The Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour is the ultimate hockey fan experience, making stops in communities across Canada. This weekend the Tour lands in Ottawa and the FREE festival kicks off on Aberdeen Pavilion starting at 12pm on Saturday March 18th and will feature family-friendly programming and activities all weekend long.
Before heading out to the festivities, co hosts Ron MacLean and Tara Slone spoke with Macaroni Kid's junior reporter Jonah, age 14, to talk about all things hockey.
Jonah: Thanks for talking with me today. My first question is for both of you. What is the goal of Hometown Hockey, and what are you trying to accomplish with the program?
Tara Slone (Tara)- Our goal is really two fold. One, because we roll into towns with the festival- we want to create and an environment where families can have a lot of fun in a hockey environment. The second goal is tell hockey stories in a way to make a community feel proud. We want to tell a story about hockey in this community. When we leave Ottawa at the end of the weekend if we can make Ottawa proud, we've done our job.
Ron MacLean (Ron) - Hockey is our and we tell stories. We can showcase what it means to be a hockey player. There are many ways we can be a hockey player. Anyone can be a hockey player, it defines our Canadian character as a people; blind hockey, sledge hockey, men's hockey, women's hockey, youth hockey, blind hockey, there are so many different versions of the game. It defines our attitudes, our character, our qualities as people. It's our game and it shows how people can unify together.
Jonah: Tara, how did you go from rock singer to Hometown Hockey co-host?
Tara: Towards the end of my music career, TV came calling. I was on a tv reality show and I was ready to come off the road and wanted to move into something more stable. It was a combination of luck, hard work and drive. I had a great love for sport and in particular hockey so I kept pushing, and I had my desire to become part of the hockey world as a broadcaster. For me, that Ron was involved, was a big deal but it was telling Canadian stories through the lens of hockey that I loved. I think I was open to twists and turns in my career. I enjoy telling stories through the lens of hockey.
Ron - Tara was training for this position and she didn't even know it. When you are a rock singer songwriter, you are part of a team but you are telling messages and stories from your heart - and that's is the secret of broadcasting, to speak from the heart and the viewer is going to take something important away. Emotional message is both in broadcasting and in music. You need to connect on emotional level.
Jonah: What is your favourite part of hosting a show with Don Cherry?
Ron: Don is a good interview. I admired him as a great subject. He is well-read, an original thinker and I really admired him. My basic training is let your guest be the star - facilitating this amazing mind that he is. He's different than I am politically and he has different ideas than I do, but I really enjoy hearing what he has to say because it's not coming from a baseless well. He's well-thought on ideas. He knows what he is going to say, unlike me. Working with Don allows me a great opportunity to be a listener and one of my favourite people to listen to happens to be Don.
Jonah: What's your opinion of NHL player participation at the upcoming Peyong Chang Olympics?
Ron: I think it's critical, for players like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby when you see them play a game, like you did recently, I wanna see them play together to celebrate the game. Carrying the flag is one of the greatest moments, but doing it on behalf of the world, not only on behalf of Canada. You are one of 201 nations marching together. The message of togetherness and oneness. It's so big and so important and I wish the NHL players could be a part of it.
Jonah: Tara, because you are a Habs fan, and Ron, because you are a Leafs fan, when you are doing Hometown Hockey do you cheer for the home team or the Habs or Leafs, if they are playing.
Tara: Often we are not in NHL markets we always cheer for the hometown team. - I've learned to become less biased, but we are all cheering for the Canadian teams. When we're in Medicine Hat, cheer for Tigers. I've learned to be a less biased hockey fan. I think we're all cheering for the Canadian teams at this point. Last year was such a disappointment. What excites me the most is that we want all the Canadian teams doing well, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal...
Ron: When we started this season, the Canadian teams were having an abysmal run, which is not great for ratings. Edmonton losing 5-0 why would they watch, the first time this year they were on hometown hockey we thought people were going to click off. (laughs)
Jonah: Which song do you think is best to be played as a goal scoring song?
Tara: Hmm, that's interesting. Probably from my solo album My Little Secret - it's a super fast rock song.
Jonah: Who is the one person that you haven't interviewed but you still want to?
Ron: Lewis H. Lapham, who was the long-time editor of Harper's Magazine. He taught me a ton about this business. He is the author of Lights, Camera, Democracy!, and talks a great deal about maintaining yourself in your work. He taught me a ton about this business. Here's his connection to Ottawa - His son is married to (former Prime Minister) Brian Mulroney's daughter. His grandkids play hockey in Oakville where I live, so there is still time for a possible interview.
Jonah: What advice can you give to young kids who want a career related to hockey, playing or broadcasting?
Ron: Be relentless, and don't take no for an answer. Consistently preparing. Peyton Manning said, " You may beat me and you may outplay me but you won't out-prepare me". It's a good lesson. The biggest lesson is preparation gives you peace of mind. Do everything possible to put yourself in a spot to succeed. You'll have far greater confidence with preparation.
Tara: My experience with team sports is being a team member of a band, but it was a team. A lesson that we learned the hard way is the whole is important. The team is important but so are the individuals on a team. I don't like the "win at all cost" mentality when it's at the expense of caring for the individual. I'd say, yes, be prepared, yes, never give up and never give anyone a reason to say you didn't work hard enough but the onus on us as human beings is to care for one another.
Jonah: Thank you both for your time.
Festivities this weekend include virtual autographs at the Rogers Tent, meet your favourite NHL Alumni in the Scotiabank Community Locker Room, test your skills in the Chrysler Pacifica Stow N Go Competition, and cheer for your local minor hockey teams in the Cheer Like Never Before contest.
More info at htthttp://www.hometownhockey.comp://www.hometownhockey.com.
