AUBURN — It will be a birthday celebration like no other.

Though Stephanie Cote’s actual birthday isn’t until Monday, she and her family are going to celebrate in style Friday night.

Cote is hosting a family hockey game at the new Norway Savings Back Arena. They’ll have the privilege of having the first hour of ice time as the new area kicks off its inaugural weekend.

“We haven’t stopped talking about it, me and the boys,” said Cote. “So we’re very excited about it. The boys keep saying how cool it will be to be the first one to cut through the ice with their skate or make the first mark on the wall.”

As part of the grand opening festivities, a number of raffles were held. Cote won the most coveted of prizes — having the first hour of ice time on the new ice.

“I didn’t know how many people had put in for it,” Cote said. “As the secretary of the Twin City Titans, I’d been watching everything happen. So I thought I’d put in for it and that it might be pretty cool.”

She discovered she had won when she contacted Josh MacDonald, the rink general manager about the raffle winners. She wanted to put the info on the Twin City Titans’ website. Then she found out her name was among the winners.

Cote had the choice of what she wanted to do with the first hour of ice time and it took little time to decide.

“It took about a minute to discuss it with the boys,” Cote said. “We decided we were doing a hockey game.”

Cote’s son Sam plays at Lewiston while Mack plays for the Titans. Being a well-iced hockey family, Friday’s momentous ice time will be an opportunity the family will cherish and won’t soon forget.

“We’re always in the arena playing hockey,” said Cote, who actually hasn’t seen the inside of the new arena yet. “I played a lot. My husband was a St. Dom’s hockey player. So it is all part of our hobby. So we thought we could just get our friends and family to play a hockey game.”

Cote already has two teams of 12 skaters lined up to play Friday night.

“My sister is one of the goalies, so that will be interesting,” Cote said. “My boys have been wanting to score on her for awhile.”

The rest of Friday’s activities include a private skate for sponsors and supporters. At 7:45, a Teen Skate with music will begin and run until 9:45. The evening will close with adult shinny hockey for players 18-and-over.

“We’re just really excited to have this chance and to be able to play this game with friends and family,” Cote said.

On Saturday, the Twin City Titans and Maine Gladiators will play games. Former Maine standout and NHL veteran Bob Corkum will be on hand for a clinic at 10:30 a.m. That will be followed by the Mini Mites at 11:45 and a public skate at 2:15. Then in the evening, the Leavitt-Edward Little girls’ hockey team will be hosting the Red Hornets Round Robin, which will include a meeting with Lewiston to cap off the evening.

Sunday’s events include time at Ingersoll Arena. There will be the last shinny hockey session in the morning followed by games by the Titans and Gladiators. There will be a Community Public Skate at 2 p.m. and the final hour of ice time was another item raffled off.  Sophia Hartley of Auburn was the winner of that prize.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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