Frustration From The Booth

I have to admit that I really enjoy calling women's hockey games at the U SPORTS/Canada West level. Often, Kyleigh, my esteemed play-by-play colleague, and I are wowed by the athleticism of the players at this level, and we hope there will one day be a place they can further showcase their talents. But that's not what I'm angry about today. Instead, I want to take aim directly at the authoritative body who hands down the rules and requirements for our broadcasts in the Canada West Conference.

I am fully aware that one shouldn't bite the hand that feeds one's self, but it seems that the rules and requirements we were handed at the start of the season have either been ignored or have been interpreted differently. If you catch the Canada West broadcasts on Canada West TV, you know that there's a sponsor this season - Co-Op - who requires a specific number of mentions per broadcast. That part seems to have been received and understood by the eight schools who play Canada West women's hockey, but it seems the other asks of the schools by Canada West aren't even being touched.

Well, all schools except Manitoba as Kyleigh and I do our best to fulfill those asks. It's one specific ask, though, that really has me bent out of shape as we sit with just five games left in the season.

One of the asks that Canada West made to the schools at their annual summer meeting was to start promoting the other schools in the conference in order to show impartiality. Basically, the conference was looking for schools to less "homer-ism" in the broadcasts by having the broadcasters speak about the opposition on each broadcast. It makes sense from an integrity point-of-view when considering the broadcasts, and it should, in theory and in my view, make the broadcasts better by having those calling games do a little research on the opposition.

Being that this ask was made, I went one step further by not only learning about the opposition - something I do anyway - but by featuring the other schools and players by showcasing some of the amazing things the schools and athletes are doing or have done during the pregame show and the intermissions.

We've learned so much about some of the incredible things the other schools are doing or have done such as sexual violence advocacy at the University of Calgary, mental health initiatives at UBC, and the addition of the new high-definition broadcast facility at the University of Regina. We've talked to and about athletes such as Lethbridge's Alicia Anderson, the first Canada West recruits for the Trinity West Spartans in Jade Ridgewell and Desiree Wiens, and the efforts of the Saskatchewan Huskies' Canadian Cancer Society fundraiser. We've run features about Canada West's role in the first-ever World Junior Championship gold medal won by Canada in 1982, all of the Canada West women graduates who are playing pro hockey in Sweden, and Jon Rempel's amazing pro hockey career that he never seems to mention and always downplays.

In short, we're doing as many stories about other schools as we can because Canada West asked us to be more impartial and promote the other schools in the conference. Honestly, it's not hard to do, and I feel we're doing a better broadcast for our fans who are tuning into watch.

If you think I'm going to eviscerate the other schools for not following Manitoba's lead, I'm not going to do that. Each school has their own set of rules of how they broadcast their women's hockey broadcasts, and the differences between how the schools do that varies greatly. While the effort to produce these segments that we're running on the Manitoba broadcasts is sometimes significant, I respect that not every school in the conference has the time nor the resources to do what we're doing at the level at which we produce these features.

Instead, my ire is directed at the very people who made the ask of us to promote the other schools in Canada West. I would have assumed they would be watching to ensure this ask of impartiality while promoting the schools across the conference, but it seems that has yet to happen based upon the lack of cross-promotion happening at the other schools on the Canada West TV broadcasts. I would have assumed, based on past actions, they would have fined schools who weren't following the asks made by Canada West, but that assumption is tied to the assumption that Canada West is watching the broadcasts with their logo on them. I would have assumed Canada West gave a damn, but, clearly, I was mistaken.

Look, I get that Canada West doesn't have an unlimited bank account with which they can pay staff to watch games in an effort to review what is presented on the broadcasts. They are working hard to oversee the athletic competitions for a vast number of sports in their portfolio, and women's hockey is just one small piece of the puzzle when it comes to Canada West's online broadcast options. Between men's and women's competitions over the winter, there's basketball, volleyball, hockey, curling, and swimming to go along with out-of-season competitions for sports like rugby, wrestling, and track-and-field. Again, the schedule is busy, and I realize that one school's broadcast for one sport is a drop in the ocean for an organization like Canada West.

However, we're not just talking about one school here. At this point, we're talking about seven schools for one sport's entire schedule where not one of those seven schools has ventured outside the four corners of one's own campus to talk about the others. One school has, and it seems to have gone unnoticed despite it being something that Canada West desired to see this season.

I'm not asking for Manitoba to be put on a pedestal for what we're doing. We believe that our broadcasts, for a handful of people who have zero total professional broadcasting experience combined, are among the best in the nation based on our hard work off the ice to be informed and up-to-date about news and events happening across western Canada campuses. We feel these features containing information about other schools - information that was asked for by Canada West, I stress again - are interesting, compelling, and entertaining for those who watch the Manitoba Bisons women's hockey broadcasts.

Of course, maybe I'm completely wrong, and Canada West just rolls its eyes when we hit the intermissions, knowing there's another one of those "ridiculous" intermission features coming up. The only thing I want to point out, though, is that we're doing exactly what Canada West asked its schools to do on the Canada West TV broadcasts, and it seems no one else is.

I've never been one to seek recognition for what we do because, in my view, we do this for the student-athletes on the ice. The ladies who play Canada West women's hockey are some of the greatest minds and athletes this country has to offer, and we're happy to be able to talk about their academic and athletic achievements and the efforts being made by their schools to help their students and student-athletes become the best people they can be. Like the features on Hockey Night in Canada, it's about bringing awareness and recognition to those people and places we cover in our features.

Like any teacher who assigns homework, the ask made by Canada West to promote other schools and those schools' athletes on the Canada West TV sports broadcasts should have been done each and every week. Maybe our doing this work this season where others didn't will be the example Canada West can use going forward if they want to pursue this idea of cross-promotion among the schools for impartiality reasons. Maybe they won't and, looking back, this will all be for naught in the big picture. Whatever the case may be, I've taken pride in the effort we - Kyleigh, Bryan, Neil, John, and myself - put forth as a team this season when it comes to producing these features, and I hope the University of Manitoba and Bisons Sports is proud of the work we're doing.

I don't ask for much and I certainly never ask for credit when it comes to the work I do. However, to go unnoticed, unwatched, and unappreciated all season long after the efforts we made to not only fulfill the ask made by Canada West, but to go above and beyond in that fulfillment, leaves me disappointed in watching the broadcasts from the other schools after knowing what was asked of them this past summer. Again, I'm not here to throw them under the bus because it's up to those schools to mandate their broadcast teams to follow through on Canada West's requests.

I'm just frustrated that we put so much effort into our features about the other schools in the conference, and the governing body who made the request hasn't even taken a few minutes of their time to review our work. I'm hopeful the viewers watching our broadcasts appreciate the features we've done. It would just be nice to know the people who demanded that work be done appreciated it as well.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!