Color of Hockey: Wong bringing game to new fans with 'Flames TV Chinese'

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Wai Chung (Brian) Wong, host of “Flames TV Chinese” for the Calgary Flames.

Hockey became the great equalizer for Wai Chung (Brian) Wong when he arrived in Calgary from Hong Kong as an international student in 1994.

“I wanted to integrate as fast as possible, and one way was to become a spectator, become a fan of hockey,” said Wong, who said his initial introduction to the sport came via video games of the era. “I remember we had student discount tickets when we’d go to a co-op supermarket and get a case of Coca-Cola, you would get that $5 voucher and be able to get a ticket in the nosebleed (section) at Flames games.”

Attending games and learning about hockey aided Wong with water cooler conversation talking points, but more importantly, helped him to quickly assimilate into Canadian culture.

Wong has been using hockey to help others do the same as host of “Flames TV Chinese” for the Calgary Flames since 2018.

“The Calgary Flames were my home team ever since I became a fan, and now I’m working for them,” he said. “It's just like a dream.”

Wong does video features on players, team officials, employees, events and fans, alternating between his native Cantonese and English to give Chinese viewers who might be unfamiliar with hockey or new to it a window into the sport.

More than 91,000 Chinese live in Calgary, making it the second-largest minority population behind South Asian residents in a city of more than 1.6 million, according to 2021 Canadian census figures.

“Most of the time when I work in the (Scotiabank) Saddledome, I walk about in the concession area and I talk to fans of Asian descent,” Wong said. “I feel that when we started having the China games, then the Lunar New Year celebration, puck drop celebrations, all those kind of stuff, I heard the fans say, ‘That's great. Now I have a sense of belonging and I see a face that represents the Flames, but also it's a face that looks like me.’

“The viewership on our videos, on NHL.com, on YouTube and Facebook, we can see there's a lot of viewership on there. So yeah, some come as strangers. I hope we convert them into hockey fans because of our production.”

Wong hopes “Flames TV Chinese” can have the same impact Harnarayan Singh has had over the years as a host and play-by-play voice on "Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition” and host of “Flames TV Punjabi” in connecting with Canada’s growing South Asian community.

Singh is Wong’s role model and friend from their time working together for Canada’s OMNI Television. The two once had a conversation about 12 years ago that still resonates with Wong to this day.

“I said, ‘Harnarayan, just tell me how I could become you,’” Wong said. “He gave me a lot of not only inspiration, but he shared the stories, like how failures would become your fuel for your drive, and don’t be deterred by the failures, or don’t be deterred by the silence when you try to knock on doors and you know nothing is happening. ‘Keep knocking.’ It remains to me one of the most important conversations I’ve had with a broadcaster.”

Singh said he was humbled by Wong’s outreach.

“I just saw how passionate he was about his community," Singh said, "but I could tell right away that he understood the power of sport and the universality of sport being able to bring people together, regardless of what your heritage is.

"I think he also understood the importance of sport, especially to racialized communities, and how it helps people integrate. He was very intrigued and very excited at what was going on at the time with ‘Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi’ but also ‘Flames TV Punjabi’ being a Calgarian.”

Wong’s opportunity came when the Flames tapped him to do features to promote two preseason games against the Boston Bruins, played in Beijing and Shenzhen on Sept. 15 and 19, 2018.

“The ownership, the management, thought it would be great to open the door to the Chinese community when it comes to promoting the brand,” Wong said. “So my very first assignment was to tell people that the Flames were traveling to China to play a couple exhibition games.”

Wong also accompanied the team on the trip and captured the flavor of what it was like over there that, in his words, “connected the conversation locally when I came back.

“Management thought it would be great to continue. “So literally, it’s from a promotional campaign, to talk about the Flames going to China, to become a fixture on Flames TV.”

Wong, who speaks Cantonese and Mandarin, said he’s proud to be a bridge between the hockey and Chinese communities.

“I think we need to realize that hockey is more than just a game, more than just a sport,” he said. “I’ve heard many stories, including mine, when you meet strangers, sport is an equalizer. And in Canada, when you talk about hockey, you tend to make new friends right away.”