The show will be broadcast by Ship Point on Sportsnet on January 20, 2024.
Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada will be hosted on January 20, 2024 from Ship Point in the Inner Harbor.
Hockey Night Canada host Ron MacLean will make the announcement next Monday at 4:30 p.m. during a broadcast of the Stanley Cup Finals on Sportsnet.
The Victoria Hockey Legacy Society, the local organizing committee, confirmed that Victoria has been selected as the host and a formal announcement will be made at Ship Point next Tuesday. Joel Darling, Executive Producer of Scotiabank Hockey Day Canada will be in attendance.
The 14-hour national show, which airs annually on Sportsnet, features all seven Canadian NHL teams in action. Events at Ship Point include children’s games on a synthetic ice surface and concerts on adjacent stages.
The broadcast will include segments on the island’s hockey history and live feeds from a Victoria Royals Western Hockey League game that day at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Stanley Cup will be held in the city to mark the occasion, 99 years after the Victoria Cougars won it.
According to the Victoria Hockey Legacy Society, headed by businessman John Wilson, the show attracted around 10 million viewers during its 14 hours.
It was originally broadcast from Toronto in 2000. Hockey Day Canada was held in Owen Sound, Ontario this year and Scarborough, Ontario in 2022. In January 2020 it was in Yellowknife.
The budget for hosting the event is $850,000, says the Victoria Society. The Province and Destination Greater Victoria each donate US$100,000. The City of Victoria is providing $100,000 in cash and an additional $100,000 in in-kind contributions such as grandstands and stages. The remainder is funded through corporate sponsorships.
“Sport is important for community building and this will give the city a remarkable presence,” said Mayor of Victoria Marianne Alto. “It’s not often that you have the opportunity and exposure to showcase Victoria in the middle of winter.”
Keith Wells, chief executive of the Greater Victoria Sport Tourism Commission, said the event will serve as a platform “to tell our greatest hockey stories, from the Patricks and the Stanley Cup in 1925 to the pro Maple Leafs of the 1960s and our later players .” like the Courtnalls and Grant Fuhr.”
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
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