By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Connections, history, and a passion for the game on display as Hometown Hockey rolls through Lethbridge

Mar 17, 2019 | 9:00 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The spirit of hockey has been strong in Lethbridge for a long time now, but it was indeed on display over the past four days with both the 2019 University Cup and Hometown Hockey coming to the bridge city.

One of the true storytellers in Canada, Ron MacLean, will be in Lethbridge on Sunday, Mar. 17, for the 23rd stop on the schedule this year along with his co-host Tara Slone, who’s been in the city for a couple of days now taking in the U Cup festivities.

The genesis of the Hometown Hockey idea came together five years ago when the NHL hockey rights changed hands from the CBC to Rogers.

“[Former Sportsnet President] Scott Moore and I were sitting and having a conversation about what the future would look like on Sportsnet. I knew that I was moving off of Hockey Night in Canada, George [Stroumboulopoulos] was coming in, I didn’t know they would create Hometown Hockey but I always said to Scott that one of the best things we do is having the kids come on during HNIC to say ‘we are the Lethbridge Hurricane midget B’s, and now here’s Ron.’ I just loved the fact of the outreach and seeing minor hockey represented on the big stage.

“For the Sunday show it was about representing junior, senior, university, and women’s hockey, all the different ways we come to the game. It was slow at first for people to understand that it’s a two-pronged thing, it’s a festival which means in the city it’s a bit of a celebration, but as a show, I think the story-telling was always going to be important for all of us,” MacLean said.

Nighttime construction on Hwy 3 in Lethbridge starts April 17

Apr 17, 2025

SASHA launches #BuyABed fundraiser to support vulnerable Lethbridge residents

Apr 04, 2025

$20K grants available: TELUS STORYHIVE Pan-Asian Edition opens applications April 1

Mar 18, 2025

The two-day hockey festival concludes today, after running on Saturday as well in the parking lot of the ENMAX Centre which will be following by outdoor viewing party of the broadcast game, which will see the Vancouver Canucks taking on the Dallas Stars.

In being able to shine a more significant light on hockey in communities like Lethbridge across the country through the Hometown Hockey platform, you find connections that you otherwise wouldn’t expect.

“Because I was an Air Force brat, I had a sort of innate appreciation of how we’re all the same, and how important it is to understand that. So that you don’t get locked into thinking ‘we’re number one,’ it’s enjoyable to showcase different parts of the country and bring us together that way. To give you a small example, John Shorthouse who will call the Vancouver/Dallas game, his mom Anne is from Lethbridge and his grandfather is Gilbert Patterson. There’s a middle school in Lethbridge named after Anne’s dad, and unfortunately, John never did meet his grandfather, but that’s how small this little world is,” MacLean explained.

Some of the former NHLers in town for Hometown Hockey include Rich and Duane Sutter, Glenn Anderson and Curtis Glencross, as well as Olympic gold medallist Carla MacLeod.

“The I think the NHL players and the CWHL players are always just as excited for the show as we are because they realize it shines a light on coaches who’ve made such a difference, and referees, and timekeepers and on and on,” MacLean continued. “That was the idea, and I think over the five years people have gravitated towards it.”

When MacLean was young, he would watch the Wide World of Sports to learn what it was like to be a ski-jumper in Finland or how to play Australia Rules Football and says this is a way albeit a little differently to open others up to hockey across Canada.

“I was so wide-eyed learning about sport around the planet, and I think this is a similar idea just to kind of understand hockey and its hold on us in Canada.”

MacLean and Slone will be dedicating a good portion of the broadcast to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, and with how they’ve been playing lately that’s no surprise.

General Manager Peter Anholt will join them to discuss the team, Dylan Cozens and the history he will play this spring at the NHL draft, as well as the recent development of forward Jake Elmer signing an NHL contract with the New York Rangers.

“I saw Dylan Cozens at the CHL top prospects game in Red Deer back in January and just learned about his father Mike’s backyard rink. You always wonder, first of all, what fosters a person’s love of the game and then how in the world do they succeed in the game. Dylan’s started as it does for a lot of kids with a great backyard rink and then he was whisked off to Vancouver and did some training with Delta and Yale academies. It’s fun to learn about that, and more importantly it’s a joy to showcase that,” MacLean said.

MacLean moved around a lot as a kid because his father was an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, but he spent a good chunk of time in Red Deer, so he knows all about hockey in Alberta, and even has a personal connection to Lethbridge as well.

His father-in-law, John, was from Lethbridge and Maclean says he was a great ballplayer and someone who was a teacher for him into the mind of a professional athlete.

When you look at the coaching tree, whether it was as coaches for local teams or players who played in Lethbridge and went on to coach, it’s quite impressive.

“Mike Babcock, Bill Peters, Willie Desjardin, Earl Ingarfield, Lorne Molleken, Lindy Ruff. Alberta has always had great teachers, Clare Drake at the University of Alberta who produced a river of wisdom in our game that is unparalleled. It’s a great province that’s always had a spirit of sharing that must come from the western way of life.”

MacLean for his part is looking forward to getting into town and discussing all of the connections that Lethbridge has in the hockey world including about players like Rob Klinkhammer and Daryl Boyle, and two-time Stanley Cup winner Kris Versteeg.

The festivities today kick off once again at noon, and the broadcast pre-game show kicks off at 4:30 p.m. local time.

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the Lethbridge News Now newsletter here. You can also download the Lethbridge News Now mobile app in the Google Play and the Apple App Stores.