NOJHL and its Game Day
Commissioner Rob Mazzuca has been known to stress that one of the first and foremost goals of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League is the development and promotion of its players.
“We, as a league, through our team owners, have made it a point to spare no resource when it comes to our players,” Mazzuca relayed to Hockey News North. “Member teams may have disagreements in certain areas of how we operate as a league but the development and promotion of our players has never been an issue in my years as commissioner.”
To that end, Mazzuca, who has been the commissioner of the NOJHL since 2011 and overseen expansion to its current level of 12 teams, can’t say enough about the league’s newest partnership, ‘NOJHL Game Day.’
‘NOJHL Game Day’ features highlights and videos of match-ups throughout the current campaign, as well as providing pre game, player, team and league information. Hosted and produced by Alex Bastyovanszky of Rimrock Media Solutions, ‘NOJHL Game Day’ is available through the league’s You Tube channel. (the link is posted on the league website at NOJHL.com.)
“With the launch of ‘NOJHL Game Day’, we are offering our fans, member teams, corporate partners, and the like, a supplementary insight to the league,” noted Mazzuca. “The work of our play by play commentators and camera personnel, along with those who generate the game broadcasts, are additionally enhanced in highlighting the NOJHL.
“The initial response to NOJHL Game Day has been very good,” Mazzuca continued. “Our fans have welcomed our fast paced pre game program showcasing the best the league has to offer. NOJHL Game Day provides all the top hits, goals and saves, latest league news and a preview of that night’s upcoming games – all in one show. This is a visual spotlight on our league’s talent like never before.”
To be sure, the NOJHL has scored big by virtue of its affiliation with Bastyovanszky and the Game Day venture. The program, its content, and production is as good as any in hockey. Hockey News North definitely gives it an emphatic thumbs up.
As for Bastyovanszky, he grew up in the broadcast business.
“My father was with the CBC for nearly 30 years, so growing up I got hooked on broadcasting from a young age,” he relayed to Hockey News North. I really got the bug when I worked for CBC during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 … I was just outside the Olympic Park when the bombing occurred. I was with the future head of CBC Sports at the time (Nancy Lee), and together we did the first live report of the bombing using my cell phone. Interesting note on this – we had just come out of the broadcast centre when the bomb went off, and we ran to the scene. All other reporters from networks were immediately locked down inside the broadcast centre by security, so we were the only ones able to get on the scene and report.”
A graduate of Ryerson University’s Radio and Television Arts program, Bastyovanszky started Rimrock Media Solutions in 2005, through which he has produced and hosted numerous television shows over the past three decades in both the United States and Canada He got his start in junior hockey filming for the Georgetown Raiders of the Ontario Jr. Hockey League from 2007 through to the pandemic shutdown in 2020.
“That led to me pitching a weekly television show to the league in 2015 ‘The OJ Today’, which I hosted and produced until 2023. It started on Rogers TV, but the last few seasons was broadcast nationally on CHCH-TV,” Bastyovanszky added.
Some of his current clients, in addition to the NOJHL, include the OJHL, Manitoba Jr. Hockey League, Major Arena Soccer League in the U.S. and well as him being a producer with HNLive.ca, which broadcasts all Hockey Canada events.
“Major junior is big business and gets most of the attention, but I’ve always had a special affection for Junior A and Junior B. These smaller communities to me represent the true backbone of junior hockey, where the local rink on Game Day comes alive and local residents come out to watch the players who represent these communities with pride,” Bastyovanszky added.
“I have always admired the NOJHL. The quality of the play. The dedication of these organizations and players who travel vast frozen distances for games as they chase their hockey dreams. I approached Robert Mazzuca fairly late in the game – not until late July of this summer, with an idea to produce a daily pre-game studio show the league could air both on broadcasts as well as social media. I would produce fresh content every single game day to help drive interest in the league, and increase exposure for players.
“After doing my research I realized that there was no other junior hockey league in North America that was doing what I was proposing. Was it due to the logistics of putting a daily show together? I knew that I was able to make it happen, so I called Robert. Robert saw the potential in this idea, and said yes. He was literally the first person I contacted, and I was blown away by his vision and passion regarding taking the league to the next level.
“So far, the reception has been tremendous. I know the league’s social media numbers have skyrocketed since the start of the season, and hopefully the show is playing a big part in that.
“There are challenges to be certain. The goal is to get all teams to feature the show on their broadcasts leading up to puck-drop, and understandably not all teams are quite there yet in terms of having the ability to make it happen. Hopefully by the end of the season we’ve accomplished this goal, so that fans will be able to watch on all different platforms.
“I am truly excited to be a part of this new venture with the NOJHL. We’re trying something that hasn’t been done before, and I look forward to seeing just how much we can grow this. At the end of the day, it’s all about the players. If they weren’t so talented and entertaining, folks would have no interest in watching the show, and that would be the end of it. So kudos to those that lace up their skates in this league, hopefully the show can play a part in helping them achieve their hockey dreams,” summed up the effervescent Bastyovanszky.