Saturday, when the Jets are in Ottawa, is Hockey Day in Canada. It’s something I say with pride, because it began under my watch at the CBC in February 2000.
When we started that project, there was a real belief that it would turn into something special, an unofficial national holiday to reflect the passion and pride we take in hockey.
It wasn’t to be about the NHL, but rather about the place the game has in small towns, big cities, and among English, French, Inuit, and First Nations.
Selfishly, my son Jake was involved in minor hockey in our town, and even though I was on the periphery, I was feeling the empowerment of being a hockey parent. I felt there were obvious things that should change in the game, including the power and politics of the volunteers who ran minor hockey associations, leagues, and teams.
HDIC was a perfect vehicle to dig deep into the roots of the game, its history, and the role it plays in Canada. This was to be about everyday Canadians who were driven by their love of the game, and not the money they made from it.
Hockey Day was about all of us. How we played the game, watched the game, coached the game, and about how we tried to make the game better, for everyone. It was about being Canadian.
On that first show, there were to be no mentions of the NHL in the first four hours. Just talk about the Trail Smoke Eaters, the Hounds of Notre Dame, volunteers who were up at the crack of dawn to open the snack bar, rinks in Saskatchewan that still used natural ice, and pond hockey tournaments that went on for days.
That first Hockey Day was, and remains to this day, a source of great pride for all of us involved. There are Hockey Days all over the continent now, in cities and towns in both Canada and the United States. It has been so gratifying to see everyone loving the game the way we love the game.
Hockey Day has survived work stoppages, strikes, network shuffles, and weather of all types. We knew it was special, but never in a million years did we envision it would last more than 20 years. But it has, and it will for 20 more. More than anything else I’ve done, it shows the power of hockey.
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