Opportunities to skate outdoors in Victoria are few, but it could happen along the Inner Harbour next winter if the city ends up hosting Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada on Jan. 20.
The 14-hour national show, broadcast annually on Sportsnet, would feature all seven Canadian NHL teams in action, with events at Ship Point that could include concerts and kids’ games on a synthetic ice surface.
The broadcast would include segments on Island hockey history and live feeds from a Victoria Royals Western Hockey League game that day at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
“It would put the spotlight on Victoria across the entire country in a slow month, when the rest of the country is at its bleakest, weather-wise,” said John Wilson, chair of the newly formed Victoria Hockey Legacy Society, which is spearheading the bid, and would be the organizing committee.
“The national coverage, celebrating hockey and all aspects of our community, would be great for the Island.”
According to the society, more than 10 million viewers every year watch the broadcast, which began in 2000.
This year’s Hockey Day in Canada took place in Owen Sound, Ont., and in 2022, it was in Scarborough, Ont. In January of 2020 it was in Yellowknife.
The Victoria bid got a boost from Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean, who released a video in support of Hockey Day in Canada coming to the capital region.
“There is a saying in the Indigenous community that when an elder dies, a library burns. We are going to try to provide some of these beautiful stories,” MacLean said in the video.
“There will also be a concert of song, poetry and story-telling. The Royals will be a driving force in how we do this show and we will have all the seven Canadian NHL teams in action. It will be 13-plus hours of a great love affair between a country and a game.”
The budget to host the event is $850,000, said the Victoria society.
Wilson said the province and Destination Greater Victoria are contributing $100,000 each. The society has asked the City of Victoria for $100,000 in cash and in-kind services totalling another $60,000.
The in-kind services would consist of the use of city staging and bleacher equipment and the parking lots at Ship Point, as well as staffing and logistics support. The amount also includes parking revenues lost due to the event.
Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto has offered her support and forwarded a motion that council is expected to vote on Thursday.
“Sports are important in community building and this will provide remarkable exposure for the city,” said Alto. “It’s not often you get this kind of opportunity and visibility to showcase Victoria in the middle of winter. I believe it will be a really unique experience for the community. It’s also a chance to highlight and reimagine Ship Point.”
Alto added it will also put a spotlight on the importance of mental health through the Archie Courtnall Centre, which would be profiled in the broadcast.
The rest of the funding will be raised through corporate sponsorships, said Wilson, who heads up the Wilson’s Transportation Group of Companies.
Keith Wells, executive director of the Greater Victoria Sport Tourism Commission, called the event a “postcard for Greater Victoria to across the country in the third week of January.”
Wells said it would serve as a platform “to tell our greatest hockey stories, from the Patricks and the 1925 Stanley Cup to the pro Maple Leafs of the 1960s and to our later players such as the Courtnalls and Grant Fuhr.”
The Stanley Cup would be in town for the occasion, 99 years after the Victoria Cougars won it.
Wilson said the Victoria Hockey Legacy Society will also be bidding for Victoria to host the 2026 Memorial Cup national major-junior championship tournament at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The Royals would receive an automatic berth if the bid is successful.
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