By Michelle Praymayer
The dressing room was ablaze with excitement as the KMHA Scotiabank Bisons laced and suited up for their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Monday.
This very lucky Minor Peewee House League team was awarded the chance to shoot an introduction for Hockey Night In Canada’s Saturday broadcast of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators game.
When asked how the Bisons were selected, Head Coach Jeff Werth explained.
“It all came about through Scotiabank. They have a program called the ‘Scotiabank Hockey Tonight Kids Program’, and from what I understand, the city got put into the draw and it was pulled out of the draw and Kitchener Minor Hockey picked our team to be the team to represent.”
Five Scotiabank branches in Kitchener sponsor the KMHA. Teams apply for sponsorship money through the Scotiabank branches. All sponsored teams are eligible to be chosen for this unique gig.
This time, CBC was looking for teams around age eleven to film kids who wouldn’t be camera shy.
“It felt great, it was exciting.” Werth recounted, “I figured these kids would be ecstatic over it. Most of them wanted to start right away.”
Nathan, one of the players on the team, reported. “The experience was really fun but it’s definitely not the first time I’ve been on TV so I wasn’t very nervous.”
One of his team-mates, Luke, added. “I like the experience that we were the team that was picked all over Canada and everybody in Canada from Vancouver to Newfoundland are going to be watching so it’s going to be fun to watch with my family.”
Four players had speaking roles while the rest of the squad cheered loudly. The team went through a series of sequences such as running into the change room and doing drills on the ice.
“It was a bit stressful knowing that people would be watching it all over Canada,” insightful eleven-year-old George said, “but there’s also a certain level of excitement there that you have for the first time with that experience, so I have to say, overall, I liked it, even though it was stressful.”
Each member was treated with a special jersey, CBC towel, and puck. “You’re in the Big Leagues now,” Coach Werth joked, “Has anyone signed autographs yet?”
Overall, the team had a very positive time filming the promo for the TV channel. They could barely contain their excitement and filled the building with loud hollers and cheers.
“I think the experience was great,” another Bison, Brad, reflected. “It was kind of hard at some points, but we stuck through it.”
The club’s introduction will be aired Saturday October 8 at 7 p.m.
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