Hockey knight in Canada!

In One Game At A Time, Harnarayan Singh shares the story of how a little boy growing up in small-town Alberta who dreamed about a life within the sanctum of the game he idolized got there.

He recalls going up to his mother on January 26 with a request. Would she make parshaadh (religious offering) for Wayne Gretzky’s birthday like she did on the birthdays of family members? “She didn’t even hesitate. She just laughed and said sure.”

His father supported his passion, buying him subscriptions to Hockey News. “He was probably thinking that at least I was reading!” laughs Singh.

In grade six, under What I Want To Be When I Grow Up, he wrote, I want to be a hockey commentator.

But he was a kid in a turban.

People told him to be realistic. “No one looks like you in broadcasting,” they said.

But his father told him to give it a shot. “You’re young enough to get back to something else if it doesn’t work out.”

Harnarayan became the first Sikh to broadcast an NHL game in English. He got to hang out with hockey legends like Gretzky, Crosby and Bonino. A lady thanked him, saying Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi made it possible for her to enjoy the game with her grandchildren.

But the show had its detractors. Why couldn’t everyone just learn English?

Singh’s response to that is that Canada is a unique country with people from all over the world who speak different languages, come from different cultures. We need to find avenues to bring people together and this is one such avenue. So many more young people are now playing in minor hockey leagues and attribute it to the show.

Representation was also a big thing, he says. Youngsters who felt they didn’t have a place in media now saw they had a chance. Amrit Gill, the first woman to work on-air for Hockey Night Punjabi, grew up watching the show with her grandmother.

Singh’s identity as a Canadian goes back more than 100 years – his great grandfather Chanda Singh was one of the first 100 Sikhs to enter Canada.

“When someone is being ignorant or racist, they don’t understand the immigrant story,” he says. “Learning my family history totally changed how I saw myself as a Canadian. I have something in my back pocket that I can say in response – because as it turns out, my family was probably here before theirs was.”

To young people looking to fit in, he has this to say: “I was that kid, too. But remember, what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular.”

He tells them to stay true to their selves. “Be comfortable in your own skin. Be proud of your heritage. You don’t have to change to fit in. If you approach everything honestly and respectfully, you will succeed. My story proves that.”