from Marty Klinkenberg of the Globe and Mail,
Ten years ago, Ron MacLean and Elliotte Friedman gathered in a hotel room in Raleigh, N.C., to swap stories about the broadcast business and the NHL all-star game they had covered together that day for CBC.
Over a beer or three, MacLean told Friedman he didn’t know how much longer he was going to stay on as the host of the iconic television program Hockey Night in Canada.
“I told Elliotte I would keep the chair warm for him until he was ready,” MacLean recalls.
Friedman, who had dreamed of such an opportunity earlier in his career, dismissed the idea.
“They’re not looking for someone like me,” he said modestly.
He was self-deprecating then and remains unpresuming today. That is the part of the charm that has won him legions of followers. There is a folksiness – similar to the enduring MacLean – that draws viewers in. The difference between then and now is that he has fine-tuned his approach.
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