The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
It has been a long time since I listened to a hockey game on the radio, and I mean a long time. So long, all I remember was that one of the teams playing was the Vancouver Canucks. It was the Bombers roadtrip to Kindersley and Battlefords' in early Ocotober that brought me back to listening to the good old radioÉalthough it was on the Internet, so maybe it can't be called the good old radio. Then I found myself on Tuesday night listening to the Canucks play the Minnesota Wild as the game was televised on Pay-Per-View. Don't get me going on that. I bring up listening to hockey on the radio because it might be a dying trend. Without doing a survey or walking the streets in Flin Flon, it's hard to know how many people still tune into the airwaves to catch their favourite team, though if it's the Bombers, chances are people tune in. As a kid I remember sitting in the kitchen listening to the Canucks because in the mid to late '80s, games weren't televised as often as they are now. I recall hearing names such as Stan Smyl, who most Canuck fans know as The Steamer, Petri Skriko, Rich Sutter, Garth Butcher and my favourite, Tony Tanti, and the list goes on. The voice of the Canucks then was Hall of Fame broadcaster Jim Robson and his partner Tom Larscheid, who still does colour for CKNW radio and Pay-Per-View with John Shorthouse. I can remember Robson calling a play where Tanti skated down the ice and let a slap-shot go from the blueline that beat the goalie. I would jump out of my seat and pump my fist everytime the Canucks scored. I still do, sometimes I have to contain myself because I don't want my neighbors to complain. Every time I listen to a game on the radioÉer Internet I mean, whether it's the Canucks or Bombers, it reminds me of my childhood days. There are several people who understand this, especially because television has likely overshadowed the importance of radio when it comes to hockey games. Let's be realistic, if you can watch the game on television, would you still prefer to listen instead of watch? Interestingly enough, hockey is what made radio such a crucial part of Canadian life, especially when many Canadians were tuning into the American airwaves and to goal was to develop Canadian culture with radio. It was the voice of legend Foster Hewitt that Canadians listened to for hockey because television didn't enter the picture until the 1950s. Hewitt broadcasted his first game on February 16, 1923 and later would for television. It was he, who did play-by-play for the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia. His career ended when he passed away in 1985. While the two can never be compared, there is something to say about listening to a game on the radio or utilizing the Internet. If the voice describing the action does it well, listeners can almost visualize the game. Since the only time I will be able to watch my Canucks is when they are televised on CBC or TSN, I will have to return to CKNW on the Internet. Instead of hearing The Steamer's name, it will be Markus Naslund after he scores a goal setup by Todd Bertuzzi. While listening to games on the Internet isn't quite the same as the little kitchen radio, the advances of technology does have its positives.
