Ron MacLean takes great joy in hearing people’s stories during the Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour.
“I learn so much each and every stop along the way,” said MacLean in his mobile studio in the parking lot of the South Okanagan Events Centre. “As an example, so small a world, the sports schools (Canadian Sport School Hockey League) are having their big tournament inside the SOEC, so I just happen to see a guy wave at me, and I assume it’s because I’m on Hockey Night in Canada or Rogers Hometown Hockey. No, I met him in Abbotsford two weeks ago. He’s with the Yale Academy and his team, the bantams are leading 3-2 after 40 minutes. He’s a coach. He still comes over to talk hockey a little bit and reminisce about Abbotsford. That’s how it goes. It’s a family event. It’s a learning experience. It’s a total joy.”
MacLean educated the nation about hockey in the South Okanagan with special guests Andy Moog, a retired NHLer, Oliver’s John Shannon of Rogers Sportsnet, Bob Nicholson, who played for the Penticton Broncos and is now with the Oilers Entertainment Group, and Ivan McLelland, who helped the Vees win the 1955 world championship.
MacLean said the story of the Vees is beyond belief.
“We lose the world championships in ‘54. They turn to a little town in the beautiful tourist mecca of Penticton, at the time population 10,000,” said MacLean. “Who would believe that a team out of here would be so good. And they go and get the job done. It starts there with the ‘55 Vees. The current edition of the Junior A Vees is equally impressive. They’ve won the junior A title in 2012. They were there last year in Portage. It’s a great program in a great facility and of course you see the sports schools. Thirty-nine teams here. Six divisions. It’s just hockey through and through.”
Growing up in Red Deer, MacLean spent summers in the Okanagan visiting a friend in Westbank. They would spend time on the boat water skiing and head to Penticton.
“I think of it first and foremost as great wine, nature’s candy, the peaches, all that stuff,” he said. “You know the hockey history of all three places along the Okanagan and Kalamalka is just beyond belief.”
Although they have worked together for 31 years, MacLean was without his Coaches Corner partner Don Cherry on the tour. Still, he thinks of them as two guys in a foxhole when they spend as much time together as they do.
“It’s easy to pick up the pieces,” said MacLean. “It’s like a high school chum that you haven’t seen in 20 years and yet you connect. We have that going for us now. We’re very fortunate and as I always say to Tara Slone (co-host of Rogers Hometown Hockey), that’s the thing, we are building in this dynamic … that little team you create as a broadcast entity is vital. It’s really a joy to have had Don sort of in my corner all those years.”
When it comes to the Hometown Hockey Tour, MacLean said it was bigger on Sunday. They had Canadian singer/songwriter Scott Helman perform. There was also more protection for kids with tents as they played various games.
“A year ago if we got into cold weather, inclement weather, they were kind of exposed a little bit,” said MacLean. “There is tents, all kinds of interactive places to go hide.”
With the shot, it took them about half a season to learn they had too many commentators.
“This year, we probably have too many guests,” said MacLean. “We had a complaint, we all feel it. It’s always an embarrassment of riches everywhere you go to tell the story. You can’t really do justice to their story. That’s probably the one thing we will try to iron out.”
