(Submitted photo/Bell Media)

By Cam Lee

Community loss

Year in review: Porcupine Plain native and broadcaster Darren Dutchyshen dies of cancer

Dec 30, 2024 | 2:20 PM

The passing of a local broadcasting icon was one of the top sports stories in the northeast in 2024.

TSN’s Darren Dutchyshen, the pride of Porcupine Plain, passed away in May after a long battle with prostate cancer.

He was just 57 years old.

Dutchyshen attended Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon before working in Dauphin and Edmonton. However, he became a household name country-wide during his time anchoring SportsDesk (now known as SportsCentre) on TSN.

Porcupine Plain mayor Nick Wood said in May that ‘Dutchy’ was always proud to call Porcupine Plain his home, and that he was the small-town boy that made it big.

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Former colleague Wray Morrison of HuskieFan.ca told northeastNOW that people always gravitated toward Dutchyshen, who was always happy to chat with anyone.

“You saw that when he was on television. Even people who didn’t know him, you kind of gravitated to him when he was on television in the 1990s and 2000s,” Morrison said at the time.

Morrison added that Dutchyshen was always proud to say he was from Saskatchewan and specifically Porcupine Plain.

A special on-air tribute aired during SportsCentre on TSN after Dutchyshen’s passing.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @northeastNOW_SK