29 Hours of Goodbyes

In a 29-hour span of time that began yesterday at 6:30 p.m. and will end tonight at 11:30 p.m., three hockey institutions have said, or will be saying, goodbye. Most famous, of course, was the 2009-2010 NHL Season, which concluded last night with an overtime goal by Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks in game six of the Stanley Cup Final. And although his Stanley Cup clinching goal will never be confused with Bobby Orr’s flying heroics in 1970 – indeed, last night’s broadcasting transition from “where’s the puck?” to “the Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup” was awkward to say the least – the fact remains that Kane’s effort closed the books on one of the most exciting – and most watched – hockey playoffs in years.





But the Blackhawks and Flyers weren’t the only ones saying goodbye last night. Prior to its 8 o’clock hockey broadcast, French-language RDS held a 90-minute televised gala to honour Jacques Demers, former Canadiens head coach and subsequent network commentator, who worked his last game on May 24 when Montreal was eliminated by the Flyers. Demers, 65, is retiring his hockey microphone to join the Canadian Senate on a full-time basis. The fact that the gala took place on the eventual clinching game of this year’s Stanley Cup Final was purely coincidental – the date, June 9, was chosen to correspond with the 17th anniversary of the last Stanley Cup won by the Canadiens in 1993, of which Demers was the winning head coach. Guests on hand included his former players Patrick Roy, Vincent Damphousse, Eric Desjardins, and Patrice Brisebois, as well as satellite appearances by hockey personalities Kirk Muller, Marcel Aubut, Ron MacLean, and Don Cherry. The most interesting contribution was by Barry Melrose, whom Demers first met when the two were with the Cincinnati Stingers of the now defunct World Hockey Association. Melrose, of course, is better known for his days with the Los Angeles Kings, where he was the losing head coach in the 1993 Stanley Cup Final against Demers’ Canadiens. It came out during last night’s gala that Melrose refused to speak with Demers for years after the series – still fuming about Demers’ decision to request a measurement of Marty McSorley’s stick in game two – and that it took a chance meeting in an airport well over a decade later for the two to resolve their differences.



Demers’ departure from RDS will leave the network with some pretty big shoes to fill next year, but it won’t be the only French-language broadcaster to lose a piece of its hockey arsenal. As reported a few weeks ago, Radio-Canada will be without its hockey debating show La Zone with Michel Villeneuve, which will air its final 30-minute broadcast tonight at 11 o’clock. Like its former competitor L’Attaque à 5 (better known as 110%), La Zone is being taken off the air because it can’t compete with the leverage that RDS is able to exercise as the sole French-language television rights holder of the Montreal Canadiens. You can be sure that one of the topics up for discussion tonight on La Zone will be a retrospective of the decisive game of this year’s Stanley Cup Final – providing a way for the show to go out in style and for us to end our 29 hours of goodbyes.

NHL CALENDAR:
Tuesday, June 22
Release of 2010-2011 NHL Schedule
Wednesday, June 23
NHL Awards at Las Vegas, 8:30 p.m. (CBC)
Friday, June 25
NHL Entry Draft at Los Angeles, 7 p.m. (TSN)/(RDS)