Hockey Night in Canada icon Jim Hughson schools Pucked in the Head founder Jason Kurylo in table hockey and microphone etiquette. Photo by Andrew Delbaere for Pucked in the Head.
Earlier this week, we were lucky enough to hang out with Jim Hughson, the voice of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. We talked about table hockey, his start in broadcasting, and his love of storytelling. Then he schooled me on the correct way to hold a microphone, and I called him by someone else’s name.
I tell ya, I’m a pro.
Hey, click on that fancy graphic to the right –>
The Vancouver Table Hockey Extravaganza is just two days away, and you could win a boatload of prizes. (At the time of writing, we have more prizes than registrants, so it’s a dang fine idea to get your name in the hat, y’all.) It’s only $25 and it benefits hungry people (Five Hole for Food) and sick children and their families (Canuck Place). Make a deposit in the karma bank, people, and you’ll reap rewards forever!
Saturday saw the 2013 edition of Five Hole for Food wrap up in Vancouver with a festival-like atmosphere. Tunes played all afternoon, free snacks and water bottles roamed the city block of Granville Street between Robson and Smithe, and hundreds of people gathered to play ball hockey. Let’s not forget the main aim of the event: participants and sponsors combined to donate over 70,000 pounds of food to the Vancouver Food Bank. In just four short years this campaign has turned into a frickin’ juggernaut of charity goodness.
Five Hole for Food raised over 135 metric tonnes of food for regional food banks this year alone. Along the way, thousands of participants played ball hockey in downtown locales across Canada. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Let’s put this in perspective, shall we? In 2010, Year One of FHFF collected 6,000 pounds of food in nine cities over 11 days. Pretty good for a couple of college guys looking for an interesting alternative to the traditional summer break road trip.
Well, Vancouver’s intake of well-wishing this year has beat that year’s entire tour twelvefold. In all, not even including warmup events in northern BC and as far south as New York City and Autin, TX, Year Four hit 13 cities in 17 days and collected a whopping 300,000 pounds of food. That’s over 135 metric tonnes going to regional food banks across the country.
Richard Loat (@mozy19 on the mighty Twitter) and the rest of the Five Hole for Food crew set to go bigger and better yet again in 2013. Photo ripped indelicately from the FHFF Facebook timeline.
In a year overshadowed by the greed and stupidity of hockey’s biggest players, let’s focus on the admirable work of less prominent, but far more important, hockey teams.
Like this one that generates thousands upon thousands of pounds of food for folks who need it most (not to mention at least that many smiles along the way!) Okay, okay, it sounds cheesy — mmmmmm, cheese — but in this case, it’s true. Five Hole for Food has quickly become one of Canada’s most inspirational charitable drives, and it encourages each and every one of us to get up off the couch and pick up a hockey stick to make the deal even sweeter.
