Local hero and former NHLer, Cory Cross, was in the Border City this past weekend to help celebrate Rogers Hometown Hockey at the Servus Sports Centre. Cross signed roughly 500 autographs on Saturday and more than 200 on Sunday. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
Rogers Sportsnet reporter, Carly Agro, gave Lloydminster a virtual hug to kickoff the Rogers Hometown Hockey NHL broadcast with hosts Ron MacLean and Tara Slone at the Servus Sports Centre.
“A Lloyd kind of love” was the theme of her nationally-televised pre-game video introduction to Lloydminster on Monday afternoon before a youthful crowd of onlookers.
It was Agro’s way of tipping her hat to the people and experiences she’ll never forget during her time in Lloyd as a new sports director for Newcap television in the spring of 2010.
“I wasn’t from Lloyd, but I left feeling like I belonged. I fell in love with the Border City and how it brings people together, and that’s a Lloyd kind of love,” she said to wrap up her essay.
Agro currently works at Sportsnet Central in Toronto where she spoke to the Source that morning to talk about her approach to introducing Lloydminster to Canada.
“The essay is more of a thank-you letter. It’s pretty heartfelt. It’s pretty sentimental,” she said.
“I don’t focus too much on actual places, more as I do people, impressions and sentiments that I had at different places.”
She intentionally stayed away from naming places, for the most part, knowing how much the city has changed since she left in October 2011.
“The places I write about are experiences that maybe I had for the first time, things that I wouldn’t have been able to do if people hadn’t been generous and opened their home to me or shared their things with me,” explained Agro.
Sportsnet’s Carly Agro (centre) is pictured during her days with the Border City’s Newcap television, the station where she worked as a sports director and tried things like cattle branding. Supplied Photo
Her video story mentions a snowmobile someone lent her to go ice fishing for the first time and being taught by someone how to two-step at the former Ezzies on the Border.
“It showed how generous and welcoming people in Lloyd were to me,” said Agro.
The essay recalls her experience cattle branding, which she actually did with the coach of the Bobcats at that time, and skating on Bud Miller pond that wasn’t mentioned by name either, to keep it generic.
Her video also talked about the bi-provincial border markers, the long winters in Lloydminster and the Bobcats in 2010 when they were nearly sold.
A narrator recalls the Bobcats, the community and Agro’s rooftop campout for a sell-out to help bring the team back to Lloydminster.
While at Newcap, Agro also hosted and reported on local and national sports coverage, including the Alberta Junior Hockey League, CIS Athletics, professional rodeo and chuckwagon racing at the Calgary Stampede.
Agro thinks her essay and the Hometown Hockey broadcast will do more than just put Lloydminster on the map.
“I think it’s going to give residents a sense of pride. I think it’s important to show people in Canada what makes Canada so special,” she said.
Agro says the mission of Hometown Hockey is really to showcase hockey communities across Canada, and that’s what makes it so special.
She says as much as MacLean and Slone are the hosts of the show, she thinks they would agree with her and say they are not the stars of the show.
“The stars of the show are the people in the places they go to. It showcases what makes different places across Canada so wonderful,” said Agro.
She also recalled returning to Lloydminster for Hockey Day in Canada in 2014, calling that a really special event to cover.
“It was a memorable Hockey Day in Canada because Lloyd went above and beyond,” she said.
“They built an outdoor rink, Dick Irvin came, Ron and Don (Cherry) were still a thing back then, so they came. It was a real star-studded cast. It was a real party.”
Agro says Lloydminster is also the perfect breeding ground for rookie television reporters because you learn by doing.
“You’re shooting, you’re writing, you’re editing you’re hosting. It gives you the chance to make mistakes and learn from them,” she said.
Agro says you also learn how to work as a team here and count on everyone to get the job done.
“Lloydminster as a community really lends itself well to local news and sports coverage, so that’s really unique. You really do get a chance to tell stories every day,” said Agro.
She says sometimes they are really easy to find and sometimes you have to dig a little deeper, so you get a chance to learn those skills right away.
