'Twas Bound To Happen

I've had the pleasure of working from home since Wednesday, and things have been going well as far as work goes. I haven't run into very many things I can't do, so my dining room table is working well as my new work desk. The one major period of time that has seen me leave the house was last night when I went down to the University of Manitoba where the UMFM station offices are to produce another episode of The Hockey Show. On that note, things went very well, and I highly encourage you to check it out or any other episode we've done over on the Podcasts page.

It pleased me to see that the campus grounds were virtually a ghost town. It seems people are getting the message about staying home while the coronavirus epidemic plays out, and that's a good thing to both try and quell the spread of the virus and ensuring one's own safety in these times. Keep up the good work, Manitoba!

That being said, it seems the University of Manitoba is leaving nothing to chance with their announcement tonight following Premier Brian Pallister's lead in declaring a state of emergency for 30 days earlier today.

"Effective 11:59 pm, Monday, March 23, 2020, all university buildings will be closed with only limited access to employees deemed as essential to our work for the immediate future. The general public and students who are not in residence will not be able to access buildings on campus and staff and faculty members will need keys/swipe card/identification to enter."

For the record, UMFM is not considered "essential to our work" which means that The Hockey Show's illustrious radio voices will not be going in for next week's show. Yes, I know there are likely other shows you listen to on the station other than The Hockey Show, but you're likely one of the people who has tuned into The Hockey Show for five minutes before finding something else to which you can listen. For those that have stayed to listen a little longer, thank you for your listening support!

In all seriousness, though, I pledge to have a show ready for next Thursday because that's how we roll on The Hockey Show. I'll likely have to reschedule a few interviews in order to have time to edit the chats and submit them for broadcast, but I am still aiming to have the same great content we feature each and every week on the show.

As we previewed at the conclusion of this week's show, I'll sit down with Edmonton Pandas forward and legitimate hockey superstar Autumn MacDougall at a rescheduled time this week so her interview can be ready for Thursday. Assuming this all goes well, the next few weeks will be like this as the University of Manitoba will re-examine this closure on April 10th. I have coordinated with a few people for interviews already, and I'll continue booking interviews until things start to get closer to normal.

I respect the decision of the University of Manitoba to shut down as a precaution and to ensure public safety. We all have to make changes in this new reality, and The Hockey Show is going to have to adapt just like everyone else.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!