Hockey Unlimited offers impressive season finale

There are 30 NHL teams. They have 690 players on their active rosters.

A few thousand players in minor professional leagues are working their behinds off to join the anointed 690. And then there are tens of thousands players in all kinds of sundry competitions, from university level to any other kind of a league. Some of them are in North America, others play overseas. Many of them dream of making the NHL and, ultimately, lifting the Stanley Cup over their heads.

But the 30 NHL teams can only accommodate 690 players all told.

Selecting those few who might have what it takes to make the show is what NHL teams’ scouts’ jobs are all about.

With this being this season’s last installment of Hockey Unlimited, and this year’s NHL draft coming in just a couple of months, the Aquila Productions’ documentary took a behind-the-scenes look at the way NHL clubs search for new talent. With professional insiders leading the way, we get to see the many things that have to happen before a general manager, surrounded by his coaches and scouts, mounts the podium to announce his team’s selection.

Sportsnet aired this season’s Hockey Unlimited finale Thursday, and there are several repeat broadcasts scheduled (see below for additional information).

Finding the future NHL stars makes looking for a needle in a haystack an easy job. Remember, it’s not only the first-rounders who are expected to make an impact within a season or two. It’s the late bloomers who make this exercise so exciting. In fact, as Hockey Unlimited shows, not all first-rounders develop into bona fide NHL players, while quite a few players selected in later rounds of the draft end up becoming stars (Pavel Datsyuk comes to mind).

So what does it take? Analytics, of course, say the insiders, but gut feelings, too, and those are usually based on wealth of experience. Scouts gather this kind of experience through trial and error. They spend many years going from one arena to another in some God-forsaken places, looking for gems no other scouts have noticed. And, of course, talking to the coaches and to the players themselves helps reveal significant angles, also.

To sum up, it’s a tough job, but if a professional sports league such as the NHL wants to survive, somebody’s got to do it.

A visionary’s vision

A visionary Roman Catholic priest, Père (Father) James Athol Murray, loved God, Canada and hockey. Not necessarily (or not always) in that order. The founder of a high school now known as the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame of Wilcox, Saskatchewan, this learning institution has given the hockey world a number of stars, some of whom reminisce in the second segment of this episode of Hockey Unlimited about the time they spent in the community of fewer than 400, studying in the boarding school that earned international fame since its founding in 1927.

That the Notre Dame Hounds form a team most other hockey clubs respect, and very rightfully so, is one thing. The other is that the school educates its students academically and, perhaps most importantly, as human beings, too.

As students and alumni tell us, on top of it all, they form friendships that they expect to last them till death do them part.

It’s one part of what Hockey Unlimited does so well: it puts the game into perspective.

Fighting a frightful battle

Nowhere does Hockey Unlimited show it better (and with more understanding) than in telling the final story of this episode.

Here’s what it’s all about: Noah Fayad, a 14-year-old player on the St. Albert Sabres AAA Bantam team in the Edmonton Major Bantam Hockey League, was becoming more and more tired. His coaches noticed, and his dad asked his son. Alarmed and shocked by the answers, rounds of visits to medical people followed. The diagnosis that came back was overwhelmingly scary: leukemia.

It is quite possible that without young Noah’s active involvement in sports, nobody would have noticed. Or, they would consider the signs a part of the many changes people go through during puberty.

Except, Noah Fayad was physically very fit, indeed, one of the stars on his team. So, the decline in fitness and stamina was more noticeable than if he was a couch potato.

A physician interviewed for Hockey Unlimited said Noah’s prognosis seems encouraging. Not only because of his physical fitness, and not only because medical people detected (and started treating) the disease early enough. The friendship and support shown by his teammates and opposing players alike, must have been a boost, too.

Sabres’ young assistant coach Brady Reid lost his father John to the same disease when he was about Noah’s age. He understands what Noah’s family is going through. And he is proud of his players who wear a sticker with Noah’s initials and number (NF 12) on their helmets to show they are in the battle with their teammate.

And when players from other teams show up wearing similar stickers, or just plain stickers announcing they are trying to help find a cure for leukemia, no words can express how grateful Noah and his family must be.

And Hockey Unlimited, not a show known for too many words, is even quieter here. It lets the pictures do the talking.

As always, hockey coach Steve Serdachny offers a few tips: this time, on passing the puck. Fitness guru Simon Bennett makes sure we learn the seemingly easy exercise that would make our hips capable of withstanding the toughest tasks we confront them with.

Serving with distinction

Hockey Unlimited is a fine documentary. Yes, it helps that it covers Canadians’ national passion. What makes it so distinctive is the fact that it not only keeps looking for contexts, it also finds them. Its creators respect both their subjects and their audiences, and that shows, too.

Its tradecraft is impeccable, something we’ve got used to with Aquila Productions’ programming. But its ability in looking for and finding stories that would interest even those few Canadians who prefer anything to hockey, now, this is an ability that makes it extraordinary.

It seems that the timing is right, too. Television audiences are slowly but distinctly becoming bored with fast-paced shows that consist of furious factoid hits without giving the viewers any time to at least consider thinking about what they are seeing.

Hockey Unlimited gives their audiences as many facts as it can give them to let them think and form their opinions. It doesn’t force its own opinions on its viewers, either.

This is what great documentary making is all about, and here’s hoping Hockey Unlimited still has a few seasons ahead of it.

 

BROADCAST SCHEDULE:

 

Thurs. Apr. 9

3 PM ET

SN One

Fri. Apr. 10

1 PM ET	SN Pacific, West, Ontario, East
11:30 PM ET	SN One

Tues. Apr. 14

5:30 PM ET

SN Pacific, West, Ontario, East

 

 

Hockey Unlimited tackles kids’ bodychecking issue head-on

A good documentary does not shy away from issues that are bound to create controversy. Indeed, a good documentary does not shy away from issues that already are controversial, either.

But, at the same time, a good documentary is perfectly willing to give voice to all sides in the argument.

Hockey Unlimited is a very good documentary.

Episode 7 that aired Monday on Rogers Sportsnet, with repeat broadcasts scheduled for later (see schedule below), opened with a serious look at an issue that has split Canada’s hockey community beyond belief. When should young players be permitted to engage in bodychecking?

Hockey Canada says not before they’ve outgrown their peewee level.

The Saskatchewan hockey association says not so.

Hockey Canada is basing its decision on parents’ fears. Those fears are based on NHL-level hits, repeated on television in super-slow motion over and over again, ad nauseam. We all know the consequences of such events, often career-ending, and quite frequently having dreadful impacts on players’ lives long after their careers have ended.

As Tom Renney – who heads Hockey Canada – put it, his organization is responsible to its members. As it should be, of course.

Except, Saskatchewan hockey people say they are responsible to their members, too, and their members agree with their view that teaching kids this age the art of bodychecking will make their later hockey lives easier for them.

The Saskatchewan hockey people support their views with findings from sports medicine experts, including specialists in kinesiology. They say what kids need is for someone to teach them the art of safe bodychecking. And they’re not merely talking about it. They are holding clinics for coaches, teaching them how to teach bodychecking right.

It seems the gap is in the definition. Where Hockey Canada sees bodychecking as a martial art always linked with a huge hit that sends the victim head-first into the boards or the victim performing a salto mortale (full somersault) in the middle of the ice surface, Saskatchewan hockey association sees it as an ability to insert one’s body between the opposing puck carrier and the puck, with the objective of taking the puck away.

Hockey Unlimited does not go out to say so openly: it is a documentary, after all. But it gives its viewers sufficient amount of information to form their own decision.

Speaking of peewee hockey, its international tournament in Quebec City is now 55 years old and still going strong.

Hockey Unlimited’s segment on this event doesn’t show us only what’s going on on the ice inside the Colisee. It takes us backstage and introduces us to numerous volunteers who make the tournament the success that it has been since its inception in 1960.

They don’t use fancy computers to capture and type-out everything. An old typewriter has seen such names as Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Rick Nash and Steven Stamkos among the 1,200 players who would excel in the NHL. It still works when volunteers are typing out game sheets. The idea is simple and straightforward: why spend money on office equipment when you can spend it on making your players’ experience unforgettable?

The players are happy that they play against some strong opposition, and that they play in front of thousands of fans who fill the seats in the good, old Colisee, no matter who’s playing whom. Considering, especially, that many of them are used to playing whenever their local arenas are free, in front of their parents and closest family members only, seeing such huge crowds borders on the overwhelming, but it’s wonderful fun, the players say.

And you can feel everybody’s enthusiasm just come across from the Colisee right into your living room (or wherever you’re watching).

Just as you can feel the enthusiasm coming across from players who brave blizzards and crazy temperatures to play hockey at the self-styled World Pond Hockey Championships.

Official pomposity purists might suggest it would have to be happening under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation ((IIHF) to be able to call itself the world championships, but participants do not care. The more players come, the merrier. That’s all that matters. And they DO come from all over the world, with the possible exception of the Antarctica. Come to think of it, how many teams from that continent have we seen at IIHF events, anyhow?

It’s a beer-league event to end all beer-league events, attracting players from all over the world. Staged on the Roulston Lake in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, the number of players easily doubles the number of people who live there. That the beer flows quite freely is quite obvious when the teams face the camera to introduce themselves, but the hockey is free-wheeling, too, and the handshakes and hugs that follow the games are genuine.

And when the weather gets worse, and the temperatures dip, so much the better, the Aquila Productions documentary shows. How many people can claim they scored a game-deciding goal in a blizzard with temperatures hovering around mins-30 Celsius?

You can add to it another question: how many camera crews would brave these elements the way the Aquila Productions’ crew has? After all, these guys weren’t keeping warm skating, and in good mood drinking beer. They were there to document others doing it, and what a great job of documenting they have done!

Useful tips on hockey fitness from high-performance personal trainer Simon Bennett and on-ice skills tips from NHL instructor Steve Serdachny have become Hockey Unlimited’s tradition; they make the show complete.

Broadcast schedule:

Mon. Mar. 30

5:30 PM ET

SN Pacific, SN West, SN Ontario, SN East

Wed. Apr. 1

9:30 PM PT (12:30 AM ET)

SN Ontario, SN East, SN Pacific

Fri. Apr. 3

12:30 PM ET

SN One

Kids’ bodychecking: Yes? No? Hockey Unlimited joins the debate

Should Hockey Canada have banned bodychecking at peewee hockey level?

It did so a couple of years ago, and only the Saskatchewan hockey association had the guts to say it found the decision weak-kneed and frightfully un-hockey-like.

Whether Saskatchewan youth hockey poohbahs were right or wrong remains to be seen: it’s too early to be coming up with definitive answers.

But Hockey Unlimited has entered the fray to see why the proponents of young players’ bodychecking believe what they do. And here’s what they believe: properly taught, bodychecking actually makes the full contact game safer for kids as they get older.

Airing Monday, March 30 on Rogers Sportsnet, with repeat broadcasts to follow (see schedule below), Hockey Unlimited again promises to deliver thought-provoking sports documentary programming.

Hockey, no matter whether it is in whatever organized or somewhat disorganized form, just happens to be part of Canada’s national fabric. To prove this point, the Aquila Productions documentary will show two events that run at about the same time and that can hardly be more different.

In 1960, hockey organizers in Quebec City have come up with a brilliant idea. The Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament has become the largest minor hockey tournament in the world. Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steven Stamkos have been among the 1,200 former and current NHL players to experience it. Kids rub shoulders with top teams of 11- and 12-year-old players from all over the world: Canada and the U.S., Europe, Asia and even Australia.

You won’t find too many future NHL stars at the World Pond Hockey Championships, however. The beer league event to end all beer league events attracts players from all over North America, but it brings guys from London, England, too,

Just imagine these gentlemen of all ages, clearing off snow on Roulston Lake in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, so they can face off in games more hotly contested than Stanley Cup’s games seven in fifteenth overtime. Except, instead of NHL teams’ trainers ordering pizza for every second intermission, beer flows on Roulston Lake as if there was no tomorrow. Unlike the often concussed professionals, frostbite and hangovers are the main risk to players here.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be Hockey Unlimited without tips on hockey fitness from high-performance personal trainer Simon Bennett and on-ice skills from NHL instructor Steve Serdachny.

Broadcast schedule:

Mon. Mar. 30

5:30 PM ET

SN Pacific, SN West, SN Ontario, SN East

Wed. Apr. 1

9:30 PM PT (12:30 AM ET)

SN Ontario, SN East, SN Pacific

Fri. Apr. 3

12:30 PM ET

SN One

Sportsmanship equals respect: Hockey Unlimited’s Episode 6

There are many ways how to show that handicapped people can do things many would have thought impossible. Most of them patronizing. Only one of them correct: respectful. That’s exactly how Hockey Unlimited portrayed sledge hockey players.

Episode 6 that aired Monday on Sportsnet and will see a number of repeats (see schedule below) opens with a segment portraying Canada’s top sledge hockey players.

While there are several players who decided to engage in this kind of hockey just for the sheer pleasure of it, most sledge hockey players have joined because they had no other option. Illnesses or injuries wouldn’t let them play hockey any other way.

And yet, none of them complains: why me? What have I done to deserve such fate?

A few of them share some of their feelings that overwhelmed them when they thought there would be no way to play their favourite game ever again, but all of them decided to tackle the fate.

They found new friends, new joys and, while they are at it, they enliven the Hockey From a Low Angle segment by showing us some of the tricks of their trade, tricks that make sledge hockey such an exciting sport.

The next segment, The Name Game, belongs under the heading: did you know?

Yes, most hockey players, perfectly aware of who’s paying their wages, would stop and sign autographs when asked by fans. Most fans keep the signed photograph or ticket stub or what have you as a memento: I’ve met this hockey star, we shook hands, we have exchanged a couple of words, even, and he was nice enough to sign this for me.

But sports memorabilia is big business, too. There are companies that pay hockey players good money for their autographs, be it on cards, photographs, jerseys, sticks, whatever other pieces of equipment come to mind. These companies then sell the memorabilia to all and sundry, and you can bet your last dollar that they are not losing money in the process.

And then there are memorabilia fanatics. Janet and Dale’s basement is a real gallery, with all kinds of hockey-related artifacts worth in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There exists a saying that women are too rational to become avid collectors of anything, from postage stamps to, say, ancient china. Or from beer mugs to, say, goalies’ catching gloves.

Either the saying has got it frightfully wrong, or Janet is an incredible exception.

One thing that drives this nice couple is that they have got most (if not all) of the stuff that adorns their basement by being there. If there’s an event, they’ll make a point of showing up, and they have proof: entry tickets are attached to whatever exhibit they have obtained there.

No, Hockey Unlimited does not reveal whence the intrepid couple come.

And no, Janet and Dale’s collection is not for sale.

Another thing that’s not for sale is health. One of the most frequent injuries in hockey (give or take a concussion or two) is damage done to players’ knees.

Just remember names such as Bobby Orr, Cam Neely or Pavel Bure. Their stellar careers were cut short because of knee injuries that even the most advanced medicine of their times could not repair sufficiently to allow them to return to the game they all loved.

Times have changed beyond belief.

A segment called Saving Knees explains, first and foremost, what kind of knee injuries are typical for hockey players, what kind of impact they have, and what modern medicine can do about them.

It used to be that surgeons had to open a player’s knee wide, trying to re-attach what had been torn and attempt to perform miracles. A player would then spend at least a week in the hospital, and the rehabilitation would be not only slow and painful, but – most often – unsuccessful.

Nothing like that any longer. Arthroscopic surgery allows surgeons to enter the injured area through small incisions, seeing everything inside on a television screen, work to their hearts’ content and send the player home within hours after they left him in stitches.

What has also changed tremendously is the rehabilitation process. Modern equipment lets therapists see exactly what’s going on and where in the player’s body, allowing them to adjust the special exercises accordingly.

A player is back in the game within six months, as compared to never just a few years ago.

Surgeons explain in considerable detail just what they are doing, and a real player who has gone through the experience (Ryan Smyth) explains what it takes for a player to feel really comfortable following all this healing process, what it takes to overcome fears that the injury can come back.

Steve Serdachny’s on-ice tricks and Simon Bennett’s dry-land exercises complete the half-hour show.

If there is one special thing that distinguishes Aquila Productions’ documentaries, it’s respect. It’s respect for both the people they show, and for the people they show their heroes to. That their tradecraft is impeccable has been a long-established tradition: from camera work through editing to music selections, from story selection to approach to handling their topics, Aquila Productions’ body of work should attract the Hockey Hall of Fame’s attention.

BROADCAST SCHEDULE

 

Mon. Mar. 23

3 PM ET	SN One
9:30 PM PT (12:30 AM ET)	SN Pacific, SN West, SN Ontario, SN East

Tues. Mar. 24

1 PM ET	SN Ontario, SN East
3:30 PM ET	SN One

Thurs. Mar. 26

3:30 PM ET

SN Pacific, SN West, SN Ontario, SN East

To be or not to be? Newest Hockey Unlimited episode lets young players answer the question

There’s a world of difference between illusions and ideals. While we should be ready and perfectly willing to ditch illusions whenever we realize we’re only dreaming in Technicolor, we should be defending our ideals to the last breath.

Thus the accepted wisdom.

Here’s the issue: how do we distinguish the former from the latter?

Youth hockey is not only an expensive proposition. Not only is the equipment beyond the reach of many families, the cost of renting rinks for practices and games can add amounts that make the sport virtually impossible to join. And yet, if future players ever learn what it takes to find success, it’s precisely in the ranks of youth hockey. But the questions do not stop with costs. Eventually, players, parents and (to a degree) coaches face tough moments that see youth hockey’s participants at a crossroads. Many questions, and only one of the several potentially possible answers is correct.

This is the challenge many (or, to be more precise, most) midget league hockey players, their parents and their coaches face. Is the kid a bona fide future NHL superstar? Is the kid a bona fide future honest worker at whatever profession his education takes him?

That’s one of the main topics the fourth episode of the new documentary, Hockey Unlimited, has set to explore. Aired on Sportsnet Monday (with a number of repeat broadcasts to come, check your local listings or below), the Aquila Productions’ show digs deep into the issue and brings in people who have both the knowledge and the experience.

Ken Campbell of The Hockey News has done a lot of research on the topic, and his insights have been of great value to the show, but what took the cake were the honestly shared personal experiences of both the parents and the players.

It’s one thing to enroll your kid into youth hockey, in hopes he would learn a thing or two that might come useful in life, and it’s a completely another matter once the kid is accepted. You become a part of a system, and the system puts some pretty tough demands on both its players and their families. And one only realizes whether these demands and requirements are reasonable after a few seasons had gone by and the players and their families have to figure out whether it is at all worth their while to continue.

Interestingly enough, it was the players themselves who were the most realistic people of all present when it got to assessing their capabilities and future endeavours. It takes a lot of courage for a player to look straight into a television camera, knowing his words are being recorded, and say, I know that I’m not going to make it as a professional athlete. Now’s the time to become serious about my education because there’s life after hockey, too. And they weren’t bitter about it, either. They told Hockey Unlimited’s cameras that they had formed friendships some of which they bet would become life-long, and they learned a lot about sportsmanship, and they got into pretty awesome physical shape, to boot.

It would have been beyond the scope of Hockey Unlimited to answer the next question: is there anything wrong with the system? And if there is, can we fix it? And if we can fix it, how do we go about it?

Why beyond the scope? Because Hockey Unlimited is a documentary. A frightfully good documentary, to be sure, but it’s not the role of such works to answer questions. It’s within their mandate to ask them. That’s all. Asking tough questions is a tough job as it is. Hockey Unlimited does that.

Hockey goes multicultural

It’s one thing to see that there’s regular broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada in the Punjabi language; it’s an altogether different thing to see kids of Punjabi origin learning not only to skate, but to play hockey, too.

This is what’s happening, and Hockey Unlimited takes us right into the heart of things. As the various community leaders say, this is all part of their people becoming Canadian. That includes not only learning and accepting traditional Canadian values, but also taking part in traditional Canadian sports activities.

And is there a more Canadian sports activity than hockey?

From a practical standpoint, how many opportunities does the usual Canadian climate offer for people to indulge in, say, cricket, rugby or soccer?

A rhetorical question if there ever was one.

Just as many watched in awe when players of, say, Korean or Lebanese origin made it all the way to the NHL, it’s obvious the day a player whose parents had come to Canada from India makes it all the way up is not that far away, too.

One question begs an answer: will there be, say, East Indian community-based hockey teams first, or will the kids have enough courage to take on all comers in teams that reflect the wonderful mosaic that is Canada?

Judging by the pictures Hockey Unlimited has shown us, the latter option is correct. A wonderful development that shows how the sport of hockey can bring the nation together at active grassroots levels, perhaps even more than just staring at television screens, watching hockey in the Olympic Games.

A thinking girl’s game

What do the girls who keep making their country proud at sundry Olympic hockey tournaments and world championship events do when there’s no such event happening?

Why, most of them play hockey.

Except: most of them do not return to hockey as their profession. They go back to various schools, colleges and universities, in order to pursue their education and play the game they love in their spare time. Only a tiny minority have decided to turn professional and found employment with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Founded in 2007, this league consists of five teams: two are based in Ontario, one in Quebec, one in Alberta and one in Boston, of all places.

There have also been other leagues catering to women’s hockey, but the Canadian Women’s Hockey league has had the most clout amongst all of them.

There are a few issues, and Hockey Unlimited lists the most important challenges the women’s league faces. For example, it is a bit of a stretch to call the players professional. The original plan had the league responsible for all travel, ice rental and uniform costs, plus some equipment, but player salaries weren’t included in the plan. This means that the players, mostly college or university graduates, have found jobs in companies that let them start their weekends early Friday so they can travel to their games. They play a number of games over the weekend, only to return home late Sunday (or early Monday) and be in the office by the time their work schedule kicks in.

Living like that shows real commitment.

The league has been trying to find sponsors who would provide enough support for the female players to become really professional athletes.

It is, obviously, a tough job: sponsors have to be convinced women’s hockey attracts a sufficient number of eyeballs to make it worth their while, but to reach that status, women’s hockey needs a strong enough financial backing to promote the game amongst the uninitiated. While it looks like the proverbial vicious circle from the outside looking in, it seems they are making steps in the right direction. They even got such a well-known hockey personality as Brian Burke on board, to help promote their game.

Of course, a philosopher might ask the most provocative question: why is it that we eye professional athletes with love and adoration that should be reserved for other professions? Teachers or nurses come to mind as worthy candidates. Still, if we resign ourselves to just acknowledging that this is how it is, the next question would be: where’s the fairness in all this?

Except: professional sports are (and should be) market-driven entities. No government fiat can help the professional female hockey players. But less shortsightedness and more imagination by potential sponsors would go a long way.

Useful features

As has become usual with Hockey Unlimited, hockey coach Steve Serdachny and fitness guru Simon Bennett teach viewers wonderful tricks, both on the ice and in the gym.

Remember when there’s a television commercial showing, for example, a driver negotiating sharp curves along a high-mountain-level off-road path, and the commercial says the guy we’re watching is a professional driver and he’s doing it on a closed circuit? Or some other attractive activity happening right before our astonished eyes, with a mysterious voice telling us not to try it at home?

Both Serdachny and Bennett are asking us to try what they’re showing us. At home or on the community rink ice. And they make sure to show their tricks in sufficient detail so as to keep us safe.

Hockey Unlimited itself is one of the most useful pieces of programming. It takes its viewers back stage of professional hockey, it shows us the sport in all of its beauty and excitement, and it challenges its viewers to get off their couches, shed their potato skins, and get healthier by becoming more active.

As has been Aquila Productions’ trademark, Hockey Unlimited tells its stories well, to the point, with great camera work, letting the pictures speak for themselves, and letting their heroes tell their stories.

BROADCAST SCHEDULE

 

Feb. 16

12:30 AM ET

SN West, SN East, SN Ontario

Feb. 18

8 PM ET

SN One

Feb. 21

4:30 PM ET

SN Pacific, SN West, SN East, SN Ontario

Feb. 22

1 PM ET	SN One
2 PM ET	SN Pacific, SN West, SN East, SN Ontario

Feb. 23

7:30 PM ET

SN One

Feb. 26

12:30 PM ET

SN One

Feb. 27

Midnight ET

SN Pacific, SN West, SN East, SN Ontario

Mar. 1

Midnight ET

SN One

 

Hockey Unlimited’s second episode looks at people in, around and behind the game

What is it that makes hockey such a national passion, more even than just a pastime?

Aquila Productions’ second installment of its new documentary series, Hockey Unlimited, broadcast on Sportsnet Tuesday (with a series of repetitions coming up), is looking for answers. And it finds them in all kinds of environments.

This episode begins with a trip to the Sutter family farm in rural Alberta. After all, the six Sutter siblings have played in almost 6,000 NHL games all told, so, they should know a thing or two about hockey.

Turns out, they know a thing or two about life.

Many have interviewed the Sutters before, so, one would ask, what else and new can we find out about them?

Well, how about, for example, that Darryl Sutter, yes, the one who has coached the Los Angeles Kings to two Stanley Cup victories, realizes that even though he’s spent 34 years in the NHL, he’s still spent every summer of those 34 years back on the farm? Not resting. Working. And farm work, even with all kinds of equipment and machinery now available, is still hard work. So hard, in fact, that Darryl Sutter recalls he and his brothers didn’t need much summer training to keep in shape for forthcoming NHL seasons: they just worked on the farm, and that took care of it.

The Sutters are also helping their community. It’s nothing out of the ordinary: a golf tournament. Except it has now become a tradition, aged a couple of decades, and its contribution to community causes (every cent raised goes toward the stated goal) has now reached millions of dollars.

Speaking of knowing where one comes from, another segment of this episode of Hockey Unlimited visits with the King family at Meadow Lake in Saskatchewan. Yes, we do witness Dwight King’s day with the Stanley Cup, except, we get to see much more: Hockey Unlimited stays put in the community a bit longer. The King brothers and sisters, all of them involved in hockey, stage summer hockey schools, and watching the enthusiasm in the eyes of both the students and their instructors is a precious experience.

Which brings us, logically, to another segment.

Hockey, as popular a sport as it is, is also a rather expensive form of spending one’s spare time. When parents want their children to indulge, it costs them both time and money. Most parents would be perfectly willing to give their time to their children, but how about the money?

As Hockey Canada chief Tom Renney tells Hockey Unlimited, enrollment in minor hockey in Canada is not what it used to be, and – he confirms – it’s the money that is the main concern here.

But it doesn’t have to be, Hockey Unlimited tells us, and it proves its point. Yes, minor hockey clubs need to raise funds for ice time and to cover all kinds of necessary expenses, but the cost of equipment need not be as outrageous as it seems when one visits the specialized sports equipment superstores. There are community-based (and community-run) second-hand equipment stores, there can be exchanges, and some of the major sports equipment companies have also got involved to help the kids make that necessary first step that would, hopefully, lead them to a more active participation (and a more healthy lifestyle).

Speaking of which, how many of us have known that Mark Messier’s sister Mary-Kay has been involved in one such program?

It has become a part of Hockey Unlimited’s lineup: coaches Steve Serdachny and Simon Bennett offer invaluable tips how one can improve one’s skills.

Hockey Unlimited is an incredibly good documentary. It takes a topic most of us think we know inside out, and shows us angles most of us would either have never heard of, or never thought of. They present their stories convincingly, using great camera work, attention to detail in editing, overall sound and music selection, telling us that hockey, just as most team sports, creates special bonds between people who would have never met without it.

It shows us hockey stars as people who know whence they’ve come and to whom (and what) they owe their success.

At a time when all and sundry think that their television production (in the documentary field, in particular) simply must be controversial, preferably violent and shocking, with all kinds of mayhem thrown in to drum up custom, it takes a certain degree of courage to document the lives of normal people and the game they love. Both Aquila Productions and Sportsnet deserve credit for being this courageous, and for delivering programming that is healthy food for thought.

Hockey Unlimited’s new episode concentrates on family

Family is the cornerstone of society, and it holds true in hockey, too.

The second episode of Hockey Unlimited, Aquila Production’s new half-hour television series for Rogers Sportsnet, concentrates on hockey families.

Premiering on Sportsnet Tuesday, January 20, Hockey Unlimited takes its audiences behind the scenes, presenting Canada’s national sport as a phenomenon worthy of an in-depth look.

One Episode 2 story takes its viewers to witness some down-time away from the rink with the straight-talking, farm-raised Sutter brothers. Brian, Darryl, Duane, Brent, Ron and Rich hold one NHL record that will likely never be broken: an astonishing 5,597 regular season and playoff games between them. The boys and their mom Grace offer their perspective on the family’s secret of success in the game of hockey as they give viewers a tour of the farm, and oversee the fun at their annual Sutter Fund charity golf tournament.

In another feature, Dwight King of the champion Los Angeles Kings, brings the Stanley Cup home for a day the same week that he and his close-knit family, including former NHLer D.J. King, run a popular minor hockey school at the arena on the Flying Dust First Nations Reserve in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.

Hockey as a sport is quite an expensive endeavour, and this Episode of Hockey Unlimited takes a close look at cost as a barrier to entry into minor hockey for many families.

Besides, Hockey Unlimited  features valuable tips on hockey fitness from high-performance personal trainer Simon Bennett and on-ice skills from NHL instructor Steve Serdachny.

Episode two of Hockey Unlimited will begin airing on most Sportsnet channels Tuesday, January 20th (2:00 p.m. Sportsnet East), with repeat broadcasts at various times over the following two weeks.

Hockey Unlimited: what makes Canada’s hockey tick

It’s all about telling it like it is.

The newest entry into the world of documentary films about hockey premiered on Sportsnet Monday afternoon. It’s going to see a few repeats before part two of Hockey Unlimited appears on the schedule (early December). Just watch for it.

Hockey Unlimited, without talking about it too much, probes into a question that is simple and complex at the same time: Canada is passionate about her hockey, and so are Canadians passionate about their hockey. There’s a world of difference between these two passions. And yet, one can’t exist without the other, and vice versa.

With the NHL game by EA selling like hot cakes, the first installment of Hockey Unlimited goes behind the scenes to find out what exactly it is that makes the game such a fan favourite.

The answer is simple and straightforward: it’s its creators’ passion that does it. The guys who have been creating it grew up on the good old black-and-white pong game. Something today’s young crowd has no idea whatsoever existed. The grown-up crowd might recall the vertical line dividing the screen, the two players represented by two shorter lines, with a ball represented by a roughly-edged dot, and, gee, what kind of progress that was! the score changing whenever either of the players missed.

Compare it to today’s game where they make sure that jerseys reflect the layers’ movements, that reflections in the helmets reflect the arena lighting and that the fans who are taking selfies during games do so using equipment that exists on the market today. And all that in high definition!

The second part is even more interesting.

Imagine a small village in rural Alberta, population just slightly over 300. Known also by its nickname (Home of the first last elevator row in Alberta), seat of Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur Heritage Museum, you can find it some 65 kilometres south of Lethbridge.

With farming becoming more and more industrialized, it’s villages like this that suffer the most. The good people of Warner were watching their future with apprehension. One thing they knew was that no matter what else goes, if their school goes, it’s the end. And that’s when they figured out a way. That’s when the Warner Hockey School, one of the premier girls’ hockey schools in Canada, was born.

It attracts girls from all over the place and the Warner Warriors, a part of the junior girls’ hockey league, have scored quite a few major wins. One of their biggest wins: some of its alumnae have gone on to the best schools on the continent on full hockey scholarships. One even helped her new alma mater win a national championship title by scoring the winning goal.

These girls help keep the Warner school alive. And, by extension, they help keep Warner itself alive.

The Warner Hockey School has Mikko Makela as its general manager and head coach. By the way, here’s the proper way of writing his last name: Mäkelä. But don’t worry, he doesn’t insist on that kind of convoluted spelling.

The name should sound familiar to NHL fans: named The Flying Finn, Makela has more than 400 NHL games on his resume. He also played in Finland and owned a team in his native country. Having married a girl from Lethbridge, he returned to her hometown with her, and – after a brief period of coaching a junior club – he made the move to Warner.

Both sides could have hardly been happier.

This part of Hockey Unlimited tells us more about Canadian hockey’s roots than huge tomes of university research. Including the difference between guys as hockey players and girls in that same role. When he tells guys to do this or that, Makela relates, they would just go and do it. Not so the girls. They would listen to the instruction and then ask a simply major question: why?

There are two more brief segments included in the show. One, narrated by fitness guru Simon Bennett explains how to increase the strength of some of the muscles hockey players need the most. The other shows power skating coach Steve Serdachny explain several hockey moves in detail.

All in all, hockey from all possible angles.

Add to it Aquila Productions’ traditionally sharp camera work, crisp editing and great music selections. On top of it, Sportsnet’s Chris Simpson appears as the show’s host. Chris Simpson has earned her credibility with hockey fans through the years of hard work and she’s very good. The creators have made sure that she doesn’t appear on the screen too often, either: they let their pictures do the talking.

Aquila Productions’ previous major project, Oil Change, has been a huge success. It developed a huge following.

Judging by the first episode, so will Hockey Unlimited.

Hockey knows no bounds: new Sportsnet series by Aquila set to open

Hockey is Canada’s passion.

Psychologists and anthropologists may debate the reasons for this strange phenomenon, but the fact remains (and is worth repeating): hockey is Canada’s passion.

And so, it’s not really a surprise that Edmonton’s own Aquila Productions has come up with a brand new hockey series that will begin airing on Sportsnet Monday, Nov. 24. Hosted by Chris Simpson, Hockey Unlimited will offer ten half-hour segments during this season.

Aquila gave us Oil Change, an award-winning series, that – the producers agreed – has run its course after five seasons. It was a series of behind-the-scenes looks at an NHL team in the throes of rebuilding. Oil Change has quite rightfully developed a following that borders on cult admiration. But you can be rebuilding a team only for so long. And that has been the limitation that the Aquila team has imposed upon themselves.

The new series will be going further and deeper than just the NHL. After all, the title (Hockey Unlimited) says it all. As the producers promise, they are going to follow hockey from its grassroots all the way up: minor, junior, college/university, recreational beer league, women’s, senior amateur, international and all levels of pro hockey.

Sportsnet has become the only guy in town to cover the NHL (with a few regional exceptions thrown in). This series is going to show that the network is seriously aware that without the grassroots, there wouldn’t be any grass. Good for them.

Many seem to think that only men between the ages of 18 and 49 are fanatic enough to spend most (if not all) of their spare time with or around hockey. Considering how many kids of both sexes love the excitement of actually playing the game, this series is bound to discover that hockey, indeed, knows no limitations. That’s how it is in Canada, and this is a Canadian show, aimed at Canadian audiences.

Here’s the plan: each episode of Hockey Unlimited (10 episodes in season one) will include two 8-12 minute documentaries about some significant issue, event, personality or other aspect of hockey. These features will be also accessible, once the show airs, online through live streaming off the Sportsnet site.

Check it out:

 

 

Station	Date	Start	Series	Episodes
SN Pacific	Mon, 11/24/14	14:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN West	Mon, 11/24/14	15:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN East	Mon, 11/24/14	17:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Ontario	Mon, 11/24/14	17:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Pacific	Mon, 11/24/14	20:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN West	Mon, 11/24/14	21:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN East	Mon, 11/24/14	0:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Ontario	Mon, 11/24/14	0:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Pacific	Tue, 11/25/14	16:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN West	Tue, 11/25/14	17:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN East	Tue, 11/25/14	19:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Ontario	Tue, 11/25/14	19:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Pacific	Wed, 11/26/14	10:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN West	Wed, 11/26/14	11:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN East	Wed, 11/26/14	13:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Ontario	Wed, 11/26/14	13:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN One	Wed, 11/26/14	23:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Pacific	Thu, 11/27/14	14:00	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN West	Thu, 11/27/14	15:00	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN East	Thu, 11/27/14	17:00	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN Ontario	Thu, 11/27/14	17:00	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN One	Fri, 11/28/14	22:30	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN One	Sat, 11/29/14	22:00	Hockey Unlimited	1
SN One	Sun, 11/30/14	18:30	Hockey Unlimited	1