TUESDAY COMMENTARY – JIMINY CRICKET

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary at 9:50 am and 5:20 pm on Cat Country 98 FM)

TWO CANADIAN ICONS PASSED AWAY OVER THE WEEKEND BUT ONLY ONE, I FEEL, IS GETTING HIS PROPER DUE.

ALEX TREBEK PASSED AWAY AT AGE 80 WHILE HOWIE MEEKER WENT TO THE HOCKEY RINK IN THE SKY AT AGE 97.

TREBEK WAS PROPERLY HONOURED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER, PRIMARILY FOR HIS 36 SEASONS AS HOST OF JEOPARDY.

BUT MORE COULD BE DONE FOR HOWIE MEEKER.

I GUESS YOU’D HAVE TO BE 40-OR-OVER TO REMEMBER MEEKER AS THE STAR OF SATURDAY NIGHTS ON HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA.

AS A CHILD OF THE 70’S AND 80’S, MEEKER HAD A MAJOR IMPACT IN SHAPING MY LOVE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE GAME OF HOCKEY. NOT ONLY DID WE WATCH ALL THE GAMES, BUT HIS INSTRUCTIONAL FILMS WERE SHOWN AT OUR HOCKEY SCHOOLS EACH SUMMER.

EVEN WHEN WE WERE OUT PLAYING ROAD HOCKEY, OR BROKE INTO THE LOCAL RINK FOR A LATE NIGHT GAME OF SHINNY, WE WERE ALWAYS IMITATING MEEKER’S SHRILL VOICE ADVISING US TO “PUT IT UPSTAIRS”.

OKAY, MAYBE IT WAS ONLY ME.

IT WASN’T UNTIL HE PASSED THAT I TRULY DELVED INTO MEEKER’S HISTORY AND LEARNED HE WON FOUR STANLEY CUPS WITH THE LEAFS, AND WAS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR IN 1947.

HIS RECORD OF THE FASTEST 25 GOALS SCORED BY A LEAFS ROOKIE WAS ONLY RECENTLY BEATEN, BY AUSTON MATTHEWS.

WE LOVED HIM, WERE SOMETIMES ANNOYED BY HIM, BUT ALWAYS APPRECIATED THE GREAT HOWIE MEEKER.

HE WAS A BRAND BEFORE HAVING A BRAND WAS A THING.

I SHOULD NOTE, HE WAS INDUCTED INTO THE HOCKEY HALL OF FAME IN 1998 AS A BROADCASTER.

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY ON CAT COUNTRY 98.