Hockey Night in Hamilton

Bring The NHL To Hamilton Rally

2009-06-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, the rally is still a go, more so than ever now.My commercials will start to air tomorrow on CH, so either watch them there or on my website!As soon as the ruling was released today I was notified by the media, and approaching 1am, I am still going through the judges 21 page ruling on the case.Being in the legal field for 26 years, I have read my share of documents, this one is no different, there are some interesting statements in this one.I will post what I and I repeat I take from it at a later point.The biggest thing that everyone needs to take from this, is not what a legal opinion can or cant do to what we want, but more so its what we need to do now as a City and a people.There are some very clear things that now must happen, some I can share, others I cant.The biggest thing for everyone to know, is that we cant give up, lord knows that I am not giving up, if anything I am looking at this in even a bigger picture now, more than ever.More to follow.

http://www.bringthenhltohamilton.com

Hockey in Hamilton

2009-05-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well its been a crazy last few days hasn't it!!!

I have never fielded so many calls and emails, people stopping me on the street, all wanting to know whats going on, and to talk hockey.

It was also a very " Political" day to say the least, I had a lot of conversations with our elected officials before they headed into their meeting to discuss our hockey future.

The website and Facebook group are growing like wildfire, yesterday saw 407 new members on Facebook alone!

The social component of the internet I have implemented and will continue to as time goes on.

I have some HUGE things planned on top of all this, a Rally is being planned, a fundraising dinner/rally after the playoffs are over, and also a grassroots campaign aimed at getting everyone fired up!!!

Staye tuned lots of good stuff coming!!

http://www.bringthenhltohamilton.com

Bring the NHL to Hamilton

2009-05-12T05:31:00.000-07:00

For those that want to follow and or learn about some of Hamilton's great history in hockey, please visit my website at

http://www.bringthenhltohamilton.com

Pops Kenesky

2009-03-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Tim Miller has just received the application forms that we need to fill out and submit to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto for Pops Kenesky to be included into the hall.

Watch here for more details to follow!!

http://www.hockeynightinhamilton.com

Hamilton Hosts Team Canada

2008-12-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

Scott Radley from the Spec knows my motto, " Go Big or Go Home".
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/486430

So 48 hours ago when I learned that Team Canada was coming to town, ( so much for me knowing whats going on in this City, even Duncan Gillespie the CEO of HECFI had a good chuckle about this!!) I embarked on finding the largest Canadian Flag I could find.

The largest I could find was as big as my bus is long, 40 feet long and 20 feet high.

My original plan to have an announcement at the opening ceremonies had to be cancelled, as to the National Anthems, and player introductions, due to time constraints.

This in itself needs to be looked at separately, it should NEVER happen again, not singing our Anthems is embarrassing.

The flag arrived just in time, my driver hustled down and picked it up and the plans set in motion.

Ironically enough Councilor Scott Duvall of Ward 7 mentioned to me a few months back, that he would like to see a new larger Canadian Flag flying in Sam Lawrence Park at sometime in the near future.

As soon as I heard this, I said my usual response, " Tell me what you need and I will get it done!"

So, after flying the flag proudly last night at Copps, and TSN broadcasting it around the world for all to see, the Flag has already been seen by people from all over the world!!

My daughter was even in the paper today, you can see her holding it proudly.

Speaking of holding it, it apparently is very heavy, 66 lbs I am told, wow!

For me this is an honour to do something like this, its not often that one can do something for their Country, and this I consider as something that I can be thankful for having the opportunity to show the world that Hamilton loves Hockey and it's Country!!

Now we need to start to research Flag poles, we will need a HUGE pole to hold this flag, I am told this flag is the same that you see flying at the Husky truck stops.

Hamiltonian's and visitors to our City did our Country proud yesterday, and to that I am extremely grateful.

I could not join my staff, family and friends in my suite last night but they tell me that they had a great time, and we won 7-0.

http://www.hockeynightinhamilton.com/

Hamilton is the logical choice for a NHL Hockey Team

2008-10-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

So, who would you rather believe, an NHL person or Wayne Gretzky?

Obviosuly The Great One, knows Hocckey better than anyone, and he said it last month, Hamilton is the next logical place for a NHL team.

Having Gretzky say something like this is like getting blessed by The Pope, who is going to doubt what he says!

I think something we need to do and hopefully we can do it through this website, is to put forth the facts on Hamilton, Hockey, its history and its future.

The first thing everyone needs to know is that Hamilton is on the move, and that is forward.

For Canadians or Americans reading this blog, you need to know that our own Canadian Business Magazine put Hamilton as #3 in Canada as the best place to do business in.

A very special honour for Hamilton and its people.

Hamilton is also known as " The Waterfall Capital of The World", it has more waterfalls in its City limits than any other City, who would not want to live here!?

I think a good thing we can do here is to put together a list of reasons on why Hamilton should have an NHL team, and put it together and submit it to the league, if one thing has become clear, its the fact that a lot of people simply are not armed with the facts.

www.hockeynightinhamilton.com

A second NHL team in Toronto ?

2008-10-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

Its incredible what happens when a journalist writes a column isn't it?

Lets set the record straight.

There will never be a second team playing out of the Air Canada Center in Toronto.

That in itself is a disaster in the making.

It would water down the Maple Leaf Brand, and would be a marketing persons nightmare to try to introduce a second team and build the hype around it.

It would be virtually an impossibility to try to separate the two and build upon the new team.

The damage that could happen to both teams is a huge possibility and something impossible to even imagine.

Look at any successful sports franchise and you will find that they have a very distinct character, fan base, and "feel" about them.

A second team in Toronto would be an impossibility to try to create something out of nothing and to build something that would basically morph Toronto.

So, lets put that notion to bed right away, as the President of a marketing company, I would not even take a project like this on, it has failure written all over it.

April Fools was just played on the hockey world.

www.hockeynightinhamilton.com

Tim Miller Joins Hockey Night in Hamilton

2008-10-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

I am very proud to announce that veteran sports writer for The Hamilton Spectator, Mr. Tim Miller has come aboard and will be writing columns and conducting research for us.

Tim is a well respected journalist and has covered sports for longer than I can remember, and is the author of several books.

Welcome aboard Tim, good to have you with us here at Hockey Night in Hamilton!

www.hockeynightinhamilton.com

Building our Hockey Night In Hamilton Website

2008-10-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well we have been busy over the weekend researching all things hockey in Hamilton, and Rosie will be back from New York Tommorow and will start to build the website with the information that we have gathered.

I have also received some emails from people that have old stories, pictures, etc..., so please yes send them in and we will include them in the website!

Many thanks

Chris Ecklund

http://www.hockeynightinhamilton.com

Starting The Movement To Get Pops Kenesky Into The Hockey Hall Of Fame

2008-10-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Today during a neighbourhood fundraiser I had the chance to talk with Tyler Banham Federal Candidate for the Liberal Party for Hamilton Mountain.

During our 30 minute marathon on all things Hamilton, I told him of my plan to get Pops Kenesky into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Tyler then said that during his years in law school he got to be friends with Ken Dryden and will talk to him about this.

We have some messages ionto the HHOF and will hopefully talk with them next week to formalize how we go about the submission process.

I also had a chat with Steve Milton from The Spec about this as well.

More to follow.

www.hockeynightinhamilton.com

Kenesky Sports

2008-10-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

After driving by it for my life time, ( well at least 40 years) I finally stopped into Kenesky Sports today, the icon of hockey in Hamilton, and the birthplace of the modern day goalie pad.

You see it was here that " Pops" Kenesky invented the goalie pad.

It was something else to see all the old pictures and upstairs old hockey greats even signed the wall, I saw Allan Bester's signature and a whole bunch of other players as well, and even coaches.

There was an old set of his pads from 1962 in a glass case as well, you know when you start to look at them closely, it made me wonder if I might have ever worn a pair playing road hockey, heck you never know.

It was like a trip down memory lane in a sort of way also.

One thing that we are looking into is to see if we can get "Pops" recognized in The Hockey Hall of Fame, he is mentioned but not inducted, this we believe is a very important thing to recognize for his achievements in the world of hockey.

Richard spent the day at the library researching and has completed some more on famous Hamiltonian born hockey players.

More to follow.

Chris Ecklund

http://www.hockeynightinhamilton.com/

Hockey Night In Hamilton

2008-10-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new blog!

It has been a very busy last 48 hours since we launched our Facebook group, and today we launched our new website!

In the first 48 hours we have gathered over 700 members alone!

Tonight we had a 2 hour meeting going over what we could do with the new site and where we could go with it.

My usual typical approach to anything new like this is to fly by my seat of the pants like I usually do, make it up as we go and change direction as we see fit.

Kind of the same approach when you are skating down the ice with the puck isn't it?!

Tonight we came up with some great ideas on what we could do with the site, we discussed a logo, covering the Bulldogs games, and junior hockey as well.

Lots of great ideas and we look forward to implementing them as we go along.

Many thanks for dropping by!

First post

2008-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our first post!