in accepting a shipment of coffee sleeves advertising the hockey program. White eagerly accepted and since then she has been advertising it enthusiastically to her customers.

'I got really excited about it because I see these hockey people five to seven times a week,' White said. 'The idea that one of them could win $10,000 towards their team, or towards their league or towards their whatever it's phenomenal, it is a spectacular thing.'

White said one of the reasons it means so much to her is because she grew up in the community and sees firsthand the positive impact sports can make in the lives of kids and people who are active in them.

'It is kind of like community propaganda with your coffee right now, because if I recognized you as a hockey fan, then you would already have had my spiel. Everybody at one point in time have had to stop as I wave my arms around, frantically trying to convince them that they need to nominate someone because I am excited about it,' she said. 'The idea of getting people in the community to think about these people they see all the time, the ones that might not have kids playing on those teams anymore or the people they take maybe a little bit for granted. The ones they see all the time, not realizing that on top of being at the rink five, six, seven days a week they also have full-time jobs and families. To have these people recognized for doing what they are doing is exciting, which is why I wave my hands at the coffee shop and tell people they should nominate someone.'

White said if anybody from the community is picked as a winner she would put their picture up on her wall of fame at the coffee shop, which would be the first non-employee photo to go up.

Fairway Media Sales is a Vancouver marketing firm that uses coffee sleeves as a form of advertising for their clients. This year, RBC Insurance decided to use their medium as a way to get the message about the program into the arenas.

For this program the company has distributed 289 cases of coffee sleeves, which is 375,700 sleeves in total, to 87 arenas across Canada from Whitehorse to P.E.I.

Green said it was important for her and the company to get the message out to as many people across the country.

'Hockey is played everywhere in Canada and RBC serves customers everywhere, so we felt that it was important to cover as many markets as possible, both small and large,' she said. 'What we are doing is coming straight into the arenas where people can hold the message in their hands. This gives people a little bit more information at the rink.'

Green is coming to Whitehorse on Friday and looks forward to conveying how much of a hockey community the city is back to RBC Insurance.