It can seem bewildering when so much of the sports news is bad, including the never-ending stream of Russian drug stories, and the recent expose of sexual abuse by Canadian coaches going back several years.
But there is also much good to be found in the games people play and co-hosts Ron MacLean and Tara Slone look for it each weekend in the cities, towns and hamlets they visit across the country with Rogers Hometown Hockey, which has rolled into CFB Esquimalt for today’s national broadcast.
“In an era of division, sport has the power to unite people,” Slone said.
Even in the darkest of moments.
“Through the tragedy of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, there was the revelation of a small rural community in Saskatchewan, and the Junior ‘A’ hockey club there, and the type of people you would be proud to entrust your child to,” MacLean said.
It’s in the hometown details where the true value of sport can be found. And it can cover a lot of ground. During the 2016 Hometown Hockey broadcast from the Inner Harbour, MacLean profiled Victoria’s amazing production of Summer Olympians by featuring gold-medallists Simon Whitfield and Adam Kreek. The same broadcast also spotlighted the issue of mental health through the story of the former NHL-playing Victoria brothers Geoff and Russ Courtnall and their efforts to help others in the devastating wake of their dad Archie’s suicide.
“Our goal has always been to make this a show about inclusion, in whatever community we go into,” MacLean said.
“If you make it too corporate, it loses its truth and power.”
MacLean, whose Air Force dad was based in Victoria briefly when Ron was boy, has always professed a soft spot for the Island. He said he still has warm memories of co-hosting CBC’s coverage of the 1994 Commomwealth Games with Brian Williams.
Today’s CFB Esquimalt broadcast denotes the fourth consecutive year that Hometown Hockey has broadcast from the Island, following Victoria in 2016, Nanaimo in 2017 and the Cowichan Valley last year.
“When the show began [in 2014], it was like making a sales cold call with communities wondering exactly what it was we wanted to do there,” recalled Slone, a Juno Award winner in her other life as a musician.
“Now, communities reach out to us if they feel like they have special hockey or other stories to tell. It’s been a lovely thing, and a privilege, to be able to tell those stories. This show has become a living thing.”
The CFB Esquimalt venue is compelling on many levels because MacLean grew up an Air Force brat and Slone in Halifax, which is the eastern sister port of the Royal Canadian Navy to Naden in Esquimalt.
“Growing up in Halifax, I know what the navy base means to a community,” said Slone.
Hockey Night in Canada commentator Don Cherry, an ardent supporter of Canada’s military, is also in Esquimalt today as part of the broadcast, which begins at 3:30 p.m. as part of the wraparound coverage of the NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers. Cherry is rarely on the Hometown Hockey broadcasts because of their demanding travel schedule, but wanted to be in Esquimalt for this one.
“It shows how passionate Don [Cherry] is about supporting our military,” Slone said.
The Navy has always been of historical interest to Cherry.
“Don is a history buff, studies it and is a huge fan of Drake and Nelson,” said MacLean.
Segments on today’s broadcast will include MacLean and Slone riding one of the new Cyclone helicopters and landing on a Navy ship off the coast of the Island; and also the pair aboard the patrol frigate HMCS Vancouver to experience first-hand life aboard a Royal Canadian Navy ship.
“Our Navy is sometimes overshadowed by the Army and Air Force across the country and this is a chance to put the Navy front and centre,” MacLean said.
There will be also be a feature on the late Rob Sneath, who was labelled “the Wayne Gretzky of Canadian military hockey.”
The festivities, with activities for all ages, are open to all and began Saturday. They continue today at CFB Esquimalt’s Wurtele Arena from 11 a.m. to the end of the outdoor big-screen public viewing party of the Canadiens-Panthers game. Live music will be provided by The Temps. Guests on hand will include Cherry, former Vancouver Canucks Kirk McLean and Mason Raymond and CFB Esquimalt base commander Jason Boyd.
The Hometown Hockey weekend began Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre with Slone and the broadcast crew on hand for the Vancouver Island Junior B Hockey League game between the Peninsula Panthers and Kerry Park Islanders. Clips and hometown-flavour features from the game will be shown on today’s broadcast.
