(From left to right: Randip Janda,Harnarayan Singh, Mantar Bhandal and Bhupinder Hundal)
As Canada grows it diverse population, the country’s favorite league is integrating multiculturalism into its hockey fandom both locally and abroad, on the 100th anniversary of the National Hockey League (NHL).
“Boninoooooooo!” Harnarayan Singh cheered, getting the hockey world’s attention with his reaction to Nick Bonino’s game winning goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the San Jose Sharks in game one of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals.
Singh is the lead commentator of Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi Edition, a NHL broadcast that is shown completely in Punjabi.
Bhupinder Hundal, commentator for Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi edition, was in charge of Punjabi programming at Rogers when they announced their 12-year deal with the NHL in 2013.
Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi started four years ago and Hundal thinks it has gone from being a bare bones operation to a program with high production value.
“Our goal is to rival the kind of coverage you would see on your main Sportsnet channel,” said Hundal.
Hundal believes the goal of the program is to reach out to all the different demographics within Canada’s growing Punjabi community.
“We have people who have been in Canada for a long time and people who have recently arrived in Canada. We have the young and old. We are trying to be relevant to all these kinds of demographics,” Hundal says.
The pre-game and post-game shows as well as the intermission events have a cultural components that Hundal thinks are used to bring in more of the Punjabi audience.
The show encourages viewers to send in pictures of their families and share their own personal story with hockey and the NHL.
There are families and they have kids and they send up pictures and hockey stories and we use our platform to tell those stories,” Hundal said.
It connects the community to the game of hockey.
Cory Wilkins, NHL news editor at theScore, says the emergence of Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi edition is important for attracting new fans to the league.
“If we look at the demographics of Canada and how they are changing with newcomers coming in and they are not familiar with sports, then one way is to reach out them in their language,” Wilkins says.
The NHL is attempting to reach an international audience by appealing to newfound hockey interests in Asia and do a better job of branching out internationally than it has in the past.
According to the Toronto Star the regular audience for the Stanley Cup finals in China was 22 million. This shows the growth in popularity for the NHL, as it started broadcasting in China four years ago.
Winkins believes China is a big potential market that the NHL can utilize to grow their fan base.
“There is a push by the entire country to not only promote interest in winter sports but to build infrastructure, build rinks and provide the best training they can to young hockey players,” said Hundal.
The NHL hosted its first two matches in China between the Vancouver Canucks and the L.A. Kings that took place this year.
“If there is a backing from the country in terms of growing the game and the NHL is also pushing it you’re going to see some results.”
Header image courtesy: Vancouver Sun
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