Hockey Night in Canada (often abbreviated
Hockey Night or
HNIC) is the branding used for
CBC SportsCBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, with some additional broadcasts on bold, CBC.ca, and occasionally CBC Radio One...
' presentations of the
National Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
. While the name is now used for all NHL broadcasts on the CBC television network (regardless of the time of day), Hockey Night in Canada is primarily associated with CBC's Saturday night NHL broadcasts, a practice originating from Saturday NHL broadcasts that began in 1931 on the
CNR RadioCNR Radio or CN Radio was the first national radio network in North America. It was developed, owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway between 1923 and 1932 to provide en route entertainment and information for its train passengers...
network and its predecessors, and debuting on television beginning in 1952. Initially only airing a single game weekly, the modern incarnation airs a weekly double-header, various segments during the intermissions and between games (such as Don Cherry's Coach's Corner), and pre and post-game coverage of the night's games.
Radio
Hockey Night in Canada has its origins in the General Motors Hockey Broadcast which transmitted Saturday night hockey games of the
Toronto Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
beginning in November 1931 over the Canadian National Railway radio network. In 1933, the CNR's successor, the
Canadian Radio Broadcasting CommissionThe Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission was Canada's first public broadcaster and the immediate precursor to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.-Origins:...
(CRBC), commenced broadcasts of
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
and
Montreal MaroonsThe Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935...
games on its
QuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
stations. In 1934,
Imperial Oil of CanadaImperial Oil Limited is Canada's largest petroleum company. The company is engaged in the exploration, production and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It is controlled by US based ExxonMobil, which owns 69.6% of its stock...
took over the sponsorship from
General Motors Products of CanadaGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
and the broadcast became known as the Imperial Esso Hockey Broadcast. The broadcasts began at 9 p.m.
Eastern TimeThe Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
(around the start of the second period of play). Starting in 1936, the games were broadcast on the CRBC's successor, the
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationCBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
. The series acquired its present title around the same time, coined by
Foster HewittFoster William Hewitt, OC was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for Hockey Night in Canada. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt.-Early life and career:...
. In much of Ontario and points west the show featured the Maple Leafs and were hosted by Gordon Calder with play-by-play announcer Hewitt and colour commentator
Percy LesueurSergeant Percy St. Helier LeSueur was a Canadian senior and professional ice hockey goaltender. He was a member of the Smiths Falls Seniors for three years, with whom his performance in a 1906 Stanley Cup challenge series attracted the attention of his opponents, the Ottawa Silver Seven...
. Montreal broadcasts were hosted by Doug Smith and
Elmer FergusonElmer Ferguson was a Canadian sports journalist. Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Ferguson moved to Montreal in 1910 and became the sports editor of the Montreal Herald in 1913. Ferguson was one of the most respected and promiant columnists of his time...
broadcast for
Montreal MaroonsThe Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935...
games in English and
René LecavalierRené Lecavalier, OC, CQ was a Canadian French language radio show host and sportscaster on SRC in Quebec. During his career in radio Lecavalier won several Radiomonde Trophies. He was also the first commentator for La Soirée du hockey, the French language version of Hockey Night in Canada...
broadcast
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
games in French. After the Maroons folded in
1938-European tour:After the Stanley Cup final finished, the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens played a nine-game exhibition series in Europe, becoming the first NHL teams to play outside North America. Six games were played in England, three in France...
, Smith and Ferguson provided English broadcasts of Canadiens games. The great popularity of the radio show (and its announcer Foster Hewitt) across Canada made it an obvious choice for early Canadian network television programming.
Although never carried on any U.S. stations, the Hockey Night in Canada radio broadcasts became quite popular among listeners in the
northernNorthern United States, also sometimes the North, may refer to:* A particular grouping of states or regions of the United States of America. The United States Census Bureau divides some of the northernmost United States into the Midwest Region and the Northeast Region...
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. If a U.S.-based team (located in either
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit or
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) was playing in Toronto on a particular Saturday night, thousands of fans in the U.S. city whose local team faced the Leafs would often listen to the CBC broadcast via
skywaveSkywave is the propagation of electromagnetic waves bent back to the Earth's surface by the ionosphere. As a result of skywave propagation, a broadcast signal from a distant AM broadcasting station at night, or from a shortwave radio station can sometimes be heard as clearly as local...
reception, with the game often drawing far more listeners during the HNIC broadcast period than any local station.
CBC Radio aired Saturday night HNIC broadcasts through 1965, switching to Sunday Night NHL Hockey from 1965–76, after which the games moved exclusively to television coverage nationally. In Toronto, CFRB (originally a CNR Radio affiliate) continued to simulcast Maple Leaf games for many years alongside CBC Radio's Toronto station
CBLCBLA-FM is a Canadian radio station. It is the flagship station of the CBC Radio One network, broadcasting at 99.1 FM in Toronto, Ontario.- History :...
.
Television
Hockey Night in Canada began airing on Saturday nights on
CBC TelevisionCBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
in 1952, just weeks after television broadcasting commenced in Canada, retaining
EssoImperial Oil Limited is Canada's largest petroleum company. The company is engaged in the exploration, production and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It is controlled by US based ExxonMobil, which owns 69.6% of its stock...
as sponsor. It continued to feature regular season NHL games on the
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
network every Saturday evening during the NHL season, and retained many of the features such as the Hot Stove Lounge and the
three starsIn ice hockey, the three stars of a match are the three best players as chosen by a third party, with the first star considered the best of the three players, akin to the man of the match in other sports. Usually, the top point scorers or outstanding goaltenders are designated the three stars, but...
selection, which originated as an Imperial Oil gasoline promotion and survived even as sponsorship eventually passed from Imperial to Molson and, later, Labatt.
Until the 1990s, there was only one game televised each Saturday night in any particular locality and up to 1968, regular season games were still not broadcast in their entirety. In the 1950s, the HNIC telecast followed the lead of the radio broadcast by coming on the air at 9 p.m. ET, with the game typically being joined in progress either just before the start or during the early portion of the second period. In the early 1960s, the broadcast time was moved ahead to 8:30 p.m. ET, which allowed the game to be joined in progress late in the first period. Starting in the fall of 1968, regular-season games were shown in their entirety with a broadcast start time of 8 p.m. ET. In 1970–71, the
Vancouver CanucksThe Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...
joined the NHL, meaning that there were now three possible venues for an HNIC telecast. Four more Canadian-based teams joined the fold in 1979–80 and 1980–81, further increasing coverage. It should be noted, however, that the
Quebec NordiquesThe Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...
were initially never shown at home on HNIC, as their owners, Carling O'Keefe Breweries, forbade Molson from televising games in their building. This was partly in response to efforts by the
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, who were owned by Molson, to keep Quebec out of the league. After the 1989 merger between Molson and Carling O'Keefe, and the subsequent sale of the Nordiques, HNIC was now free to show games from Quebec City. Still, they rarely did, as the Nordiques English-speaking fan base was very small. They appeared more frequently on
La Soiree du HockeyLa Soirée du hockey was a popular ice hockey show in Quebec. It was the French language SRC equivalent of the English Canadian CBC show Hockey Night in Canada...
.
After
Wayne GretzkyWayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
was traded to the
Los Angeles KingsThe Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
in 1988, the network began showing occasional
double-headerDoubleheader is used by network television to refer to two games in any sport aired back-to-back on the same network, even though they do not involve the same two teams . A doubleheader purposely coincides with a league's scheduling of "early" and "late" games...
s when Canadian teams visited Los Angeles, in order to give the game's greatest star more network exposure in Canada. These games were often joined in progress, as the regular start time for HNIC was still 8 p.m. Eastern Time and the Kings home games began at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time (10:30 Eastern). Beginning in the 1995 season, weekly double-headers became the norm, with games starting at 7:30 Eastern and 7:30 Pacific, respectively. In 1998, the start times were moved ahead to 7 p.m. ET and PT.
Instant replayInstant replay is the replaying of video footage of an event or incident very soon after it has occurred. In television broadcasting of sports events, instant replay is often used during live broadcast, to show a passage of play which was important or remarkable, or which was unclear on first...
made its debut on a 1955 HNIC broadcast. CBC director George Retzlaff made a
kinescopeKinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
recording of a goal, and replayed it to the television audience seconds later.
Beginning with the 1966–67 NHL season, all games broadcast on HNIC were in colour. Olympic women's ice hockey champion
Cassie CampbellCassie Campbell-Pascall is a former Canadian female ice hockey player. She was the captain of the Canadian ice hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics and led the team to a gold medal...
joined Hockey Night in Canada as a rinkside reporter, becoming (on October 14, 2006) the first woman to do
colour commentaryA color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
on a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. She filled in when
Harry NealeHarold Watson Neale is a hockey colour commentator, who currently works for the Buffalo Sabres on the Sabres Hockey Network...
was snowed in at his home in
BuffaloBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
.
On July 23, 2010, Trevor Pilling was named the
executive producerAn executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
of Hockey Night in Canada, replacing Sherali Najak.
Present day
CBC has extended its broadcast contract with the NHL through the 2013–2014 season.
The possible movement of Hockey Night in Canada to another broadcaster caused some controversy and discussion during the 2006–2007 hockey season. Canadian private network
CTVCTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
had outbid the CBC for Canadian television rights to the
2010The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
and
2012 OlympicsThe 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
as well as the major television package for curling. The broadcast requirements would have focused on CTV-owned TSN (
The Sports NetworkThe Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
), a cable channel which already carries Canadian NHL hockey during the week as well as other NHL games throughout the season.
Despite the rumours, it always seemed that CTV was unlikely to be interested in the nightly playoff coverage currently provided by the CBC, since weeknight games in April and May would conflict with new episodes of CTV's slate of American programming. As well, Hockey Night in Canada could not be used as the name is owned by CBC, unless CTVglobemedia paid royalties to CBC for use of the name.
The new deal allows TSN to expand its coverage, while maintaining the more-than-50-year tradition of Hockey Night in Canada. CBC will be limited in the number of games it can show per team so that the six Canadian-based teams, particularly the
Toronto Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, can distribute more games to regional carriers, thereby increasing the value of their local packages.
In early September 2007, CBC announced a new Hockey Night in Canada Radio show to air on
Sirius Satellite RadioSirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
channel 122 (Sports Play-by-Play 1) beginning October 1. While the broadcaster trumpeted the launch as the return "back to the radio airwaves" for HNIC, the program does not feature actual game coverage. Sirius' HNIC Radio is separate entity on which only a few of CBC's HNIC commentators regularly appear. The program is hosted by Canadian sports broadcaster
Jeff MarekJeff Marek is a television personality and radio host, for properties originating from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jeff has hosted Live Audio Wrestling, Leafs Lunch and the The Jeff Marek Show, as well as making notable television appearances on TSN Off The Record and Leafs TV After the...
.
As of October 2007,
ScotiabankThe Bank of Nova Scotia , commonly known as Scotiabank , is the third largest bank in Canada by deposits and market capitalization. It serves some 18.6 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world and offers a broad range of products and services including personal, commercial,...
has branded itself with the pregame, Scotiabank Hockey Tonight. Starting in 2008, the USA version of NHL Network began to carry HNIC doubleheaders. In addition, the CBC package includes the annual
NHL Winter ClassicThe NHL Winter Classic is an annual event held by the National Hockey League on New Year's Day where regular-season games are played outdoors, in areas hosted by NHL teams. Though largely derived from the Heritage Classic outdoor game held in Edmonton in 2003, the Winter Classic has so far only...
outdoor games held on New Year's Day in a USA city.
Pregame show
Hockey Night in Canada coverage typically begins 30 minutes prior to the opening faceoff of the first game with the
pregame showA pre-game show or pregame show is a TV or radio presentation that occurs immediately before the live broadcast of a major sporting event.Contents may include:http://miniunis.com/pregame* replayed highlights of each teams previous games....
called Scotiabank Hockey Tonight.
Ron MacLeanRonald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
hosts the program along with
Kelly HrudeyKelly Hrudey is a former NHL ice hockey goaltender and current hockey broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. During his NHL career, Hrudey played for the New York Islanders , Los Angeles Kings , and San Jose Sharks .-Playing career:Hrudey played junior hockey for three years with...
and
Mike MilburyMichael Milbury is an American sportscaster currently working as an ice hockey analyst for the New England Sports Network , Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL on NBC. He played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League , all of them as a defenseman for the Boston Bruins...
, if he is not on assignment for the NHL on NBC. P.J. Stock usually goes over news and highlights from earlier games in the NHL.
Elliotte FriedmanElliotte Friedman is a Canadian sports journalist. He currently works on CBC Sports programmes including hosting and appearing on the Hockey Night in Canada segment The Headliner...
features a segment called Inside Hockey that examines a range of issues in the NHL. It was previously known as Labatt Saturday Night (later just called Saturday Night, after Labatt dropped its title sponsorship), and was best known for the theme song "The Place'll Be Rockin' 'Cause It's Saturday Night" performed by
The Carpet FrogsThe Carpet Frogs are a Toronto based rock band. They are best known for their work with Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings.-Band members:Nick Sinopoli - Percussion and vocalsDavid Love - Guitar and vocals...
member Michael Zweig. This song was replaced by
Kid RockRobert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...
and
Nickelback'sNickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger.. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005....
version of "
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is a rock song performed by musician Elton John and covered by W.A.S.P., Flotsam and Jetsam, Nickelback , Queen and The Who...
" (which was previously used to introduce the night's first game). Today, the pregame theme song was reverted to "The Place'll Be Rockin'" in a newer-yet-different recording. Currently, "The Place'll Be Rockin'" is used as an intro to Hockey tonight, while "
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is a rock song performed by musician Elton John and covered by W.A.S.P., Flotsam and Jetsam, Nickelback , Queen and The Who...
" is used as an outro to the pre-game show.
Game 1
The first game of the Saturday night
doubleheaderDoubleheader is used by network television to refer to two games in any sport aired back-to-back on the same network, even though they do not involve the same two teams . A doubleheader purposely coincides with a league's scheduling of "early" and "late" games...
typically originates in
Eastern CanadaEastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...
, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (4 p.m. Pacific Time). Sometimes the network is split up into three feeds so that games of the three Eastern Canadian teams can be seen in their home markets (the Senators are shown in the Ottawa Valley, the Canadiens are shown in Quebec, and the Jets are shown in Manitoba). Ron MacLean hosts the entire evening broadcast, usually from Studio 42 at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto. Play-by-play for the feature game (usually involving the
Toronto Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and seen by the majority of the country) is provided by
Jim HughsonJim Hughson is a Canadian sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play of professional ice hockey and baseball.-Biography:...
, with
Craig SimpsonCraig Andrew Simpson is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey winger who played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers and the Buffalo Sabres...
serving as colour commentator.
Glenn HealyGlenn Healy is a former ice hockey goaltender who played for 15 years in the National Hockey League. Prior to that, he was a member of the Western Michigan University hockey team, and 1985 graduate of the school. He also served as the director of player affairs for the National Hockey League...
is often situated between the benches and
Elliotte FriedmanElliotte Friedman is a Canadian sports journalist. He currently works on CBC Sports programmes including hosting and appearing on the Hockey Night in Canada segment The Headliner...
is usually the rinkside reporter. On December 13, 2008, the Maple Leafs received their first Saturday off (apart from
Christmas EveChristmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
and Christmas Day) in nearly 13 years. Other broadcast teams include Bob Cole and
Garry GalleyGarry Michael Galley is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League from 1984 to 2001...
(who broadcast the
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
game) and
Dean BrownDean Craig Brown, AO was the Liberal Premier of South Australia between 14 December 1993 and 28 November 1996, and Deputy Premier of South Australia between 22 October 2001 and 5 March 2002 to Rob Kerin.-Political career:...
and
Greg Millen (who usually broadcast the
Ottawa SenatorsThe Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
game).
At the end of the first period, MacLean hosts
Coach's Corner, featuring himself and former
NHL Coach of the YearThe Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." It has been awarded 37 times to 32 different coaches. The winner is selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association at the end of the...
Don Cherry. On Coach's Corner, Cherry analyzes the game's first period and gives tips on various points of hockey, with MacLean acting as Cherry's foil. There are times in which Cherry tends to be controversial; for example, in 2003, Cherry stated that the majority of players wearing facial protection in the NHL are Frenchmen and Europeans (though a study done by a lawyer confirmed Cherry's assertion). In any case, this controversy led to Coach's Corner being put on a seven-second delay for the rest of the season by the CBC. The seven-second delay has been subsequently removed from the broadcast. CBC also opted not to place a 2003 segment where Cherry and MacLean debated the nascent
Iraq WarThe 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
on its website.
This segment, the highest-
ratedBBM Canada, also known as BBM, is an audience measurement organization for Canadian television and radio broadcasting.BBM was established on May 11, 1944 as a division of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. The organization was originally known as the "Bureau of Broadcast Measurement", and...
spot on
Canadian televisionTelevision in Canada officially began with the opening of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, are strongly influenced by the American media, perhaps...
, is followed by a second feature that changes from season-to-season, currently being called
Up to the Minute, showing scores of other games. There are also interviews with players in between periods, during which the players often brandish towels with the HNIC logo on it.
During the second intermission, MacLean hosts the
Hotstove, a segment that features hockey journalists from across North America, who debate and speculate on issues facing hockey. The cast usually includes
Mike MilburyMichael Milbury is an American sportscaster currently working as an ice hockey analyst for the New England Sports Network , Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL on NBC. He played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League , all of them as a defenseman for the Boston Bruins...
and Pierre LeBrun, with other contributors such as
Glenn HealyGlenn Healy is a former ice hockey goaltender who played for 15 years in the National Hockey League. Prior to that, he was a member of the Western Michigan University hockey team, and 1985 graduate of the school. He also served as the director of player affairs for the National Hockey League...
,
Elliotte FriedmanElliotte Friedman is a Canadian sports journalist. He currently works on CBC Sports programmes including hosting and appearing on the Hockey Night in Canada segment The Headliner...
or Scott Morrison filling the third chair on the panel. Past contributors have included Al Strachan,
Eric DuhatschekEric Duhatschek is a distinguished Canadian sports journalist. Duhatschek won the 2001 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for distinguished ice hockey journalism and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, for which he is also on the selection committee....
and John Davidson. During non-Saturday playoff games,
After 40 Minutes, which normally features MacLean interviewing league or team officials (along with scores and highlights of other games) airs instead.
Following the "three stars" selection of the first game, and before the faceoff of Game 2, MacLean and Cherry return to give updates on scores and highlights from around the league. Friedman conducts interviews with players and the commentators for Game 2 preview the upcoming contest.
Game 2
The second game airs at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT, 8 p.m MT) featuring one of the three teams from
Western CanadaWestern Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
(the
Calgary FlamesThe Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...
,
Edmonton OilersThe Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
, or
Vancouver CanucksThe Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...
). Since hurry-up
faceoffA face-off is the method used to begin play in ice hockey and some other sports. The two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the opposing centres attempt to gain control of the puck after it is dropped between their sticks by an official. One of the referees drops the puck at centre ice...
s were introduced, it is extremely rare that a regular season game runs longer than three hours, and every double-header game is seen in its entirety. The broadcast team usually consists of
Mark LeeMark Lee is a Canadian sportscaster for CBC Sports who has covered women's ice hockey, Olympic games and the Pan Am Games. He quarterbacked the Carleton Ravens football team for four years, graduating with a journalism degree. He then worked as a news anchor at CFCF radio in Montreal...
and
Kevin WeekesKevin Weekes is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who most recently played for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League . He is now a color commentator on Hockey Night in Canada, and a studio analyst for NHL on the Fly.- Player :Weekes' career began with the Owen...
, though sometimes Hughson and Simpson call the late game if it is deemed to be the marquee game of the night.
Scott OakeScott Oake is a Gemini Award winning Canadian sportscaster for CBC Sports.-Early life:Oake was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and raised in Sydney's "shipyards" neighborhood until the age of 14, when his family relocated to Newfoundland...
is the ice-level reporter.
After the first period of the second game, a regular feature entitled
Coast to Coast is aired with former NHL goaltender
Kelly HrudeyKelly Hrudey is a former NHL ice hockey goaltender and current hockey broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. During his NHL career, Hrudey played for the New York Islanders , Los Angeles Kings , and San Jose Sharks .-Playing career:Hrudey played junior hockey for three years with...
and Mike Milbury (if Milbury is in studio). The pair usually go over certain plays they noticed in the night's games, with Hrudey frequently using a
TelestratorA telestrator is a device that allows its operator to draw a freehand sketch over a moving or still video image. The telestrator is most famously recognized in sports and weather broadcasts to diagram and analyze sports plays or incoming weather patterns. The talent typically draws on a...
to illustrate his points. The second intermission features
Scoreboard Saturday. MacLean, Milbury, and Hrudey go over the earlier games featuring Canadian teams, followed by P.J. Stock presenting scores and highlights from the rest of the NHL.
The broadcast will also occasionally originate from a U.S. city playing host to a Canadian team. This is more common with the second, Western game, because between the
Toronto Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
,
Ottawa SenatorsThe Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, and
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
(Canada's three Eastern teams), at least one is traditionally at home on any given Saturday night.
Only on rare occasions has HNIC broadcast regular-season games involving two U.S.-based teams, and this has usually been due to labour issues or an extremely special occasion (such as
Wayne GretzkyWayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
's final game in 1999, the retirement of
Steve YzermanStephen Gregory "Steve" Yzerman is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and current general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League...
's jersey in 2007,
Sidney CrosbySidney Patrick Crosby ONS is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League . Crosby was drafted first overall by the Penguins out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League...
's comeback game in
PittsburghThe Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
against the
New York IslandersThe New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
in 2011, and the league's
Winter ClassicThe NHL Winter Classic is an annual event held by the National Hockey League on New Year's Day where regular-season games are played outdoors, in areas hosted by NHL teams. Though largely derived from the Heritage Classic outdoor game held in Edmonton in 2003, the Winter Classic has so far only...
games in
2008The 2008 NHL Winter Classic also known as the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic was a National Hockey League game played on January 1, 2008, at 1:27 p.m. ET, outdoors at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. It was the first regular-season outdoor professional ice hockey game to be played in...
,
2009The 2009 NHL Winter Classic, also known as the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic 2009, was a specially staged National Hockey League regular-season game played outdoors on January 1, 2009 at 12:36 p.m. CST at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois...
,and
2010The 2010 NHL Winter Classic, known as the 2010 NHL Winter Classic presented by Bridgestone via corporate sponsorship, was the third edition of the NHL Winter Classic, an annual outdoor ice hockey game held by the National Hockey League , played on January 1, 2010, as a regular season game at...
).
After Hours
Beginning with the 2000–01 season, CBC launched
After Hours, a program that follows the Saturday night HNIC broadcast. It recaps the night's
NHLThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
coverage from the city of the late game. From 2000-2008, the hosts were
Scott OakeScott Oake is a Gemini Award winning Canadian sportscaster for CBC Sports.-Early life:Oake was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and raised in Sydney's "shipyards" neighborhood until the age of 14, when his family relocated to Newfoundland...
and
Kelly HrudeyKelly Hrudey is a former NHL ice hockey goaltender and current hockey broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. During his NHL career, Hrudey played for the New York Islanders , Los Angeles Kings , and San Jose Sharks .-Playing career:Hrudey played junior hockey for three years with...
, Scott Oake and
Marc CrawfordMarc Joseph John Crawford is a Canadian professional ice hockey head coach, most recently employed by the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League. He was previously the head coach of three other organizations and won a Stanley Cup in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche...
(2008–2009). The new hosts of After Hours are Scott Oake and Kevin Weekes (2009–present). The wrap-up usually includes a guest appearance by an NHL player or coach. Fans are typically allowed to submit questions online or by phone.
Hockey Night in Canada Replay
Following After Hours, CBC shows
Hockey Night in Canada Replay, which recaps the highlights of the games. In British Columbia, this show airs later in the evening, after the 10:30 p.m. local newscast CBC News: Vancouver Saturday.
Playoffs
CBC also provides extensive
Stanley Cup playoffThe Stanley Cup playoffs is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series. Eight teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records...
coverage every spring with a focus on Canadian teams. They also have exclusive English-language rights to the Stanley Cup Finals. Many of the playoff games, regardless of the day of the week, are aired, giving the CBC an unusual program schedule from early April through early June. This means CBC generally ends its regularly scheduled broadcast season earlier than other Canadian and American broadcasters. For years, all playoff games involving Canadian teams were aired by the CBC, though not always on a national basis. However, under the terms of a new broadcast deal that began during the 2008–09 season, TSN has the third, fifth, seventh, and eighth selections among opening round series, while CBC would choose first, second, fourth,and sixth. As a result of the new arrangement, if more than two Canadian teams qualify for the playoffs, it is likely that at least one series involving a Canadian team will be broadcast by TSN. In subsequent rounds, TSN could again show a Canadian team if at least three of them get that far.
During the first intermission of Hockey Night in Canada playoff broadcasts, the feature alternates between Don Cherry's Coach's Corner and Kelly Hrudey's Behind the Mask. Hrudey, a former NHL goaltender, joined the CBC for the 1998–99 season. As a former player, Hrudey provides unique perspectives on today's NHL and gives the viewer an inside look at the game from another angle. Cherry provides features during Toronto Maple Leaf games or other Canadian teams still in the playoffs.
On some occasions, three announcers are provided for the game instead of the usual two for the regular season, especially during the Stanley Cup Finals.
Hockey Day in Canada
Hockey Day in Canada is an annual special broadcast to celebrate the game in Canada that includes features all afternoon, leading up to a tripleheader of
NHLThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
action featuring the seven Canadian teams (
Calgary FlamesThe Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...
,
Edmonton OilersThe Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
,
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
,
Ottawa SenatorsThe Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
,
Toronto Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
,
Winnipeg JetsThe Winnipeg Jets were a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They began play in the World Hockey Association in 1972, moving to the National Hockey League in 1979 following the collapse of the WHA...
,
Vancouver CanucksThe Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...
). One exception was the 2008 edition that featured four games including two American teams (Detroit and Colorado) along with the six Canadian teams; this was due to the NHL's schedule format at the time, as there was no inter-conference games between Canadian teams. Lead commentators, Don Cherry and
Ron MacLeanRonald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
broadcast from a remote area. The broadcast includes
live broadcastLive television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
segments from smaller communities right across the country and features panel discussions on issues facing "Canada's game" at both the minor and pro levels. The day is usually in mid-February, but was broadcast in early January in 2002 and 2006 due to the
2002 Winter OlympicsThe 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
and
2006 Winter OlympicsThe 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
, respectively; the 2007 event was also held in January (January 13), though no sporting events key to Canada were scheduled. The 2010 events were held on January 30 because of the
2010 Winter OlympicsThe 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
, held in February.
Hockey Day in Canada has also featured special events, such as world-record all-night pick-up hockey games from
Red Deer, AlbertaRed Deer is a city in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located near the midpoint of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and is surrounded by Red Deer County. It is Alberta's third-most-populous city – after Calgary and Edmonton. The city is located in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills...
(in 2001) and
Windsor, Nova ScotiaWindsor is a town located in Hants County, Mainland Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,779 and was at one time the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was...
(2002). Viewers got to see the games after the CBC ended regular programming for the night, without commentary.
Hockey Day in Canada also reached out to other
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
s as well – the 2007 event on January 13, 2007 featured
Italian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
commentary of the
Vancouver CanucksThe Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...
/
Toronto Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
matchup, which was seen on the
TelelatinoTelelatino, also referred to as TLN, is a Canadian Category A Specialty channel broadcasting general interest programming from Canada and around the world, primarily in Italian and Spanish...
(TLN) cable channel, with special features and commentary by Alf De Blasis, who hosts soccer games for TLN. This was the first time Hockey Night in Canada was presented in Italian. The following two years, matches were presented in Punjabi, Mandarin and Cantonese. CBC has subsequently added a regular schedule of games broadcast in Punjabi via the network's website and some cable/satellite providers. However, just prior to the beginning of 2010 NHL regular season, CBC ended the broadcast in Punjabi citing financial strains.
Hockey Day in Canada was held in
WhitehorseWhitehorse is Yukon's capital and largest city . It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1476 on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River, which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in...
,
YukonYukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
on February 12, 2011. The Edmonton Oilers hosted the Ottawa Senators, the Toronto Maple Leafs visited the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks welcomed the Calgary Flames.
With the return of the
Winnipeg JetsThe Winnipeg Jets were a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They began play in the World Hockey Association in 1972, moving to the National Hockey League in 1979 following the collapse of the WHA...
for the 2011-12 NHL season, there are an odd number of Canadian teams in the NHL, meaning HDIC will again require the presence of an American team. This year, the Jets will play the
Pittsburgh PenguinsThe Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
.
Broadcast locations
- 2000: Toronto, Ontario
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
(February 19)
- 2001: Red Deer, Alberta
Red Deer is a city in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located near the midpoint of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and is surrounded by Red Deer County. It is Alberta's third-most-populous city – after Calgary and Edmonton. The city is located in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills...
(February 24)
- 2002: Windsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor is a town located in Hants County, Mainland Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,779 and was at one time the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was...
(January 5)
- 2003: Iqaluit, Nunavut (February 15)
- 2004: Shaunavon, Saskatchewan
The town of Shaunavon is situated in Southwest Saskatchewan at the junction of Highways 37 and 13. It is 110 kilometres from Swift Current, 163 kilometres from the Alberta border and 74 kilometres from the Montana border. Shaunavon was established in 1913 and settled along a railroad line...
(February 21)
- 2005: No Hockey Day in Canada due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout
- 2006: Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador
Stephenville is a Canadian town in Newfoundland and Labrador on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland....
(January 7)
- 2007: Nelson, British Columbia
Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush,...
(January 13)
- 2008: Winkler, Manitoba
Winkler is a small city with a population of about 9,900 located in southern Manitoba, Canada in the Rural Municipality of Stanley...
(February 9)
- 2009: Campbellton, New Brunswick
Campbellton is a Canadian city in Restigouche County, New Brunswick.Situated on the south bank of the Restigouche River opposite Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec, Campbellton was officially incorporated in 1889 and achieved city status in 1958.Forestry and tourism are major industries in the regional...
(February 21)
- 2010: Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of 32,000.When the area was first settled by Europeans in 1832, the townsite and the river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is the seat of Perth County. Stratford was...
(January 30)
- 2011: Whitehorse, Yukon
Whitehorse is Yukon's capital and largest city . It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1476 on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River, which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in...
(February 12)
In January 2005, due to the NHL labour dispute, the CBC canceled that year's broadcast. Rival TSN aired a similar broadcast instead,
Hockey Lives Here: Canada's Game, based from the
World Pond Hockey ChampionshipsThe World Pond Hockey Championships is an annual international competition that takes place outdoors, on bodies of frozen water, playing the pond hockey variant of ice hockey. The event takes place in and around Plaster Rock, New Brunswick.-History:...
in
Plaster Rock, New BrunswickPlaster Rock is a Canadian village in Victoria County, New Brunswick.Located on the Tobique River, the village was founded in 1881 by Hezekiah Day and named for the gypsum found in the area, which is heated to produce plaster.The cliffs across the river from the Tobique Valley High School expose...
. It also featured NHL players competing in an
exhibition gameAn exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...
to raise money for various charities in
Hamilton, OntarioHamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
. TSN did not revive its version after the lockout ended.
Team Records
| Team | W | L | T | OL |
| Calgary Flames |
5 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
| Edmonton Oilers |
2 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
| Montreal Canadiens |
6 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
| Ottawa Senators |
6 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs |
6 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
| Vancouver Canucks |
7 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
| Colorado Avalanche |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Detroit Red Wings |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Movie Night in Canada
During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, CBC replaced Hockey Night in Canada with a triple-feature of movies, mostly of the Hollywood variety. (The pregame was replaced with repeats of
The Red Green ShowThe Red Green Show is a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada, with its ultimate home at CBC Television, and on Public Broadcasting Service stations in the United States, from 1991 until the series finale April 7, 2006 on CBC...
.) However, as a reminder to viewers that Saturday night was supposed to be Hockey Night, Ron MacLean hosted the movies from various hockey venues throughout Canada, under the title
Movie Night in Canada. Ron would mention some facts about the film and talk hockey during the commercial breaks. The venues were usually those of
CHLThe Canadian Hockey League is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canadian-based major junior ice hockey leagues for players 16 to 20 years of age. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, and is composed of its three member leagues, the Western Hockey...
teams.
A labour deal was reached in time to contest the 2005–06 NHL season. CBC's own on-air talent was also locked out during the summer of 2005, nearly missing the start of the hockey season. Some journalists have suggested that this helped cause TSN and the
CFLThe Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
to end their
sublicense dealCFL on CBC was a presentation of Canadian Football League football aired on the CBC Television Network. CBC held broadcast rights for the CFL from 1952 to 2007...
with CBC after the 2007 season, as games from that league aired without commentary during the lockout.
Availability outside of Canada
As mentioned previously, during the era that HNIC was on radio, it was broadcast over several powerful CBC clear-channel stations whose nighttime signals reached much of the northern United States. As a result, the games had a following throughout the northern U.S., and especially so in
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, and
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the four U.S. cities that had NHL teams at the time.
Foster HewittFoster William Hewitt, OC was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for Hockey Night in Canada. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt.-Early life and career:...
always acknowledged these listeners in his opening greeting, "Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland" (before
NewfoundlandThe Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
joined Canada in 1949). This continued into the television era (despite waning in recent years with the expansion of local team TV coverage on
regional sports networkIn the United States of America and Canada, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate...
s), although some C-band satellite dishes can still receive the CBC's over-the-air feeds. U.S.
cable televisionCable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
outlets near the international border (including markets such as
Metro DetroitThe Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is the metropolitan area located in Southeast Michigan centered on the city of Detroit which shares an international border with Windsor, Ontario. The Detroit metropolitan area is the second largest U.S. metropolitan area...
, Seattle,
BuffaloBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, and
Sault Ste. MarieSault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...
) typically carry a nearby CBC affiliate on their systems (though some cable systems carry a non-regional station). As a general rule, CBC stations are carried within about 150 miles of the border, and are not
blacked outBlackout usually relates to the broadcasting of sports events, television programming, that is prohibited in a certain media market.The purpose is theoretically to generate more revenue by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV...
of sporting events.
Beginning with the 2008–09 season, Hockey Nights main games were
simulcastSimulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
weekly in the United States on NHL Network, complete with pre- and post-game shows. If U.S.-based teams appear in these games, the telecast is blacked out in the markets of the participating teams. In the 2009-10 season, only the first game of the HNIC doubleheader is simulcast live on NHL Network, with the second game and post-game After Hours program being shown in tape delay on Sunday, the sole exception being the Hockey Day in Canada event.
NHL Center IceNHL Center Ice is an Out-of-Market Sports Package distributed by most cable and satellite providers in the United States and Canada. The package allows its subscribers to see up to forty out-of-market National Hockey League games a week using local and national television networks.NHL Center Ice...
offers some Hockey Night in Canada games at the same time as the CBC broadcast. Usually these games are the regional Hockey Night games from either Ottawa or Montreal. Center Ice usually only shows the 7 p.m. ET games because the late games are usually national.
Beginning with the 2006 playoffs, the U.S. cable channel
VersusThe NHL on Versus was the former branding used for National Hockey League games broadcast on Versus. Versus became the NHL's cable partner in the United States beginning in the 2005-06 season from previous partner ESPN, providing coverage of regular season games, playoff games, and select games...
simulcast the CBC's coverage of some games, generally first and second round match-ups from Western Canada, instead of using their own crews and announcers. In the early 1990s, SportsChannel America covered the Stanley Cup playoffs in a similar fashion. Versus continues to use CBC and TSN feeds to augment its own playoff coverage, sometimes even picking up a Canadian broadcast of a game involving two American teams.
Hockey Night in Canada is also broadcast live (and occasionally as-live) in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and
IrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
on
ESPNESPN is a sports television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland owned by American sports broadcaster ESPN Inc. The channel launched on 3 August 2009...
and ESPN America. When the broadcast is shown on the main ESPN channel it is also available in high definition on ESPN HD. The pre- and post-game segments are not included, but the entirety of the two games are shown, as well as the segments between periods.
Hockey Night in Canada is also seen in some other European markets on ESPN America, distributed on multiple cable and satellite platforms.
Hockey Night in Canada is available on 27 in the
Cayman IslandsThe Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
as part of their regular Saturday night programming, and to
Canadian ForcesThe Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
members on
Canadian Forces Radio and TelevisionEnglish: Canadian Forces Radio and Television , French: Radiotélévision des Forces canadiennes , is a television and radio network system broadcast by satellite to those members of the Canadian Forces ground forces who are serving overseas in places such as the Middle East, Africa and Europe and,...
.
Announcers
The legendary
Foster HewittFoster William Hewitt, OC was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for Hockey Night in Canada. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt.-Early life and career:...
, who had developed a style that welcomed Canadians to the
radio broadcastRadio programming is the Broadcast programming of a Radio format or content that is organized for Commercial broadcasting and Public broadcasting radio stations....
each week, proved that his radio style could also work in the new medium of television in 1952. His move from radio to television was successful and Hewitt continued to work in television for many years, including the famed 1972 "
Summit SeriesThe Summit Series was the first competition between the Soviet and an NHL-inclusive Canadian national ice hockey teams, an eight-game series held in September 1972...
" between a team representing Canada (an
NHL all-star teamThe NHL All-Star Teams were first named at the end of the 1930–31 NHL season, to honor the best performers over the season at each position.Representatives of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association vote for the All-Star Team at the end of the regular season.The career leaders in citations are...
) and the Soviet National Team. This style of play-by-play announcers in
hockey broadcastingAs with most other professional sports, ice hockey is broadcast both on radio and television.-History:The first dissemination of game scores via electronic means was done by telegraph, starting in the 1890s...
really hasn't changed between radio and TV, as broadcasters still describe the action as if viewers cannot see what is on the screen they're watching. Hewitt was followed (in no particular order) by
Danny GallivanDanny Gallivan was a Canadian radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster.-Early life and career:Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Gallivan began his broadcast career at a local radio station in Antigonish, Nova Scotia while attending St. Francis Xavier University...
,
Dan KellyPatrick Daniel "Dan" Kelly was a Canadian-born sportscaster best known for his radio play-by-play coverage of the St...
,
Dick Irvin, Jr.James Dickinson Irvin, Jr. is a retired Canadian sports broadcaster and author. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 under the broadcasters category1...
,
Jim RobsonJim Robson was a radio and television broadcaster for the Vancouver Canucks from 1970 to 1999...
,
Bob ColeRobert Cecil "Bob" Cole is a Canadian television announcer and former competitive curler.Cole was the primary play-by-play announcer for Hockey Night in Canada 'HNIC' on CBC, usually for Toronto Maple Leafs games, from 1980 to 2008. Aside from the Leafs broadcasts, he was also a staple for the...
, Hewitt's son,
Bill HewittFoster William Alfred Hewitt was a Canadian radio and television sportscaster. He was the son of hockey broadcaster Foster Hewitt and the grandson of Toronto Star sports journalist W. A. Hewitt.Hewitt excelled at football, track & field and hockey, while at Upper Canada College...
, and
Jim HughsonJim Hughson is a Canadian sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play of professional ice hockey and baseball.-Biography:...
. Previous show hosts included
Wes McKnightWes McKnight was a Canadian television and radio personality who did play-by-play for many sports broadcasts, including serving as one of the original hosts for Hockey Night in Canada telecasts and covering the CFL Toronto Argonauts for about thirty years.He was elected to both the Hockey Hall of...
,
Ward CornellWard MacLaurin Cornell was a Canadian broadcaster noted for hosting Hockey Night in Canada between 1959 and 1972....
,
Jack DennettJack Dennett was a Canadian radio and television announcer. He began his career at the age of sixteen at Calgary's CFAC doing odd jobs such as filing. He began filling in for the regular announcer, when he didn't show up for work. In 1935, Dennett began conducting hockey interviews of players in...
,
Ted DarlingEdgar Lee "Ted" Darling , was the original "Voice of the Buffalo Sabres" ice hockey team for twenty-two seasons, calling the team's games on television from the team's inaugural season in 1970 to 1991...
, and
Dave HodgeDave Hodge is a Canadian sports announcer who currently works for TSN, and has worked in the past for the CBC and CFRB 1010 radio in Toronto.-Broadcasting career:...
. The show's current host is
Ron MacLeanRonald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
. Hughson is the primary play-by-play announcer.
1952-1968
The television show's original theme song was Saturday's Game, a march composed by
Howard CableHoward Reid Cable is a conductor, arranger, music director, composer, and radio and television producer.-Biography:...
. The CBC and the advertising agency responsible for the broadcasts at the time, MacLaren Advertising, later replaced the tune with the "
EssoImperial Oil Limited is Canada's largest petroleum company. The company is engaged in the exploration, production and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It is controlled by US based ExxonMobil, which owns 69.6% of its stock...
Happy Motoring Song".
1968-2008: The Hockey Theme
The companies later commissioned the composition of yet another theme,
The Hockey Theme"The Hockey Theme" is a Canadian theme song written in 1968 by Dolores Claman and orchestrated by Jerry Toth. It has been referred to as Canada's second national anthem....
, composed in 1968 by
Dolores ClamanDolores Claman is a Canadian composer and pianist. She is best known for composing the theme song, known simply as The Hockey Theme, for Hockey Night in Canada, a song often regarded as Canada's second national anthem, which she composed in 1968, and for "A Place to Stand", the popular tune that...
and orchestrated by
Jerry TothJerry Toth was a Canadian saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, arranger, composer, and record producer.-Life and career:...
. The CBC's most recent licence to use The Hockey Theme expired at the conclusion of the 2007–08 NHL season. Claman's publisher issued a statement on June 4, 2008, claiming the CBC had informed them it would not be renewing its rights to the composition. CBC Sports head Scott Moore denied the reports, saying that the CBC wanted to keep the song and that negotiations on a new licence agreement for the song were still ongoing.
2008: CBC loses rights to The Hockey Theme
In the early evening of June 6, 2008, the CBC announced it could not reach an acceptable agreement to renew its licence, to the outrage of some viewers across the country. Perpetual rights to The Hockey Theme were subsequently picked up by CTV, which began using it for hockey broadcasts on its
TSNThe Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
and
RDSRéseau des sports , is a Canadian French language Category C specialty channel showing sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc....
sports channels beginning in the 2008–09 season. (The theme would also later be featured during the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, aired on CTV.) The CBC said it had offered nearly
$The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
1 million for perpetual rights to Claman's theme, but that Copyright Music was asking for $2.5 to $3 million for those rights. Copyright Music turned it down because it was, "...a settlement that barely covered our legal bills, let alone losses." One proposed payment method would have allowed CBC to continue using the theme for Hockey Night in Canada show at a cost of $500 per play, for a total cost of $65,000 annually, while not actually giving CBC ownership of the music. Despite being contacted by five parties interested in buying Claman's theme, "[Copyright Music] had no desire to start a bidding war"
Moore has been quoted as saying, "We have no real idea why the deal fell apart. We're not sure why because the other side hasn't communicated with us." Yet, Copyright Music states that Moore gave them an unrealistic deadline of 24 hours to meet him when his client was 5 timezones away.
Moore has also been quoted as saying that he didn't think the Hockey Night in Canada show would lose viewers if he lost the theme song. "Hockey's a game, not a song," he said. Mike Myers disagrees with this ambivalence towards the song calling it, "...the second anthem [of Canada]" Canadian jazz fusion band
The Shuffle DemonsThe Shuffle Demons are a Canadian jazz fusion band, who had a surprise Top 40 hit in Canada with their 1986 single "Spadina Bus". The song, from their debut album Streetniks, referred to the Toronto Transit Commission's Spadina Avenue bus in Toronto, Ontario...
even jokingly introduced the song as "...[Canada's] national anthem" during performances. In an informal poll on CBC's website which puts forth the question, "Can Canada go on as we know it without the Hockey Night in Canada theme?", (3361) 84% respond no.
Finding a new theme: Canada's Hockey Anthem Challenge
After the loss of the well-known The Hockey Theme to CTV, CBC proceeded with a
nationwide contest powered by the
FilemobileFilemobile Inc. is a privately owned software development company that develops software-as-a-service applications for rich media experiences online...
Media Factory platform for a new theme in collaboration with music label
NettwerkThe Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg...
. The contest began June 10, 2008, and at the end of the submissions period on August 31, the network had received over 14,000 entries. These entries were reduced to five semi-finalists, whose themes were re-arranged by producer
Bob RockRobert Jens Rock, , is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing bands such as Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, The Offspring and most recently Bush.-Payola$ and Rock and Hyde:Rock began his music career in Langford,...
and presented for public voting:
- "Ice Warriors", Gerry Mosby
- "Sticks to the Ice", Robert Fraser Burke
- "Eleventh Hour", Graham McRae
- "Let the Game Begin", Christian St-Roch and Jimmy Tanaka
- "Canadian Gold", Colin Oberst
There was some controversy when Hockey Scores, one of the highest-rated submissions, was not chosen as a semi-finalist.
Voting commenced on October 4, 2008, with 2 finalists being picked for a final 1-day vote.
October 11, 2008-present: Canadian Gold
The two finalists—Burke's Sticks to the Ice and Oberst's Canadian Gold—were revealed on October 9, 2008. On October 11, 2008, after a final round of voting, Canadian Gold was announced live by Don Cherry on Scotiabank Hockey Tonight as the new HNIC theme.
Oberst is set to receive $100,000, plus 50% of the royalties of the theme, the other half of which will be donated to minor hockey. CBC will receive exclusive rights on the theme for 3 years, with the ability to renew at that time.
Awards
Hockey Night in Canada has received 4 Gemini Awards out of 6 nominations most notably for
Ron MacLeanRonald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
.
- 1992: Best Sports Broadcaster: Ron MacLean
Ronald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
- 1994: Best Sports Broadcaster: Ron MacLean
Ronald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
- 2004: Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program or Sportscast: Ron MacLean
Ronald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
-
- Best Sports Program or Series: Joel Darling, Chris Irwin, Sherali Najak
- 2006: Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program or Sportscast: Ron MacLean
Ronald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...
Programming choices
Critics of what the show chooses to program allege that the Eastern broadcast in particular favours the
Toronto Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
. Some feel that Toronto games are aired too often across the network, usually to the detriment of the
Ottawa SenatorsThe Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, whose fans sometimes do not see a Saturday night game of their teams, even when those teams are playing at home (CBC has English-language exclusivity on Saturday nights, although all Canadiens games air in French on RDS without restriction). The situation is similar to that faced by fans in the United States, as NBC has also been known to prefer airing nationally games involving teams from larger media markets such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Detroit, and Chicago, regardless of season performance whenever possible.
Beginning in 2008, CBC is limited in the number of times it can show each team during the regular-season, so there are likely to be fewer complaints. Additionally, CBC sometimes splits its feed to make Canadiens or Senators games available in those teams' regional markets.
WindsorWindsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
viewers on
CBETCBET, channel 9, is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's owned-and-operated television station in Windsor, Ontario. The station's signal also covers the Detroit, Michigan area across the international border in the United States, and is counted as a Detroit station for the purposes of...
will sometimes receive
Detroit Red WingsThe Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
games, provided they are playing against a Canadian team.
Another incident was when CBC refused to air the jersey retirement ceremony for Canadiens legend and credited slapshot inventor Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion in English, despite months of notice.
Instead, CBC decided to air a ceremony honoring Maple Leafs veteran
Tie DomiTahir "Tie" Domi is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. During a sixteen-year NHL career when he was known for his role as an enforcer, he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets....
. This was made all the more infuriating considering that coincidentally, Geoffrion died the very same day his number was retired.
In the early years of
HDTVHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
coverage, CBC took criticism from Western-based hockey fans for not broadcasting the second game of the doubleheader in high-definition. As such, usually only the 7 p.m. ET game involving the Toronto Maple Leafs was shown in HDTV during the 2005–06 season, and sometimes CBC would not show either game in HDTV. Starting with the 2006 Playoffs, CBC now televises at least two games in HDTV per week as it has acquired a second HD-capable production truck.
Also, viewers wishing to watch the second game of the double-header once complained that they were sometimes forced to view the first game's feed until its conclusion, as CBC would rarely split its feed for Western viewers. This is rarely a concern anymore as regular-season games almost never go past 10:08 p.m. ET (7:08 p.m. PT), even including possible overtime and shootouts, because of the introduction of hurry-up faceoffs. During the playoffs, CBC announces how Western viewers can see the start of their games should early games run deep into overtime, whether this is by splitting the feed or going to the CBC website (all games are streamed online for Canadian-based IP addresses).
Content
Criticism of the show's content often focuses around Don Cherry, who has made several controversial statements during his live on-air segments. He has been accused of
xenophobiaXenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
towards
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an-born players, problematic because the broadcasts air live in Europe, and French-Canadians, and is often seen as an advocate of the old-school rough style of hockey frowned upon both by some hockey fans (including NHL administrators) and many of their TV partners. Despite these controversies, Cherry's popularity among English Canadians endures. The Canadian punk rock group
PropagandhiPropagandhi is a Canadian punk band formed in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1986 by Chris Hannah and Jord Samolesky. The band is currently located in Winnipeg, Manitoba....
has written a song, "Dear Coach's Corner", that criticizes Cherry and the overt nationalism on display at NHL hockey games.
Programs with similar titles
Since
2006The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
, the American
television networkA television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
has been broadcasting a pregame show for
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
Sunday Night FootballNBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color...
games called
Football Night in AmericaFootball Night in America is the studio pregame show usually preceding NBC's broadcasts of Sunday night and Wild Card Saturday National Football League games starting in the 2006 National Football League season...
, which according to NBC sources, was borrowed from the CBC program. Mirroring the Hockey Day in Canada concept, the NHL on NBC launched a Hockey Day in America on February 20, 2011.
NBC had previously, along with ABC, televised
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
games under the name Baseball Night in America.
SportsNet New YorkSportsNet New York is a New York City-based regional sports cable network which airs in the New York metro area and all of New York state, and nationwide via satellite. It is owned jointly by the New York Mets, Time Warner Cable, and NBCUniversal...
refers to their
New York MetsThe New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
telecasts as Baseball Night in New York.
During the 2005–06 and 2006–07 NHL seasons, Cablevision-owned New York regional sport networks
MSG NetworkThe MSG Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic United States. It is focused on New York City sports teams...
and
FSN New York (now MSG Plus)MSG Plus is a regional sports network in the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cover the entire state of New York, Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut, and Northeastern Pennsylvania. The network was rebranded on March 10, 2008.Like its sister network, MSG, it is...
branded their Thursday night coverage of the
New York RangersThe New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
,
New York IslandersThe New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, and
New Jersey DevilsThe New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
as Hockey Night New York Live! Starting in the 2007–08 season, they now use the title Hockey Night Live for all hockey games. There was also a short-lived Saturday night TV program produced by
WKBW-TVWKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...
and the
Buffalo SabresThe Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
during this time known as Hockey Night in
BuffaloBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
.
There is also a Boston-based company called Hockey Night in Boston, which covers
high schoolHigh school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
hockey and conducts a summer tournament for players who will be eligible to play high-school hockey the following season. Hockey Night in Boston began in the early 1970s as a series of radio broadcasts of local high-school hockey games in the Boston area.
Prior to their move to
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
,
Hartford WhalersThe Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972–79 and in the National Hockey League from 1979–97...
games often aired under the banner Hockey Night in Hartford.
In
MichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
,
Fox Sports DetroitFox Sports Detroit , is a regional sports network that covers local sports teams in the state of Michigan, mostly those in the Metro Detroit area. It is an owned and operated affiliate of Fox Sports Net...
has a program usually run on a Saturday in February called Hockey Day in Michigan. This program usually show local state college hockey teams competing in the CCHA.
In
MinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Fox Sports North has a program run in early February called
Hockey Day MinnesotaHockey Day Minnesota is a day in Minnesota run in cooperation with the Minnesota Wild and Fox Sports North that features at least two Minnesota High School Boys Hockey games, a Minnesota Gopher men's hockey game, and a Minnesota Wild NHL game....
, featuring two or three high school games, the University of Minnesota, and Minnesota Wild all broadcast in the same day.
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
used variations of the name throughout the later stages of the 2008 US Presidential Election, such as
Debate NightThe bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates sponsored four debates for the 2008 U.S. presidential general election, which took place at various locations around the United States in September and October 2008...
in America and Election Night in America.
La Soirée du hockey
In parallel with CBC,
Radio-CanadaTélévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
aired
La Soirée du hockeyLa Soirée du hockey was a popular ice hockey show in Quebec. It was the French language SRC equivalent of the English Canadian CBC show Hockey Night in Canada...
, featuring
Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
games on Saturday evenings in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. In the past the SRC had aired
Quebec NordiquesThe Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...
and
Ottawa SenatorsThe Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
games occasionally during the regular season if the Canadiens were not playing that night, as well as the Stanley Cup Finals regardless of participating teams.
Beginning with the 2002–03 season,
RDSRéseau des sports , is a Canadian French language Category C specialty channel showing sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc....
secured exclusive French language rights to the NHL. The deal, negotiated with the Canadiens and not with the league itself, was meant to ensure a consistent home for all Canadiens games. Radio-Canada did not bid for these rights, saying that, as a general-interest network, it could not give up so much airtime to hockey. The announcement drew the ire of, among others, then-
Heritage-MinisterThe Minister of Canadian Heritage is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who heads the Department of Canadian Heritage, the federal government department responsible for Canada's Arts, Culture, Media, Communications network, and Sport....
Sheila CoppsSheila Maureen Copps, PC is a former Canadian politician who also served as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada from November 4, 1993 to April 30, 1996 and June 19, 1996 to June 11, 1997....
, who suggested that the network would somehow be violating its conditions of licence by not airing LSDH. In reality there is no specific
regulatory requirementRegulatory requirements are part of the process of drug discovery and drug development. Regulatory requirements describe what is necessary for a new drug to be approved for marketing in any particular country. In the US, it is the function of the Food and Drug Administration to establish these...
that the CBC's networks carry the NHL, nor that the two networks have the same level of NHL coverage.
During the years that SRC carried La Soiree du Hockey, play-by-play men included
René LecavalierRené Lecavalier, OC, CQ was a Canadian French language radio show host and sportscaster on SRC in Quebec. During his career in radio Lecavalier won several Radiomonde Trophies. He was also the first commentator for La Soirée du hockey, the French language version of Hockey Night in Canada...
(as beloved in French-speaking Canada as
Foster HewittFoster William Hewitt, OC was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for Hockey Night in Canada. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt.-Early life and career:...
was in English-speaking Canada),
Richard Garneau, and
Claude QuennevilleClaude Quenneville is a Canadian sports commentator in Quebec. He began his career at the age of 14 at radio station CJMT-AM in Chicoutimi and was later hired by the CBC as an announcer in 1971. In 1973-74, he hosted a weekly variety show, called Tempo....
.
Radio-Canada soon reached an agreement to produce the Saturday night games, to remain branded La Soirée du Hockey, to be simulcast on both SRC and RDS. However, for reasons that are unclear, that agreement was terminated after the 2004 playoffs. Nonetheless, the RDS-produced replacement, Le Hockey du samedi soir, was simulcast on Radio-Canada outside Quebec, where RDS has limited distribution, through the end of the 2005–2006 season. Radio-Canada no longer simulcasts RDS broadcasts as of 2006–2007.
External links