Hockey Day provides great opportunity

Four long days of setting up equipment and running around culminated this past Saturday when the actual broadcast of Hockey Day in Canada was taking place.

I got to the Stephenville Dome in the early afternoon and went to the CBC production truck in the back of the building to find out what I was supposed to do.

I introduced myself to Joel Darling, the Executive Producer of Hockey Night In Canada, and gave him my name. He told me they were waiting for me in the back and to ‘move, move, move.’ So, I moved, moved, moved to the back to find ‘Allie’, who was there waiting for me.

She told me to find Ron MacLean somewhere outside, as I was one of his camera guy’s production assistants for the day. I found the cameraperson, Mark Punga and for the next 1 ½ hours I pushed people back so he could have room to maneuver his camera around.

When MacLean went inside we went upstairs to wait for Don Cherry to show, which was about 2 hours away.

It was at this point that Allie seeked me out to get my address and Social Insurance Number so they could send me my cheque. I told her that I was a volunteer and that I didn’t think I was supposed to be paid. Apparently, however, I was doing union work and had to be on the payroll for insurance and Collective Agreement purposes. This suited me fine; especially once she told me the rate was ‘either 15 or 17 bucks an hour’. So I signed what needed to be signed and gave her my pertinent info.

At 7:15, Mr. Cherry was supposed to make his much-anticipated entrance, so we started to set up at about 7, running the cables and setting up the mobile monitor. At 7:05, however, we were informed that he was outside and we had to have the shot ready in two minutes. I tried to get through the crowd to run the cables and had to push people aside to get to the right places. Cherry entered and the place went nuts. I followed Punga to keep his cable clear and once again, had to push people out of my way just to get it done.

Cherry breezed passed me and all of a sudden it was over. He was gone through the door and his honour guard took up their posts.This was followed by another couple of hours of waiting and drinking coffee. Then Coach’s Corner was eminent and I had to run some more cables. Cherry and MacLean came out and the place went nuts, people grasping frantically over the security rails, trying to get Don Cherry’s autograph or even just a chance to touch him, it seemed. During most of the broadcast I was making sure Mark had enough room to do what he had to do and actually missed the whole little sports commentary/comedy act they do so well.

After that ended we went into the backstage area and I was approached by Allie again, who said she had figured out why I didn’t know that I was supposed to be paid. Apparently, there was another production assistant named Evan, spelled ‘Yvan’ and they had mistaken me for him. She then said that they wouldn’t need me now because ‘Yvan’ had shown up. Punga objected, saying that I was one of the best production assistants he had worked with and he wanted me for the rest of the broadcast So Allie relented and we sat there for another hour or so, Punga regaling me with tales of the CBC.

Suddenly we were informed that Cherry was making another appearance and we had to ‘move, move, move’, which seemed to be the words of the day. Another frantic five minutes of running cables and pushing people back ensued. This continued for another little while and then, suddenly, the day was over. I spent about another hour rolling up cables and packing them away before everything was done and we could go.