Air Force brat Ron MacLean’s birth certificate reads Zweitbrucken, Germany. His current address is in Oakville, Ont. But if there is a hometown for him, it’s his beloved Red Deer, Alta., where he spent his formative years.
MacLean and wife Cari are honourary chairs of the 2019 Canada Winter Games, which opened Friday night in Red Deer, with 35 Island athletes and coaches on the B.C. team.
Yet, in a sense, myriad Canadian cities, towns, municipalities and hamlets have become MacLean’s hometown the past five years as co-host, with Tara Slone, on Rogers Hometown Hockey.
Amid a snowstorm and cold blast that has thumped Red Deer, MacLean will make his way to Calgary, and fly into Victoria to be on hand today and Sunday at Naden in Esquimalt for Sunday’s broadcast of the weekly show that attempts to bind a nation through stories involving its favourite sport.
“We had hoped for this kind of reaction when the show started [in 2014] but we did not imagine it,” said MacLean, about the show’s success.
MacLean has been a champion of, and friend to, the Island since co-hosting with Brian Williams CBC’s coverage of the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games and he still harkens fondly to those two weeks 25 years ago. Any reason to return is jumped upon. This weekend denotes the fourth consecutive year that the Rogers Hometown Hockey broadcast will emanate from the Island after shows from Victoria Inner Harbour in 2016, Nanaimo in 2017 and the Cowichan Valley last year.
In every season of Hometown Hockey, there are a few shows that stand out. This year’s season began in the fall during the 50th anniversary of Canadian Oktoberfest in Kitchener, Ont. There was also a touching broadcast from Bobby Orr’s hometown of Parry Sound, Ont.
This weekend is another that is unique because of the CFB Esquimalt venue. It’s special on many levels because MacLean grew up in an Air Force household and co-host Tara 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.
Iconic Hockey Night in Canada commentator Don Cherry, a strong supporter of Canada’s military, will also be in Esquimalt this weekend as part of the broadcast, which begins at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, as part of the wraparound coverage of the NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers. Cherry is rarely on the Hometown Hockey broadcast, but wanted to be here for this one.
“It shows how passionate Don [Cherry] is about supporting our military,” said Slone.
As part of Sunday’s broadcast, MacLean and Slone pre-taped a segment in September at Esquimalt in which they rode one of the new Cyclone helicopters, which landed on a Royal Canadian Navy ship in the Pacific for the first time.
“It was our James Bond moment for Tara and I. But it meant a lot more and was a highly significant [first] for the Navy personnel involved,” said MacLean.
In another segment to be shown Sunday, MacLean and Slone are taken 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,” said MacLean.
“This is a special stop for us on what has been a cold winter.”
Hometown Hockey matches features and guests — Summer Olympic gold-medallists Simon Whitfield and Adam Kreek were prominent on the Victoria broadcast in 2016 — to that week’s venue. There will be a feature during Sunday’s broadcast on the late Rob Sneath, who was labelled “the Wayne Gretzky of Canadian military hockey.”
The festivities are open to everyone and start today at CFB Esquimalt’s Wurtele Arena from noon to 6 p.m. with activities for all ages and live music by the Country Line.
The festival continues Sunday from 11 a.m. to the end of the outdoor big-screen 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 Hockey League game between the Peninsula Panthers and Kerry Park Islanders. Clips and hometown-flavour features from the game will be shown on Sunday’s broadcast.
