A nationwide NHL telecast has again closed the pads on one of Canada’s best-known hockey towns.
Rogers Hometown Hockey will visit two dozen communities this season, but for the second year in a row Flin Flon is not among them.
“Unfortunately Rogers Hometown Hockey will not appear in Flin Flon this year,” said Sebastian Gatica, senior communications manager for Rogers Sportsnet, which broadcasts the show.
The decision comes despite an apparent pledge made earlier this year by Hometown Hockey host Ron MacLean.
When the show visited Thompson last March, sources told The Reminder that MacLean appeared in a Facebook-posted video saying he would be in Flin Flon the following season.
He won’t, though in fairness to MacLean it is not clear how much involvement he has in deciding where the show travels.
The closest Hometown Hockey will get to Flin Flon this season is Prince Albert, base for the show’s March 27 broadcast.
Other stops include Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador (Nov. 22), Thunder Bay, Ontario (Jan. 3), Swift Current, Saskatchewan (Jan. 10), and Winnipeg (April 3).
When Hometown Hockey visited Thompson during its inaugural season, Flin Flon featured prominently into the broadcast with pre-taped features on Bomber greats Bobby Clarke and Reggie Leach.
The choice to go with Thompson over Flin Flon had local hockey fans scratching their heads. MacLean too was perplexed.
“To me it’s surprising they would choose Thompson over Flin Flon because of the Bobby Clarke legend,” MacLean told the Thompson Citizen during his visit. “For whatever reason they obviously recognized a great program in [Thompson’s] Midget AAA Northstars, and the work [coach] Doug Korman has done there.”
Every Sunday night during the NHL regular season, Hometown Hockey supplements coverage of an NHL game with interviews and segments from a different host community.
While Flin Flon has produced more upper-echelon hockey talent than Thompson, the latter city can lay claim to retired NHL blueliner Curtis Leschyshyn.
Leschyshyn, now 46, left Thompson as an infant but was still thrilled to return for the telecast.
“I was excited when the plane was coming in last night and I got to see the Northern Lights from the plane, which was a cool experience,” Leschyshyn, who played 17 NHL seasons, told the Citizen. “The people here have been first class so far, so it’s been a real good experience to come back.”
