Last year, during the Rogers Sportsnet show’s broadcast from Victoria, she taped a segment on Elk Lake rowing with Olympic gold-medallist Adam Kreek. On Thursday, Slone was canoed across to Newcastle Island for a ceremonial welcoming by the Snuneymuxw First Nation ahead of Sunday’s national broadcast of the Ottawa Senators versus Florida Panthers NHL game to be hosted by Slone and Ron MacLean from Nanaimo.
It is back to the frozen stuff tonight at Frank Crane Arena as Slone is scheduled to attend the B.C. Hockey League game between the Nanaimo Clippers and Victoria Grizzlies.
It’s all part of a whirlwind of week-long activities that include a skating rink at Maffeo Sutton Park, zip line above the park, ball hockey games, David Gogo concert, Rogers Fan Hub, a massive elementary school students rally at John Barsby Secondary and fireworks. On hand will be former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kirk McLean.
The main part of the festival runs at the oceanside Maffeo Sutton Park from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from noon to the end of the Senators-Panthers big-screen outdoor broadcast party on Sunday. A crowd of between 8,000 to 10,000 is expected out each day.
Stories from and about Nanaimo will be incorporated as an integral part of Sunday’s game broadcast.
In showcasing how sport can transform a community, supporters of a proposed $80-million Nanaimo arena couldn’t have hoped for better timing. Nanaimo residents will vote in a referendum March 11 whether to borrow money to build a new 5,700-seat arena for concerts and to attract a Western Hockey League team.
“I am optimistic of a positive [referendum] outcome. But this weekend isn’t a political event,” said Nanaimo Coun. Bill Bestwick, chairman of the Rogers Hometown Hockey organizing committee.
“This event says who we are as a community and what brings communities together. Part of what does is sports, along with music. Sports brings us together. In small cities, sports are part of our pulse.”
MacLean, an air force brat, lived in many cities across the country and has said: “Always the sense of belonging came through the hockey rink.”
Bestwick said he has no idea if MacLean, whose voice is fairly influential in Canadian sport/culture, will bring up the impending Nanaimo arena referendum during Sunday’s broadcast in discussing the value of sports/entertainment meeting places within community life.
“I can’t answer that . . . maybe Ron will say something about how important it is to bring people together,” said Bestwick, former coach and GM of the Nanaimo Clippers, and now a scout for the St. Louis Blues.
“What I can say is there has been nothing but a good vibe to this week. The community has been energized and we don’t want to stop just at this. There is already talk of carrying forward with a floating stage [off the waterfront] where the symphony can play . . . all sorts of ideas have been generated by this experience.”
The Senators-Panthers broadcast starts at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Nanaimo is the 18th of 24 stops this season on the Rogers Hometown Hockey tour. MacLean, Slone and company will pack up on the Island and next head to Medicine Hat, Alta., home of the WHL’s Tigers, on March 4-5.
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