Rogers Hometown Hockey, hosted by MacLean and Tara Slone, returns to the Island for a second consecutive season when its Feb. 26 show will be broadcast from Nanaimo.
During last season’s broadcast from Victoria, MacLean featured former NHLer Geoff Courtnall and Summer Olympics gold-medallists Simon Whitfield from triathlon and Adam Kreek from rowing because he figured that aptly represented the B.C. capital’s sporting ethos. Kreek even took Slone rowing on Elk Lake for one of the segments.
Guests and story segments for the Harbour City broadcast have yet to be announced.
“We [Nanaimo] don’t get this sort of opportunity too often and we can’t sit on our hands. We have submitted to them several names and a considerable amount of backstory,” said Bill Bestwick, chairman of the committee organizing Nanaimo’s Hometown Hockey event.
“We are really excited about this. It’s a fantastic opportunity,” added Bestwick the Nanaimo city councillor and former coach and GM of the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL.
The Nanaimo broadcast location will be the waterfront Maffeo Sutton Park. The show will wrap around an NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers.
The 24-stop Rogers Hometown Hockey season begins Oct. 16 from Newmarket, Ont., the hometown of Connor McDavid.
Other B.C. broadcasts will come from Vancouver on Jan. 15, Vernon on Jan. 22 and Cranbrook on Feb. 19.
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