Last week, Arctic Ice Hockey and members from other Canadian-based SB Nation hockey blogs were contacted by Marcy Cuttler, a producer for CBC's Doc Zone. She has informed me that should the NHL cancel their entire regular season, the CBC plans on producing a documentary focusing on what fans are doing in their spare time.
I am providing a quote from her email below:
While we are keeping our fingers crossed that the NHL season can be saved, we are, nevertheless, bracing for the possibility of a winter without hockey. Should that happen, we are exploring a documentary idea. Our focus would not be on the labour dispute, the economics or any of the negotiations at all.
Instead we want to take a look at how Canadians are coping without the national game. It would speak to our psyche, our emotional connection to hockey, and it would be a wry, affectionate perspective.
We are looking for counter-intuitive stories and characters–people who have taken up new hobbies, stores and bars meeting the challenge in different ways, couples who have "re-discovered" each other. These are just examples, and we're certainly open to all ideas. We're not trying to make light of the labour dispute. Rather through these stories we hope to show that even if hockey is gone, it is not forgotten. This would be especially true in Winnipeg, where people have waited so long for an NHL team to return. There must be no joy.
So, I am wondering if you can help in any way. Can we find these types of stories in Winnipeg?
Marcy explained in detail that their documentary is still in its embryonic stage during a phone conversation we had on Monday. However, they plan to launch a full-court press in hopes for a 2-3 month turn around if in fact the season is completely scrubbed.
Now, apparently I'm a self-loathing loser and a gluten for emotional abuse. Rather than living life, I sit on a computer, constantly toiling over the imperfections of my blog posts; hardly of any use to Marcy and her staff. But surely, our loyal readers have been finding productive ways to spend their time during this labour unrest.
CBC plans on selecting stories from each Canadian market for their documentary. Marcy was very clear that they are particularly interested in what's happening in Winnipeg, given the irony of a city waiting 15 years for the NHL to return, only for the NHL to lock their doors after the inaugural season.
So have at it, readers. I want to see your beautiful faces on national television. Let's hear what YOU have been doing!
