It’s Hockey Night in Nanaimo every day.
The city’s Hometown Hockey celebrations are now underway and will continue all this week before culminating Sunday (Feb. 26) with the main event, a live TV broadcast of Rogers Hometown Hockey from Maffeo Sutton Park.
Partly by design and partly by coincidence, the past, present and future of hockey are all being highlighted this week in Nanaimo. The outdoor rink is something new and different for most people here, but it also provides a nostalgic experience for some, and is situated close to where Civic Arena once stood and so much of our city’s hockey history took place.
Hockey’s present is well-represented. The TV program is a pre-game show for an NHL broadcast. And at the local level, the junior B Nanaimo Buccaneers begin the playoffs on Thursday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre and the junior A Nanaimo Clippers play their last home game of the regular season the next night at Frank Crane Arena; both those games are being promoted as part of the week’s festivities.
As for Nanaimo’s hockey future, there’s an $80-million question looming, one that will be answered soon. Some of us are in favour of the sports and events centre project and some of us are opposed to it, but we can agree that the outcome of the referendum will have major impacts on the brand of hockey played here, the fan experience and Nanaimo’s stature as a hockey town.
Whether we’re voting ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ whether we’re caught up in the playoff race or don’t much care, certainly we can support Hometown Hockey this week. We hope the little outdoor rink is busy and that a lot of pint-sized players from minor hockey teams get a chance to make memories there. We hope a lot of people come out to the park on Sunday and help Nanaimo put its best face forward for the TV cameras.
Hockey is part of our culture and it’s part of our past, present and future. Hockey is also part of our hometown.