Sixteen Abbotsford Atom girls hockey players got a mammoth surprise and early Christmas present Tuesday afternoon.

At the end of an extra on-ice practice session, the Hockey Night in Canada theme song blared as CBC's Ron MacLean appeared on the huge video scoreboard inside the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre to announce the Abbotsford Female Hockey Association's nine- and 10-year-olds were the winners of the Scotiabank Bigger Save contest.

The message 'Congratulations Abbotsford Ice you are the winners, have fun in P.E.I.' appeared on the advertising lightbar that surrounds the 7,000-seat Abbotsford Heat home rink. The Abbotsford Ice Atom girls met the news with a great amount of screeching, jumping and hugging.

CBC filmed the team as they learned about being drawn from 529 entries in the national contest. The win gives the players the chance to travel across the country to Charlottetown, P.E.I. to participate in the national Hockey Day in Canada celebrations on Feb. 11.

"I thought that it was pretty amazing," said nine-year-old team captain Delaney Unger.

"This is the best Christmas present ever because being part of Hockey Day in Canada and going to P.E.I. is really going to help our team improve and pump us up and help us in our hockey season."

The team's trip will see the young players fly to Canada's smallest province, meet some NHL hockey heroes and face off against a local team.

The entire journey will be filmed by CBC as part of the 12th annual Hockey Day in Canada, an event celebrating Canada's passion for the game. Hockey icon Don Cherry will join MacLean for the day-long broadcast.

"This is a fantastic experience for our girls to improve their skills and take advantage of an opportunity that they'll remember for the rest of their lives," said Rod Wiebe, Ice Atom team manager.

"Going across the country to be a part of Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada in P.E.I. will help our team members grow both as hockey players and as young women."

In addition to the three and a half hour Hockey Day broadcast, CBC will feature four live games showing all of the Canadian NHL teams in action.

P.E.I. plans to embrace the nation's fanatical love affair with the sport by featuring hockey clinics at some of the province's 27 rinks, a massive concert titled Stolen from a Hockey Card, and a three-day Stanley Cup relay that will have the Holy Grail of the NHL travel through various communities all over the Atlantic coast island.

"I can't think of a better way to encourage these girls to follow their hockey dreams than for them to be a part of the festivities at Scotiabank's Hockey Day in Canada," said Nilusha Alibhai, Scotiabank district vice president of North Coast & Fraser Valley. To enter the contest, minor hockey teams across the country were asked to make a pledge to save money toward a team goal. The goal of the young players from Abbotsford was to save for a tournament in Surrey.