Hockey Night in Canada comes callin’
By Paul Osborne, The Guelph Tribune – “From the Stands” – It all started with Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) producer Jason Murdoch emailing Lindsay Pink, the Guelph Storm’s media relations expert looking for an angle for a story on Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown.
If you didn’t know, our family had the pleasure of having Dustin live with us while he played for the Storm from the fall of 2000 to the Spring of 2003.
It was pretty exciting news for our household. I never had a chance to make HNIC as a hockey player and my suits are way too conservative to sit next to Ron MacLean, so this was going to be my one and only shot to appear on Canada’s most watched program.
Things progressed quickly two weekends ago with the interview finally confirmed for last Monday at 4:30 pm at our home. My wife Susan was excited for the opportunity to talk about Dustin on national television and even my 13-year-old daughter Hannah was sure the program would want her input. I had to remind her that she was between the ages of two and five when Dustin lived with us and wouldn’t remember anything of significance.
“That’s not true dad,” Hannah said. “Remember when mom used to send me down to the basement to bug Dustin and Nicole (his girlfriend and now wife)?”
That is true. What parent doesn’t worry at least a little about a 15 or 16 year old boy alone in the basement with his girlfriend?
“At the time I thought you were sending me down because they liked me and thought I was cute,” said daughter dearest. “Now I understand why they weren’t always happy to see me.”
As for me wife, I had to break it to her that her name had never come up in conversation with Murdoch. “Oh,” was all she said, but I could tell she was disappointed. So when Jason arrived I suggested that Susan be included, after all she had cooked and done Dustin’s laundry for three years, so she had earned the right.
Susan said she was a little shy about doing it, but after I answered the first question, I had to fight to get a word in edgewise. She had stories I had never heard of like the one about his school uniform from Our Lady of Lourdes high school. He always wore a white shirt, tie and three-quarter zip pullover sweatshirt.
Unbeknownst to me (and the principals at Lourdes apparently) he had cut the dress shirt into a dickey to save time in getting dressed in the morning as teammates idled in the driveway honking their horn.
Murdoch loved the dickey story but it had to be cut and the one question I remember him asking was whether I had considered what it would mean if L.A. were to win the Cup.
“I just talked about that with my son Nathan,” I said. “Before each Hockey Night in Canada broadcast they run the opening which always finishes with the previous year’s Stanley Cup winning captain hoisting the best trophy in professional sports above his head. To think that could be Dustin gives me chills just thinking about it.”
The segment was to be aired during the pre-game show before Game 1. Because that show is live you’re never sure anything is going to run but Murdoch gave us the thumbs up around 7:15 p.m.
As always happens, the 15-minute interview on our front lawn was cut down to 45 seconds.
As I watched the feature I cursed myself for not wearing sunglasses as my smart wife had, and laughed as the Twitter universe started to say how much I look like New York Rangers coach John Tortorella (which I get all the time).
Now it is back to watching Dustin in his quest for the Cup.
Will he be the final face you see after the opening of every HNIC game next season?
From the Land of Oz . . . Longtime Storm goaltending coach Mike Parson was let go last week. Parson did not resign but felt that some clashes over philosophy with head coach Scott Walker led to his dismissal. Parson had been with the team since 1998.
