March, 2026: Caitie did something she has never done before… attended an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, Canada! It was Hockey Night in Canada, and the game was the Vancouver Canucks vs. the Seattle Kraken. But Caitie wasn’t just there to catch the game, she took a special look behind-the-scenes and invited her classroom friends along! What did Caitie discover? There’s a lot more to hockey than the game you see on TV, and this field trip to an NHL game might just have turned her into a hockey fan forever! Read on for some more thoughts and feelings on hockey from Caitie herself!
Don’t get me wrong, I like hockey. I’m Canadian! It’s fun to watch a game with friends and cheer for whatever team my friends are cheering for. I find it especially fun to tune in during Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is honestly the only time I’ve really watched NHL hockey, now that I think of it. I’ve definitely never played it. I can barely ice skate, which anyone who has seen the Caitie’s Classroom Field Trip episode “Let’s Learn Winter Sports” can attest to.
When the NHL invited us to visit a hockey game to share a behind-the-scenes experience with our classroom friends, I knew that this was a very cool opportunity! Even though I wasn’t a hockey expert, I was ready to learn. Perhaps my lack of knowledge would prove to be the perfect way to enter upon this field trip. I was like one of my own classroom friends experiencing something for the first time. There was a lot to learn and I was curious about everything. Here are my top five takeaways from our field trip and music video shoot with the NHL!
5. NHL Mascots are AWESOME!
We arrived the day before the big game to film some behind the scenes footage. We got to step out onto the ice to film our intro to the field trip and some scenes from “My Hockey Song”, including the scenes with Fin The Orca, the extremely committed mascot of the Vancouver Canucks. If I had to sum up Fin into two words, they would be: nonstop energy! Fin is full of enthusiasm and loves to play! He even insisted on putting my head in his whale mouth moments before filming, messing up my on-camera hair. But it’s okay, I thought it was funny! This character commitment was echoed throughout the NHL as we later received dance moves from all the other NHL mascots to be featured in our “My Hockey Song” music video – they were giving it their all! One of the mascots, Thunderbug, was even underwater in their video! How did they do that?! The NHL mascots rule!
4. The ice resurfacer does an important job.
We also got to film the ice resurfacer. While filming, we were on a tight schedule to clear the ice by a certain time so the ice resurfacer could do its very important job. I learned that it goes around the ice three times during a hockey game. When you’re watching the game at home on your TV, you never see it happen, but I found it to be a very interesting thing to watch. It transforms the ice from slush and scratches to something smooth and slick. Very satisfying! This helps the hockey players handle the puck well and it keeps them safe, since they skate at such high speeds and need clear ice to glide. I knew we had to include a time-lapse of the ice resurfacer working its magic in the episode, and we did! Hope you like it!
3. The control room is where the magic happens.
On game day, it was all hustle and bustle with lots of workers getting ready for a national TV moment that hundreds of thousands of people were going to watch, and we were lucky enough to get a sneak peek of how it’s put together. There are the players on the ice, but there are even more people making things happen behind the scenes in the control room. The control room is very cool. It has all the angles from all the cameras and many screens so you can see what was happening everywhere all at once. The people in the control room decide what angles are put on TV and when. They have to think really fast and follow the game closely. They are true hockey experts! It was very cool to see them work. The puck moves quickly, but they always keep up!
2. The big button!
Before the game started, we also got to visit the production room! This is a room way up high above the ice, it’s really the best view in the house, maybe even a bit scary if you’re weary of heights. It’s where Al Murdoch, the announcer for the Canucks, sits. He’s got a great view of the whole ice rink and tells the folks in the arena what is going on. It’s also where a lot of the special effects during the game are triggered, like the video on the jumbotron and all the flashing lights and music! I was totally amazed by the lights and sounds that happened during the game, it’s truly an incredible spectacle. You can’t help but be excited and amazed, even if you aren’t sure what offside means. Naturally, the biggest and loudest sound with the brightest flashing lights happens after a GOAL! And that sound is triggered by the one button to rule them all. The goal buzzer sound is SO LOUD that when they test it before the game, they make an arena-wide announcement the minute before so everybody knows to cover their ears! We just happened to be filming in the production room when they planned to test it, which was a complete coincidence, and usually nobody ever gets to push the button except for the production room professionals, but guess what? They let me push the button. We were planning to do an “acting moment” where I would pretend to push the button for the camera, but instead I got to push it for real! And I didn’t have to act at all, that’s my real reaction to a very epic sound. GOAL!!!
1. It’s a family affair!
Game time approached and the fans started to arrive. We wanted to show our friends at home the Kids Zone, a place where families could come and enjoy pre-game activities including coloring pages, face painting, and meeting the team’s mascot, so we headed there. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I was delighted to find so many families there. It was lovely to meet them, and hear about their experiences as the littlest hockey fans. Even though I am a full grown adult, it was still my first game, and I was further delighted to learn that first timers get an awesome “First Hockey Game” certificate! The lovely folks at the Kids Zone presented it to me and I officially became a part of a club I didn’t know I wanted to be in… I was a hockey fan.
I hope our Field Trip episode, “Let’s Go To An NHL Hockey Game” and our “My Hockey Song” music video inspires your family to visit a hockey game for yourself and see the magic on and off the ice. It’s a very cool experience and great for families! We had so much fun!
