| It’s there, don’t kid yourself. With the NHL players locked out of training camps and with both their union and the team owners seemingly dug in for a long work stoppage, there’s an emptiness inside the heart of your average sports-bar regular. Sure there’s plenty of football to watch and baseball is in its final rush to the playoffs, but this is a hockey nation. And with no Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks or Calgary Flames hitting the ice anytime soon (yes I am aware that I omitted Edmonton), there is a definite sense of loss that will only build as NHL rinks continue to remain dark.
We are just fortunate that there is no current sign of labour unrest in the Canadian brewing industry, because if we were ever to have a hockey and a beer strike at the same time, many Canadian males would have to be put on a suicide watch. So where, oh where, can you painted-face hockey zealots get your fix? There’s the Calgary Hitmen with a team that is shaping up as a solid Western Hockey League championship contender. We’ve also got quality collegiate hockey in this town as well as the Alberta Junior Hockey League featuring the Calgary Canucks and Royals.
Unfortunately none of these options is going to replace the many televised hours of NHL hockey that looks to be lost. Well, my couch potato brothers and sisters, it’s time to put your puck-deprived souls in the hands of the one force you know is going to treat it with respect. I am speaking, of course, of reality television. CBC has rolled out its series Making the Cut. Currently airing Tuesday nights, its 14-episode run documents the efforts of recreation league and non-drafted hockey players across the country to land one of six much-coveted tryout spots with Canadian NHL teams. More than 4,000 skaters showed up at the initial six training camps. One of those guys was FAN 960 radio personality Rob Kerr. Heard weekday afternoons on The Big Show alongside Joe Sports and Dave Rowe, experienced net-minder Kerr slapped on the pads for one of the Calgary Making the Cut tryout sessions.
"I was out there with, I think, 19 other goaltenders and we definitely got put through our paces," Kerr recalls. "The most prominent thing that stands out in my mind about the whole thing was how professional it was. It was just incredible. From the time I got registered and got on the ice with the coaches to when we all came off the ice, it all ran like clockwork. To me it was exciting because I have watched enough NHL and Western League camps to know this was the real deal."
The polished approach displayed at the rinks and the vast amount of pre-promotion work CBC has done for the series, makes it clear they want to turn Making the Cut into a ratings hit. That is now a likely proposition given the timing and the limited number of other hockey choices currently available on the tube. An additional factor that may draw viewers is the very real possibility that a major hockey find may be made along the way. It may sound far-fetched, but when you consider that the reigning NHL MVP, Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning, was an undrafted player, you know that there are still undiscovered potential superstars out there.
So plunk down in front of the TV, you Flames jersey-wearing, superfan. With all things apparently rosy over at Molson, Labatt and Big Rock and some form of TV hockey still to be had, you will make it through this NHL lockout like a brave little soldier. Now pass the cheese puffs, there’s a big-time shooting drill coming up. |
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