The Vancouver Canucks’ mishandling of their coaching situation and mistreatment of Bruce Boudreau isn’t just Vancouver news.
Boudreau’s last game fell on Hockey Day in Canada, which meant it was a major topic of conversation on the national broadcast. The Globe & Mail picked up the story as the perfect example of what not to do with Human Resources. Even Forbes has a story on the “despicable treatment” of Boudreau.
It’s a PR hellscape for the Canucks, but it’s also a nightmare for certain members of the media who find themselves covering an NHL story for seemingly the first time ever.
That was the case for a news anchor at Fox 5 in Washington, DC. Faced with a series of unfamiliar words and names, the anchor completely botched the pronunciation of “Canucks,” “Boudreau,” and “Tocchet.”
That’s right. The Canucks — sorry, the Ca-nukes — didn’t just fire Bruce Boudreau, but also Bruce Bow-dreau. They also hired Rick Tou-kit, who will presumably follow his nose to Vancouver be an assistant coach with Rick Tocchet.
You have to feel for the poor anchor here, who immediately paused on the word “Canucks,” knowing that she didn’t have the first clue of how to pronounce it. You can almost hear the gears grinding as she seemingly decides, “They speak French in Canada, right? I’m going with the most French way of saying this word.”
Honestly, it’s pretty forgivable, even if Boudreau actually coached in Washington for the Capitals, so getting his name wrong is less than ideal. Also, getting words right is kind of part of the job.
Getting those words and names wrong a second time, however, isn’t great.
She gets a little closer to the right pronunciation of “Boudreau,” even if the emPHAsis is on the wrong syLABbles, but she — more confidently this time — still mispronounces “Canucks” and “Tocchet.”
And then the second “Boudreau” becomes “Boo-droo” and all forgiveness is out the window.
Look, she knew she was unsure of how to pronounce “Canucks” the first time. You could hear it in her hesitation. That’s a moment where she has to ask someone nearby to do a quick google search of how to pronounce “Canucks” and, while you’re at it, double-check “Boudreau” and “Tocchet” just to be sure.
On the plus side, at least this situation is embarrassing for more than just the Ca-nukes now.
