Thursday, December 15, 2005

Hockey Day in Canada

The Unofficial Puck Holiday

For the past six years the CBC and specially chosen host communities have been celebrating the great game of hockey in Canada by setting aside a special day to honor and watch this grand sport. Hockey Day in Canada this season will be gloriously celebrated on January 7, 2006.
Hockey Day has become somewhat of an unofficial holiday for Canadian hockey fans.

This year's 13.5-hour broadcast showcases our game at the grassroots level, highlighting how hockey defines both the parent-child and adult-child relationship.

Stephenville won't be the only Canadian community bustling with action. Hockey Day will also carry remote video feeds from Florenceville, N.B., Parry Sound, Ont., Winkler, Man., Calgary, Alta., and Burnaby, B.C.

Former Toronto Maple Leaf forward Wendell Clark will join hosts Ron MacLean, Don Cherry and Dick Irvin in Stephenville for all the festivities, which begin at noon ET.

There is also the traditional NHL all-Canadian tripleheader starting with Ottawa at Montreal at 2 p.m. ET, followed by Toronto at Edmonton at 7 p.m. ET and Calgary at Vancouver at 10 p.m. ET.
Hopefully this annual event will continue to grow and be supported until it becomes an "official" national holiday... just as it should be.

For this years host community of Stephenville being chosen for Hockey Day in Canada was the first bit of good news the town has received in quite awhile.
Dozens of children who lost their hockey equipment in a flood last fall, or whose families have been affected by the closure of the local paper mill, are getting a little help from some hockey-loving friends.

This hard-hit Newfoundland town was chosen to host CBC's annual Hockey Day In Canada broadcast. But when organizers showed up to make plans, they found a town where hockey enrolment and community morale was down.

"They've had some tough times there lately," said Joel Darling, executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada. "Some of the kids had lost some equipment in the floods. I think, with the plant being uncertain whether it was going to close . . . people were hesitant to join. Some kids were actually moved right out of their houses, relocated."
For more info. on Hockey Day in Canada go >>> here.

MORE NEWS FROM THE WIDE WORLD OF PUCKS

  • Xmas Presents for NHL Teams
  • NHL Season of Giving... Maybe
  • The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
  • The World according to Grapes
  • 2005's Most Influential Sports Figure
  • And finally...

    Here's some players I wouldn't want to go into a corner and fight with for the puck.

    They might be appearing at the 2006 ice hockey world championships.


    Merry Christmas and Happy Hockey Day everyone!


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