Canadian sportscaster Ron MacLean will be in Kamloops on Sunday to host Rogers Hometown Hockey with Tara Slone from the Sportsnet mobile studio outside Sandman Centre.
KamloopsBCNow had the chance to chat with MacLean over the phone from Oakville. MacLean talked about his time spent in Kamloops, Dylan Ferguson’s movie-like moment on NHL ice and his favourite hockey story of all time.
Hey Ron, whereabouts are you right now and are you looking forward to spending some time in Kamloops once again?
“Yes, definitely looking forward to coming back. I'm in Oakville, so I'll host Hockey Night in Canada in Toronto Saturday evening and then jump on a plane to Vancouver late Saturday and then flip on into Kamloops Sunday morning.
“But, obviously, you may know we hosted Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada, which is almost a whole week of outreach that we do once year. This year it's in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, but it was in Kamloops in 2016 and just was such a special memory. Mark Recchi was great for us, he just got into the Hockey Hall of Fame it the autumn. Tom Gaglardi, who owns the Blazers along with Mark and a number of former players, he was incredible hosting us at the Sandman and the Shark Club and we had concerts and hockey games and it will be a little bit the same way for the two days here in Kamloops.
“We've got live music both days at our festival, Lisa Nicole is playing, Lindsay May is performing, Robyn Regehr and Cliff Ronning are signing autographs and it's just a great chance for people to get together and, like I always say, whether or not you're a hockey fan there's always two teachers in the room.
“I'll give you a good example. We have Tania Willard, [she] is part of the Secwepemc First Nation and she has prepared the opening essay for our broadcast on Sunday afternoon at 4:30. She will open the telecast with what will be — it's art, it's not her speaking on behalf of the Secwepemc First Nation, but it's just her impression of what hockey did as a saving grace during the time of the residential schools. And she'll refer to, kind of, the spirit of the children who got to skate while going through a moment that was very difficult. So, it's a great experience that crosses both the sport and cultural divide."
Yeah, that's really incredible and very special and meaningful, definitely, for the community. This is your fourth season doing Hometown Hockey and you've visited all corners of the country. What do you most enjoy about getting to travel to all these communities for this show?
“Well, learning. As an example, Jermaine Loewen is a player on your Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League. So we profiled Jermaine in the second show we ever did, which was at Selkirk, Manitoba. He was adopted, he was born in Jamaica, adopted by a couple in Manitoba, raised there and ended up making the Western Hockey League.
"So, for a child from Jamaica, that's an unusual path. And he's having a great season, and if I hadn't been in Selkirk and we hadn't done that show in Manitoba four seasons ago, I wouldn't know that. So, I just think — I always say Saturday night, which is Hockey Night in Canada, that is the fruit on the tree, but the roots of the tree are the Sunday nights with the Rogers Hometown Hockey series. It's been a godsend, really. To someone who spent their life in the game to go and share these stories all over Canada has really been special."
You did mention being in Kamloops for Hockey Day in Canada and I remember watching you do live hits outside Sandman Centre when you were here that year. And you were just riffing on hockey's history in Kamloops, just non-stop facts, as you do. How much of your time do you dedicate to learning about the history of hockey in Canada and all these local stories. Is that something that comes naturally to you because of your love for the game?
"I think it also comes professionally to me. Wayne Berry was the name of a boss I had at CKRD in Red Deer back in the 1980s and Wayne's rule was, 'Ron, 10 hours of preparation for every one hour on the radio.' I don't know if I adhere to that, but I've always understood that the preparation is so important to giving you the confidence when, especially when you're distracted as you can be in an outdoor setting.
"So that day you saw, I'll never forget how warm it was, the sun on my face. It had been a long week, we had played hockey on the Thursday night and I stayed up way too long at the Shark Club. We had a nice concert at the Sandman Centre on the Friday night, so it was really busy, right. School visits, all this different stuff that was going on. And I was almost at the end of my tether and then the sun came out in Kamloops, and it was just the most glorious day and people were having a great time. That helps your memory and preparation helps your memory."
What do you think makes Kamloops a true hockey town?
"Well it's known as the Tournament Capital so it's always had the history of great minor hockey tournaments. The Blazers are an amazing program, the three Memorial Cups speak for themselves. But Don Hay is their coach, he is right on the brink of becoming the all-time winningest coach in junior hockey history in the western league, so there's that.
"I'll give another example: The men's Olympic team was named yesterday, on Thursday. Chay Genoway, now Chay played for the Vernon Vipers in 2005/6. His owner of the Vernon Vipers, Duncan Wray, just died in his sleep this week and he was a real pillar of the community. He was to Vernon what Tom Gaglardi is to Kamloops and all of B.C.
"So Duncan's program in Vernon, the Vipers team, they won four national championships. Chay was a great benefactor of the program and the mayor of Vernon will likely be in Kamloops this weekend to come and commiserate with us over the loss of Duncan Wray. And that's how it goes. It's just this amazing six degrees of unification."
Is there a hockey story that sticks out to you?
"One of my favourites — you'll appreciate because you're a news reporter — one of my favourite influences is a writer named Miriam Toews, and she's from Winnipeg but she grew up in Steinbach, Manitoba — Mennonite — and her father used to deliver eggs to Winnipeg. And one day her father, Mel, saw a house that he thought would be perfect to build. He was about to get married to Elvira and he saw this home in Winnipeg that he thought he would build a similar home in Steinbach.
"So he brought his wife-to-be, Elvira, up to Winnipeg on one of his egg delivery days and he said, ‘What do you think of this house, Elvira?’ And she said, ‘It's nice but what's it like inside?’ He said, ‘I have no idea.’ So she said, ‘Well, let's go ask the owner if we can have a look around.’ He said ‘You can't do that.’ She said, ‘Yes I'll do that.’
"So she knocked on the door and the man who let her in was man named Bill Mosienko. Bill is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, he scored the fastest three goals in NHL history and I just love that story. She, for me, is the best writer in our country. There's a lot of great writers, but Miriam is my favourite and I love that her father visited a Hockey Hall of Famer on an egg delivery. That's my favourite story.
Dylan Ferguson is the goaltender for the Kamloops Blazers and he's had an interesting season getting called up by the Vegas Golden Knights. And I understand he'll be a guest on your show on Sunday. What's your take on the season Dylan has had so far.
"Well you can't write the stuff that has happened to Dylan. He got called up — first of all, Vegas is beyond anyone's wildest dreams. They're the second-best team in the National Hockey League and they were supposed to be misfit toys and they're a great hockey team. And Dylan got to experience that.
"He played against the Edmonton Oilers. He made his first appearance against Edmonton and he stopped Connor McDavid, maybe the best player in the game — obviously Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid — but he made a save on Connor McDavid that thwarted McDavid's bid for a hat trick and, after the save, Connor McDavid tapped Dylan on the pads.
"You can't write that stuff. It was a movie-like movement that Dylan was involved in, so I can't wait to hear his take on it and he was involved in a pretty interesting trade and, well, it's just going to be a great telecast. He and Don Hay, his coach, will be on with us together and the owner of the Blazers, Tom Gaglardi, will be there and we'll pay homage to Devin Dubnyck who played there and Mark Recchi. Should be a very special show."
What else can viewers expect to see on Sunday's broadcast or if they do come downtown to watch?
"I should mention Nancy Greene and Al Raine, we interviewed them last night. And this is the 50th anniversary of Nancy's medals in Grenoble, which is kind of cool. And she was saying there were three medals won, she won two of them, the Canadian men's hockey team won a bronze. But she received her medals during the intermission of the Canada-USSR hockey game. I don't know where we're going to get it all in, but hopefully we do."
The Hometown Hockey festival runs Saturday and Sunday starting at noon at Sandman Centre with a host of free, interactive activities. Rogers Hometown Hockey will broadcast live from Sandman Centre starting at 4:30 p.m. before the matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and the Minnesota Wild. See the full schedule here. Kamloops is one of 24 communities hosting Hometown Hockey this season.
This interview was edited for length.
