When Hockey Came to Belfast Is About So Much More Than Hockey
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
VANCOUVER - Many of our readers will remember an interview with Linda Conway, producer of the National Film Board documentary When Hockey Came To Belfast. The story published in our October 2004 issue centered around two junior Belfast hockey players, Paul and Andrew, one Protestant, the other Catholic. It also focused on the Belfast Giants hockey team and how hockey in Belfast was transcending religion and politics.
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| PICTURED at John and Ann Carr’s kitchen party to welcome Paul, Andrew and their parents Anne Marie and Gordon and Hannah and Albert from Belfast are Linda Conway (producer of When Hockey Came to Belfast), Jordan Thorsteinson of the Canucks’ organization and Jim Yaworski, owner of the Belfast Giants hockey team. |
Much has happened since the first screening of the film which took place in November 2004 at the Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver.
Linda was in Vancouver recently, along with Paul and Andrew and their families as guests of the Vancouver Canucks, and I asked her to bring us up-to-date on the latest developments.
“This is going to sound typically Irish,” she said, “but this is the way it happened. I was in the Wolf and Hound on West Broadway sometime after the premiere of the film and a man by the name of Stanley French who is from Belfast but who has lived in Canada for many years, came up to me and said, ‘what would you like to do with the film?’
“I said that I’d like to make contact with an NHL team to get support for ice hockey in Northern Ireland, and he said, ‘I think I have a contact for you with the Vancouver Canucks, would you like me to have a wee word with him?’ and that was his direct quote.
“Forty-eight hours later, I was on the phone with Jordan Thorsteinson of the Vancouver Canucks. About a week after that, I was sitting in GM Place showing the film to five or six senior management people of the Canucks, and that’s how the journey began.”
When Hockey Came To Belfast was screened again in Vancouver in March, as part of CelticFest 2006. The two young Belfast hockey players, Paul and Andrew, along with their parents were on hand at the screening in Vancouver. All of this came about as a result of a lot of hard work and help from the Vancouver Canucks organization.
“I’m a little overwhelmed,” Linda said, “I’m really, really happy by the number of people who have just come forward just to push, not only the film, but the whole idea of supporting ice hockey in Northern Ireland, so that more kids can get on the ice and become friends.
“We’re looking at premiering the film in Belfast when the boys turn 18, which is at the end of this year. Right now we’re sorting out the logistics of getting used hockey equipment over to Belfast for the kids who want to play the ice sport.”
Financially the Belfast Giants hockey team had been skating on thin ice until businessman Jim Yaworski of Calgary came on board as part-owner. Yaworski has not only helped out financially, he has also put real stability into the team and instilled confidence that hockey is staying in Northern Ireland.
It’s obvious that Linda Conway is passionate about helping the kids in Belfast who want to play hockey, so I asked if her next project would be hockey related. She said, “well, I’m looking at a few projects.
“I’m certainly interested in looking at another aspect of ice hockey in Belfast, perhaps a film that focuses on the ice hockey team itself, the Belfast Giants, as their story hasn’t really been told. Andrew and Paul’s story has been told, so I am playing with that idea.”
Linda Conway said she has a new motto for Northern Ireland: “Peace. One player at a time!”
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