'A lot of listening': Hockey Canada board chair reflects on 1st months on job

Hugh Fraser thought he had a decent handle on his new role.

For the most part, that was true.

Weeks into chairing Hockey Canada's newly minted board of directors — and with plenty already on his plate as he looked to help resurrect the scandal-plagued national sport organization following months of cringe-inducing, in-the-muck headlines — Fraser was in Halifax for January's world junior hockey championship final.

The host country secured a dramatic overtime victory to capture gold. Medals were about to be handed out.

The retired judge had no idea that was part of the gig.

"Something nobody told me came with the job," Fraser recalled with a laugh of doling out post-tournament hardware.

"I found out like 10 minutes before. That aspect never occurred to me."

He could be forgiven. There was a lot on his mind.

After the federal government paused funding, corporate sponsors jumped ship, secret accounts and more scandals emerged, and Hockey Canada's previous bosses were grilled by a parliamentary committee, he's confident the federation is on the right track with a board of directors focused on oversight, transparency and accountability.

"The challenge is getting that message across — that there's a different approach," the 70-year-old said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "It's been a seven-day a week job for the board.

"The will was always there ... but the biggest challenge is squeezing an awful lot in a relatively short period."

That included demonstrating to the government there's been progress — funding was restored last month — and showing corporate and provincial partners the governance changes outlined in a report by former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell are being taken seriously.

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