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TSN’s Hockey Insider Speaks at Waterfront Campus

He has more than 1.2-million followers on Twitter. He is watched by hundreds of thousands of hockey fans most nights on TSN’s hockey coverage, and for almost three decades he has been known as the “Hockey Insider.” Bob McKenzie is a big deal!

TSN personality Bob MacKenzie posing in front of the grey backdrop

On Wednesday, November 4th the extraordinarily talented and insightful McKenzie will be at Algonquin College’s Waterfront Campus to talk about his new book “Hockey Confidential,” and to answer any hockey question the audience throws at him.

In his most recent book, McKenzie uncovers untold stories about hockey people. One chapter is dedicated to former Pembroke Lumber Kings owner and Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, who before leading the Lumber Kings to five consecutive league titles and ultimately a national championship, had a turbulent junior and short-lived pro hockey career as a player.

Keefe opens up to McKenzie, talking candidly about how Pembroke changed him and helped him focus his life on coaching and on being a better person. Now behind the bench of the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, Keefe is considered one of the top young minds in coaching today and his career is quickly moving forward.

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The Sheldon Keefe story is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to McKenzie’s incredible knowledge of hockey, both at the junior and pro level. His connections within the hockey world, built on a reputation of being fair and well informed, have allowed McKenzie to be the most trustworthy source of hockey news in North America.

The Algonquin College Speaker Series has brought several high profile personalities to Pembroke over the years including the CBC’s Rex Murphy and Bob McDonald, Environment Canada’s Chief Meteorologist David Phillips and military historian and journalist Gwynne Dyer. The College can now add Bob McKenzie to that impressive list!

Tickets to hear Bob McKenzie are on sale at the Waterfront Campus for $15 in advance or $20 at the door. All proceeds raised at the event will be donated to the Art Gallagher Memorial Bursary. Gallagher was a long time play-by-play radio voice of the Pembroke Lumber Kings. The bursary supports Lumber Kings players who study at Algonquin College’s Waterfront Campus.

Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs

Speaker Series–One More Way Algonquin College Connects to Community

When most people think of colleges, they visualize young students attending full time programs. Given that the majority of college students are between the ages of 17 and 22 and enrolled in day time programs, they are making the right assumption about college.

But colleges appeal to an entirely different group of learners in their continuing education offerings. Many of these students are working full time, they are older, and they aren’t looking for a career, but rather an opportunity to keep on learning new things. Whether its for professional development or personal enjoyment, these students have a different type of connection to a college.

Algonquin College’s Waterfront Campus wants to reach more of these students. One of the strategies to do this is by expanding the college’s speaker series, an effort to bring high profile subject matter experts or interesting personalities to the community to share a lecture. The strategy is working!

In the next few weeks, the College will be hosting Ottawa RedBlacks President, Jeff Hunt, to speak about the return of professional football to Ottawa and the revitalization of Lansdowne Park into a multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex. Hunt’s talk on March 18th will appeal to sports fans, but also to those who have an entrepreneurial spirit. Hunt is a self made man who started small with a cleaning business and eventually became one of the most influential business owners in the capital region.

Gwynne Dyer is arguably one of the most respected subject matter experts on international issues. The Canadian journalist, historian and commentator now lives in London, England, but frequently returns to Canada for speaking engagements. The 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War will bring Dyer to Pembroke on March 24th to speak about the “Lessons We Learned from the Great War.”

Whether you agree with some of Dyer’s opinions, and he certainly is opinionated, there is no question that he is one of the most compelling and interesting speakers of our time. His lectures are always well attended, and very thought provoking. It’s not surprising Dyer has won many awards for his writing and commentating over the years, including an Academy Award nomination for his documentary series entitled “War.”

It has been a long winter, but spring is near and Algonquin College’s Speaker Series will present CBC Radio’s Ed Lawrence on April 10th at Festival Hall. Lawrence is the CBC’s gardening expert and his weekly call in show attracts listeners from across the country. He certainly has the pedigree to be considered Canada’s top gardener, as he served several Canadian Prime Minister’s and Governor General’s before retiring from his gardening position at Parliament Hill.

The Speaker Series will continue to attract a diverse group of presenters, exactly what it should do. By offering a good variety of speakers, the College will be fulfilling its mandate to offer learning opportunities to people of all ages through its outreach programming. It will also be offering some wonderfully engaging entertainment through the power of listening to the spoken word.

Posted by: Jamie Bramburger