# The Strategic Blueprint: How Canucks Figures Are Planting Hockey Roots in India

**By Petra Nowak**  \nPublished August 3, 2026  \nUpdated August 3, 2026

> Armed with NHL backing and grassroots resolve, Vancouver broadcaster Randip Janda and coach Harry Mahesh are introducing hockey to thousands in Chandigarh, India.

When Randip Janda began his journey as a broadcaster on *Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition* back in 2014, he carried a personal mandate alongside his microphone. As the NHL's first full-time South Asian colour commentator, Janda was frequently asked about representation, but his own thoughts kept drifting back across the globe. Over a twelve-year broadcasting career that eventually brought him into the Vancouver Canucks radio booth alongside Brendan Batchelor in 2022, he wondered how to genuinely help grow the game in India.

That long-term ambition morphed into operational reality when Janda and Abbotsford Canucks assistant coach Harry Mahesh traveled to Chandigarh, India, to serve as the public faces of the inaugural India Hockey 360 Festival running from July 31 to August 2, 2026. Backed by institutional support from the National Hockey League, the Vancouver Canucks, Bauer Hockey, the Ice Hockey Association of India, and co-organized alongside Tulsea Sports Marketing, the multi-day event represents a calculated, low-capital market entry into one of the world's most populous sporting landscapes.

## The Operational Architecture of a Grassroots Push

Placing a winter team sport into a nation where cricket completely dominates the cultural consciousness requires a precise spatial strategy. Rather than attempting a top-down, high-cost infrastructure rollout, the festival's organizers designed a two-pronged operational funnel. The first phase focused on mass public engagement through a 'Try Hockey Activation' hosted at the Nexus Elante Chandigarh mall on August 1. Operating from 3:30 PM to 9:00 PM, the venue provided an immediate foot-traffic advantage, leveraging a location that reportedly draws an average of 68,000 visitors per day on weekends.

*“Kids come in, they try the sport of hockey, maybe a sport they’ve never heard of or watched before. They walk away with a stick and a ball, and they can shoot the ball wherever they live in the city, the village,”* Janda explained. Setting a pragmatic numerical baseline for year one, the organizers aimed to distribute hundreds of sticks and engage dozens of local participants, operating under the simple metric that every distributed stick represents a new contact point for the sport.

## The Train-the-Trainer Imperative at Sector 10

While mall activations drive top-of-funnel curiosity, long-term viability requires structural capacity. On August 2, the initiative shifted to the Sector 10 Rink in partnership with the Ice Hockey Association of India, hosting a dedicated Coaches Summit followed by a roller hockey clinic. This component addresses the primary bottleneck identified during preliminary research conducted earlier in the year: a lack of formalized coaching education.

Ice hockey in India has historically relied on a fragile ecosystem. The sport manages a modest registry of roughly 2,500 players, many of whom hone their craft on natural frozen ponds in Himalayan regions such as Ladakh, supported by an underfunded IHAI that has routinely depended on crowdfunding for international travel. Furthermore, the country possesses only a handful of indoor rinks, with flagship facilities like the Olympic-standard arena in Dehradun facing long-term operational hurdles. By introducing a roller hockey clinic and training local instructors, Mahesh and Janda bypassed the immediate barrier of ice infrastructure, utilizing a more accessible variant of the sport to scale the technical knowledge base.

## Cultural Resonance and Professional Alignment

The credibility of the Chandigarh festival relies heavily on the authentic backgrounds of its leaders. Mahesh brings elite organizational pedigree to the technical workshops, having served on the coaching staff that guided the Abbotsford Canucks to a Calder Cup championship in 2025. Coupled with Janda's pioneering broadcast footprint, their presence embodies a powerful diaspora connection. This comes during a transformative period for the Vancouver Canucks organization as a whole, which recently made historic headlines by hiring Manny Malhotra—the son of a Punjabi immigrant father and French-Canadian mother—as the 23rd head coach in franchise history following a successful stint running the Abbotsford AHL bench.

      Event Component
      Location
      Target Focus

      Try Hockey Activation
      Nexus Elante Chandigarh
      Mass public engagement and equipment distribution for all ages

      Coaches Summit
      Sector 10 Rink
      Train-the-trainer technical instruction with the IHAI

      Roller Hockey Clinic
      Sector 10 Rink
      Accessible skill development bypassing ice arena limitations

Ultimately, the true measure of the India Hockey 360 Festival will not be tallied in weekend attendance numbers, but in whether local participants transition from casual mall visitors into active players and certified instructors. By exporting expertise rather than equipment alone, the initiative has laid down a durable blueprint for international sport development.

## Sources

- [dailyhive.com](https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canucks-broadcaster-helping-grow-hockey-india) — original
- [clintonnewsrecord.com](https://www.clintonnewsrecord.com/sports/the-canucks-coach-hoping-to-sell-hockey-to-india) — original
- [briefglance.com](https://briefglance.com/articles/hockeys-new-power-play-the-strategic-push-into-indias-untapped-market) — original
- [theprovince.com](https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/manny-malhotra-hired-new-head-coach) — original
- [wownews24x7.com](https://www.wownews24x7.com/canada-brings-nhl-expertise-to-india-hockey-festival) — original
- [windsorstar.com](https://windsorstar.com/press-releases/pr-newswire/canadian-hockey-leaders-bring-nhl-expertise-to-india-through-inaugural-india-hockey-360-festival) — original
- [Tribune Web Desk Chandigarh,   Updated At :  10:02 AM Jun 02, 2026 IST](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/who-is-manny-malhotra-named-vancouver-canucks-head-coach-creates-history-with-punjabi-roots/) — original