• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, January 7, 2008

Hockey Canada targeted 8- to 12-year-old girls with a campaign using handcrafted jewelry boxes to persuade them to choose hockey over other sports such as ice-skating, for example.

The base of the jewelry box resembles a hockey rink and the tiny, dancing ballerina typically found in young girls' jewelry boxes has been replaced with a female hockey player twirling around to the sound of "Charge!"

DDB Canada and Rapp Collins Toronto collaborated to create 10 jewelry boxes, one of which was auctioned off on eBay during the 2008 World Junior Championships, from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.

Proceeds from the auction benefit Hockey Canada's efforts to raise awareness for girls' hockey, a sport currently more popular with older women in Canada. The auction was promoted through social networking sites, hockey forums and groups. The  jewelry box sold for $281Canadian dollars with all net proceeds going to Hockey Canada.

The auctioned jewelry box was autographed by Hayley Wickenheiser, MVP of Canada's gold-medal-winning team at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

"The jewelry box is intended to attract girls to the sport at a young age and to consider playing hockey instead of worrying about the peer pressure and stigma of hockey only being a guy's sport," said Shelley Sutherland, vice president, creative director at Rapp Collins.

The remaining nine boxes will be utilized throughout the year by Hockey Canada in various promotional activities and promoted on Hockey Canada's Web site.

Only ten boxes were created because each was handcrafted, hand painted and costly to produce, according to the agency.

Great idea -- as long as girls don't house their mouth guards in the box. Playing hockey well is a gift, but a used mouth guard is no treasure.