While Canadians were trying to come to terms with Tuesday’s news that CBC would no longer air NHL games, Regina entrepreneur Kyle Moffatt was too preoccupied with a typical business day to notice.
His store, Regina-based Sticks & Doodles, designs, produces and sells handcrafted, wooden signs, ornaments, artwork, plaques and magnets — including licensed merchandise.
In collaboration with CBC, the store sells signs and ornaments with classic Hockey Night in Canada logos — the first business in Saskatchewan with that arrangement. Moffatt said a portion of every sale supports Canadian broadcasting.
Moffatt, who owns the store with his wife and chief artist, Danelle, said they didn’t even know about the announced end of the broadcasting deal between CBC and Rogers before they noticed people were ordering Hockey Night in Canada pieces from them online.
“So we found out after and kind of put two and two together,” he said.
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Moffatt said CBC’s online merchandise website, CBCShop.ca, funnels people to the Sticks & Doodles website, adding they’re getting a lot of traffic from it.
He said before Father’s Day, they typically sell roughly two $200 Hockey Night in Canada signs in a week, and on Tuesday alone, they sold three.
“So, in one day to get a push like that and to get more traffic to the website specifically for those products, that says something,” he said.
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Because CBC no longer has any rights to televise NHL games, but is keeping the Hockey Night in Canada brand and logo, the era of a network show by that name broadcasting NHL hockey on a Saturday night appears to be over.
However, after about a day of uncertainty, Moffatt heard directly from CBC on Wednesday that the logos are still the network’s trademarks and so for him, it’s business as usual.
“They said, if anything, there’s a lot of people right now who are thinking about those memories and those moments and we need to be ready to fulfill those orders,” he said. “And so they encouraged us to increase production, if anything, of Hockey Night in Canada products.”
He said he was told CBC still wants its retailers to be able to do this kind of thing.
“Which is, for a shop in Saskatchewan, it’s a huge deal for us,” he said.
Moffatt would prefer NHL hockey remain on CBC, however, even if it meant fewer sales.
Moffatt said before this week’s news, they already typically got a lot of orders from people that want a piece of Canadian history who have a personal connection with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. He said they usually get a lot of customers that have those Saturday night hockey memories with their families.
“That’s an emotional thing,” he said. “I have a very strong emotional tie to the brand. I used to watch it with my dad, who’s passed on, every Saturday.
“So, being a Father’s Day this weekend and having this happen, I can’t help but think about all those weekends sitting on the couch watching hockey.”
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Other people in Regina that CBC News spoke to echoed Moffatt’s feelings about watching Hockey Night in Canada with their families when they were younger.
Herb Klassen has memories of watching hockey as a youngster in a household with five siblings.
“Out in the country, the bathtub came out on Saturday night and so we went youngest to oldest. After you got out of the bath you got to go watch hockey,” he said.
“So your team might be ahead by the time you got out of the bath.”
Barry Freeman called this past week’s news “disappointing.”
“I think most Canadians grew up watching it and it’s part of a family tradition,” he said.
“Every Saturday night, you sat down with your parents and your siblings and that was part of tradition.”
