Entries with the tag: hockey+night+in+canada

Two Sides to Every Story

by Alanah McGinley on 06/14/08 at 02:42 PM
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For a story of such uniquely-Canadian relevance, the controversy over The Hockey Theme leaving the CBC had a notable international tone. 

Madeleine Morris lives and works in Vietnam and also happens to be the daughter of Dolores Claman, the much-discussed (and frequently reviled) composer of the The Hockey Theme who currently resides in the UK.

It was Ms. Morris who was left to undertake the task of defending her mother’s position, and with all the wailing despair over the loss of Canada’s de facto national anthem, I don’t think many people were listening.

In my own case, it was only after a former CBC employee contacted me with more information that I got curious enough to seek out Ms. Morris and ask for her side of the story.

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Because I Just Can’t Ignore It…

by Alanah McGinley on 06/11/08 at 06:14 PM
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The CBC notes:

Stephen Colbert is every bit as passionate about The Hockey Theme as Canadians it seems, promising to license “the most precocious Arctic treasure of all” for use in the United States.

Video is below—and it’s fun but this whole continuing saga really makes me wonder what TSN/CTV was thinking, buying this theme music up. While people may one day come to identify the jingle as being associated with their network, I’m not sure hockey fans will ever hear it without thinking of Hockey Night in Canada.  After all, the music is nearly-synonymous with that iconic Saturday night game, not simply the NHL. 

So at the end of the day, didn’t TSN just spend whatever-number-of-millions to buy a song that advertises their own network rival? Just a thought.

Anyway, without further adieu, the madness of Stephen Colbert:

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$100,000 For a Song

by Alanah McGinley on 06/09/08 at 09:03 AM
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From TO411 Daily:

CBC, in conjunction with leading music producers Nettwerk Music Group, will conduct a nationwide search, inviting Canadians to write and record an original song for CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA. Then, in a debate that is certain to dominate conversations throughout the country, fans and a jury of experts will choose the best new composition.

CBC will offer $100,000 for the winning song, which will then become the new “official theme song” of CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA and will be heard in every broadcast. A portion of the new theme song’s royalties will be donated to minor hockey in Canada. Details surrounding the contest will be announced next week.

Awesome.  I’m as sorry as the next fan that Canada is losing its de facto national anthem, but this is exactly the right way for CBC to replace it; if the fans choose it, they can’t freak out about the choice.

Besides, it’s like a hockey fan’s version of Canadian or American Idol—except in this case, I actually give a damn.

Quit the Whining

by Alanah McGinley on 04/24/08 at 05:18 PM
Comments (8)

From Rory Boylen at The Hockey News:

And, yet, there are still complaints raining in about Hockey Night in Canada, the premiere hockey production.

Bias coverage.
Don Cherry is a hot-air-filled loud mouth. 
Bob Cole can’t keep up with the play.
P.J. Stock, the bubble boy, is uninformed and irrelevant.

Give it a rest. Next thing you know people will be complaining how Foster Hewitt welcomed the hockey fans from Canada and Newfoundland, but not Quebec or any other province, in the opening sequence.

The fact of the matter is, HNIC is the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the hockey fan’s weekly spiritual gathering, if you will.

Couldn’t agree more.

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