©) ROGERS

RLOTTETOWN, I-P-E

Hometown Hockey invades Prince George

Brady Stark
Team Member

Or March 21 and 22, the Rogers
Hometown Hockey tour invaded

Prince George with festivities and guest
appearances for the whole family. Originally
starting in London, Ontario, in October, Ron
MacLean and company have been travelling
around Canada to bring hockey cheer to
many towns and cities that have a strong
connection to the game. Upon arriving in
Prince George, it was immediately apparent
that Prince George’s already feverish hockey
environment was going to get much crazier.
Starting at noon on the 21, fans were treated
to a variety of activities and promotions that
would keep them entertained.

Rogers had a GameCenter Live trailer
that was used to promote their NHL app.
The very cool part about this essential
sales pitch was the motion censored

controller that fans could use in order
to select the camera angle that they
wanted to watch their hockey game in.

Next, fans could test their hockey metal

in a couple of skill activities. The accuracy
shooting was the most deceiving hockey
skill that one could explore due to the fact
that fans had to try and hit characters like
Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar.
Right beside the McDonald’s accuracy test
was the hardest shot competition. The
hardest shot was not really indicative of
someone’s actual speed of their regular
shot. Instead, the challenge was to try and
hit the net at a respectable speed while
still trying to stay on their feet. There were
many a fan who ended on the ground either
because they missed the puck completely,
or the tried to overexert themselves and
almost ended up in the net themselves.

In this tent, the player was given a
short script to memorize about a classic
NHL moment. They were then given
one opportunity to practise, and then
were put in front of a green screen
with a recording of Evanka Osmak.

Like most people that tried this craft, I got
caught up watching Steve Yzerman snipe

a slap shot passed Grant Fuhr of St. Louis

in the 1996 Western Conference Finals and
completely forgot my lines. Despite the less
than stellar performance, there was never a
fan that came out of the sportscasting trailer
that didn’t have a smile from ear to ear.

The main event of the second day was the
live broadcast from Prince George that

was seen from coast to coast on Sportsnet
during the Vancouver Canucks vs. Arizona
Coyotes game. Ron MacLean, Kirk McLean,
and Geoff Courtnall made their way into
the crowd of cheering fans to describe how

the 1994 Canucks fueled a hockey province
and paved a path for the new generation
of Canucks to make their city proud. On
multiple occasions, Ron MacLean made
sure that there was fan participation as

he would ask questions to some people
and get a roaring cheers from others.

One of the most touching moments
throughout the telecast was a feature on
Prince George Cougar forward Jansen Harkins
and his family. Sportsnet made sure that
NHL teams and NHL fans across the nation
knew the extraordinary circumstances

that lead the Harkins family to join the
Cougars. Rather than focusing on superstar
forward Jansen, Rogers focused on his
brother Nicolas who was unable to play
due to a medical condition. Instead, he has
followed a path from assistant equipment
manager to assistant coach for the Cougars.

Rogers Hometown Hockey certainly took
their time to find the pulse of Prince George
and celebrate it in a very unique way.