Rogers Hometown Hockey Making a Stop in Nanaimo, BC!

by Lisa Ovens

Season three of Rogers Hometown Hockey broadcast will include a stop in Nanaimo, BC on Vancouver Island...my hometown! Okay...my other hometown, Vancouver, BC is also a stop on the Hometown Hockey tour during the 2016/17 NHL season. However, I must give special congratulations to Nanaimo, a small island town forever living in the shadow of  BC's capital city, Victoria, also located on Vancouver Island. Hooray, Nanaimo!

I moved to Nanaimo from the mainland when I was just four years old, living there all the way up to attending the local university before moving away to take on the rest of the world. Often, when I was in Vancouver, people would ask me where I was from and the conversation usually went like this...

Vancouver person: Where are you from?
Lisa:  The Island!
Vancouver person (smiling): Victoria? It's so nice there...
Lisa: No, Nanaimo!
Vancouver person: Oh.

Well, Victoria...its going to be all about Nanaimo this hockey season, and, of course, the other 23 Canadian communities selected to host the the traveling hockey show. Woot!

For American readers of this blog, allow me to explain what the show is all about:

Rogers Hometown Hockey Mobile Studio

Rogers Sportnet launched Hometown Hockey during the 2014/15 NHL hockey season as a means to connect with hockey crazy towns in Canada, from sea to shining sea. The Rogers mobile studio truck pulls into the hometown to broadcast a Sunday, prime time NHL game, as well as featuring the hometown's local hockey scene. The hometown plans the event to include a whole weekend's worth of activities leading up the NHL game broadcast. Basically, think Hockey Day in America, but, because this is Canada, Imagine every weekend is Hockey Day in America!

This must be in the cards for me because one of the NHL teams on the schedule for Nanaimo's stop is the Florida Panthers! Wow...I had a work visa in South Florida for several years - the Panthers became my hometown team there!  On Sunday, February 26th, 2017, 7:00 pm, Eastern time, The Panthers will be playing the Ottawa Senators, and, during the game's broadcast, my hometown of Nanaimo will become the backdrop for the entire evening. The even crazier part...Hockey and High Heels headquarters are currently located in Nanaimo right now!

I'm looking forward to covering this event as we lead up to the big weekend in late February, 2017.

For more information...


Nanaimo News Bulletin article...click here

Hometown Hockey Tour Schedule... click here

Go Nanaimo :o) 

BTW, here's a beauty shot of Nanaimo's harbour...

photo link