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"Use it or lose it", is the cliche phrase. And while it doesn't appear in West Kelowna Warriors President and Owner Kim Dobranski's recent open letter to the community, the message is there. "It's not a threat," said Dobranski about his letter, despite comparisons to Quesnel, where the loss of that city's Junior A team in 2011 coincided with a decline in minor hockey enrollment. "I want to try to make the community understand the importance of having these franchises in their own back yard," he said. Dobranski stopped-in at KelownaNow to talk about the letter, the Warriors, and the important role he says the team plays in the community.
"Just one game," is the plea in Dobranski's message to the community. The letter calls upon residents of West Kelowna to get out and see a game, even if they don't consider themselves hockey fans.
Dobranski listed 15 non-profit agencies that have benefited directly from fundraising at games. He said the presence of the Warriors injects 7 Million dollars of economic activity in the community. "What we do outside the hockey is very important for West Kelowna and other communities in the BCHL," said Dobranski. He also suggested it's a rare opportunity for people with all kinds of different perspectives to come together and rally around something. And it's hard to put a value on that, but Dobranski told us it's worth keeping. "My goal is to preserve that," he said.
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