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| Hockey Day Honours Our Game, Our People |
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By / Mike Beasley
If there’s one thing that Canadians from coast to coast can say they really care about it’s hockey.
Discussions on taxes, politics, our dollar value, even the latest news on Britney Spears immediately takes a backseat whenever the topic of our official winter sport comes up.
Case in point was the recent Hockey Day in Canada that aired on the CBC earlier this month.
It was over 12 hours of non-stop hockey coverage from noon that Saturday until the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The Americans have Super Bowl Sunday where they are force-fed a bunch of mind numbing stories about high-priced athletes for close to six hours prior to kick-off.
I’m convinced the debut of those high-priced commercials is probably what attracts the majority of viewers to tune in.
But with Hockey Day, the features were about everyday people that are passionate about the sport. Each and every story that day was as unique as the region of Canada it originated from. The common theme was the passion for hockey that millions of Canadians have shared for generations and will continue to share for generations to come.
Gary Galley was on the air that day for CBC as part of the broadcast team for the Montreal-Ottawa matchup.
The 17-year NHL veteran was astonished at what hockey means to so many people in Canada. “The games are important but it’s the interesting stories that clearly makes Hockey Day in Canada so special,” Galley said. “From what Joe Juneau is doing in the North to all the others, it’s a great way to celebrate our love of hockey.”
Galley was proud to be a part of such an exciting event and acknowledges the impact the CBC had on Canadian hockey that day. “There was a special feeling around the rink knowing that more people than usual would be watching,” Galley smiled. “My family was just as excited as I was knowing that I would be a part of Hockey Day. I was really impressed with CBC and the whole production.”
Winkler, Man. provided the setting for this year’s event proving once again that hockey is at the core of every village, town and city in Canada.
In what other country would you find a bunch of volunteers standing out in frigid temperatures with smiles on their faces to talk about their love of hockey.
By the way, for those of you who saw the feature on the old Lower Canada College arena in Westmount, Que., I could relate exactly to what they were describing because I skated there for years. It’s as unique and cold as they come.
With wire mesh instead of plexi-glass and canvas instead of walls, the old barn had the hardest and smoothest ice around. After a game at LCC, your lungs would burn from the brisk air. The temperature outside was the same inside and would dictate if it would be a two or three t-shirt game.
But you could always count on a hot shower and a cold beer in the dressing room afterwards.
That’s why it will always have special place in my hockey memories.
Thanks Hockey Day in Canada.
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