Hockey Night in Canada

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Hockey Night in Canada logo

Hockey Night in Canada ( HNIC for short ) is a regular sports program on the Canadian television station CBC , which deals with ice hockey in Canada and specifically with the North American National Hockey League (NHL). The content of the program, which is always broadcast on Saturday during the season, includes live broadcasts of NHL games with Canadian participation, as well as analyzes and interviews. Ron MacLean will lead through the show as the main presenter , who will be supported by experts, such as Don Cherry until 2019 . Hockey Night in Canada first aired in 1952 and is the world's oldest sports broadcast that still exists.

history

radio

Hockey Night's roots in Canada lie in the radio broadcasts of NHL games. In November 1931, the Canadian National Railway radio network (CNR) began broadcasting General Motors Hockey Broadcast on Saturdays , which focused on the Toronto Maple Leafs games from the province of Ontario . In 1933 CNR was bought by the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) and the station began broadcasting games by the Montreal Maroons and Canadiens de Montréal from its stations in the Canadian province of Québec .

Three years later, the station was transformed into the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The program, which was renamed Imperial Esso Hockey Broadcast due to a sponsorship change , reported on the Toronto Maple Leafs in Ontario and in most of western Canada, while there was regional English-language coverage for the Montreal Maroons and regional French-language coverage for the Canadiens de Montréal . When the Maroons were disbanded in 1938, CBC began reporting on the Canadiens in English as well.

The radio broadcasts achieved great popularity as it was the only way to watch ice hockey, which was widespread in Canada at the time. Even after CBC began television coverage in 1952, programs from Hockey Night in Canada continued to be broadcast on the radio until 1976.

watch TV

In 1952, CBC began broadcasting Hockey Night in Canada and broadcasting home games for the Canadian National Hockey League teams on the English-speaking television network. The coverage also included rubrics borrowed from the radio, such as the Hot Stove Lounge , a discussion board on ice hockey and the NHL, and the Three Stars award for the game's best players . One game was shown every Saturday, but not in full for the first 16 years. It wasn't until the fall of 1968 that CBC began showing the full 60 minutes of the games.

Shortly afterwards, the appearance of the show also changed. With Ralph Mellanby , a new executive producer was hired back in 1966, who previously worked mainly in the entertainment industry and was supposed to ensure that the show was modernized by entertainment segments. Under his leadership, many changes were made both in the personnel area and in the structure of the program. The long-time presenter Ward Cornell was replaced by the much younger Dave Hodge and a co-presenter was hired with the former player and coach Howie Meeker , who was supposed to analyze game scenes on a special screen during the third breaks. Above all, the newly created segment with Howie Meeker, who also often criticized the moves, encountered headwinds from the teams from Toronto and Montreal. The Canadian teams still had a lot of influence on the show at that time and they had to be presented with a script about the process before each show so that they never had to face criticism. The dispute between the CBC and the teams partially led to stadium bans for Meeker. The CBC and producer Mellanby finally managed to remove the restrictions imposed by the teams from the TV contract, so that Hockey Night in Canada could report independently.

1970 came with the Vancouver Canucks a new Canadian team in the NHL and thus CBC was able to expand the reporting to a third location in addition to Toronto and Montreal. Four more Canadian teams followed in the league by 1980, which further expanded the coverage. However, the Carling O'Keefe Brewery, which was then the team owner of the Québec Nordiques , forbade Hockey Night in Canada , which was sponsored by competitor Molson , to report from the Nordiques stadium. After the two breweries merged in 1989, CBC was also able to report on the Nordiques' home games, but this was not used very often due to the mainly French-speaking fan base of the Québec City-based team. The transmission of the Nordiques home games was therefore mostly taken over by a French-speaking broadcaster.

At the beginning of the eighties, the program's team was supplemented by the former trainer Don Cherry , who was supposed to discuss current issues of the NHL during the third breaks in the Coach's Corner segment created for him . On March 14, 1987, Dave Hodge hosted Hockey Night in Canada for the last time . On this day, the game of the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Calgary Flames was shown first, before the game of the Montréal Canadiens against the Philadelphia Flyers was switched for the final minutes , which went into overtime after 60 minutes. The broadcaster then decided to only broadcast the extension of the game in the French-speaking part of Canada, while the rest of the country broadcast the daily news. Hodge therefore ended the program with the words: “We are not able to go there ... the Flyers and Canadiens have us in suspense and will remain that way until we can find out somehow who won this game or who's responsible for the way we do things here. " ( Eng .: " We can't switch over ... the Flyers and Canadiens keep us tense and it will stay that way until we can somehow find out who won the game or who is responsible for how things are running here. ” ) Don MacPherson , chairman of CBC Sport, responded to this statement by firing Dave Hodge. In addition, Howie Meeker's engagement was ended after the season and from then on they concentrated on the new presenter Ron MacLean and co-presenter Don Cherry.

Hockey Night in Canada logo used until 1998

After Canadian superstar Wayne Gretzky joined the Los Angeles Kings in 1988 , CBC began broadcasting two games on some Saturdays. Whenever a Canadian team visited the Los Angeles King, Hockey Night in Canada also broadcast the game. It was not until January 1995, with the start of the 1994/95 NHL season , that a second live game became the standard for reporting. As a result, due to the different time zones, a game with the participation of an Eastern Canadian team and then a game with Western Canadian participation could be broadcast, which has remained until today.

Hockey Night in Canada continues to be one of the most popular formats on Canadian television, but CBC has faced stiff competition from private cable broadcaster The Sports Network (TSN), which also broadcasts live coverage of NHL games. In addition, CBC has been criticized many times for preferring the Toronto Maple Leafs in the selection of the nationally broadcast games, to the detriment of the Ottawa Senators and Montréal Canadiens, also based in eastern Canada . However, during the playoffs , CBC offers special regional broadcasts of the individual games for the local TV markets of the participating teams should they overlap. This offer is partly also available during the regular season .

If CBC almost exclusively shows games with the participation of Canadian teams, there are now and then exceptions that also pure US American games are shown. In 1999, Wayne Gretzky's last game with his New York Rangers against the Pittsburgh Penguins was broadcast. In 2007 CBC showed a game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks , in the framework of which the jersey number of the Canadian Steve Yzerman was officially taken out of circulation in a ceremony. And on New Year's Day 2008, the NHL Winter Classic 2008 , the then largest open-air game in NHL history between Pittsburgh and Buffalo , was broadcast live with live coverage.

Shipment process

Hockey Night in Canada generally starts on Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. ( ET ) and therefore half an hour before the start of the first game with the participation of a Canadian team, mostly from Eastern Canada. The second game starts at 10 p.m. ET. Ron MacLean leads the majority of the program as the main presenter and is supported by several experts from the field of ice hockey. During the third breaks, the reporting is supplemented by regular segments with analyzes or interviews as content.

Coach's Corner

Main presenter Ron MacLean (right) and co-presenter Don Cherry

During the first third break of the first game, MacLean and former NHL coach Don Cherry host the Coach's Corner segment , which has existed since the early 1980s. Cherry analyzes the first third of the game and discusses events in the league with MacLean. Due to Cherry's views of ice hockey, there were often controversial statements, some of which were directed against European and French-Canadian players or propagated a tougher style of play in the league. Cherry's public support for the Iraq war also attracted criticism. Even so, Coach's Corner is considered the most popular segment of Hockey Night in Canada .

Satellite hotstove

The concept of the Satellite Hotstove , which is shown in the second third break of the first game, goes back to the early days of radio broadcasting by CBC, when the Hot Stove Lounge existed. Moderator Ron MacLean and reporter Scotty Morrison will guide this panel discussion, which will focus on current issues from the NHL. Sports journalists from newspapers or other television stations are invited as guests to discuss and speculate about developments and events in the league.

Behind the mask

Behind the Mask will be moderated by former ice hockey goalkeeper Kelly Hrudey with the support of Scott Oake during the first third break of the second game . Hrudey analyzes individual scenes from the evening's games using a special screen and shows certain moves or tactical behavior of the teams from the perspective of an ice hockey player.

Hockey Day in Canada

Hockey Day in Canada is a special edition of Hockey Night in Canada that has been held once a year on a Saturday in January or February since 2000 and, with the exception of the 2007/08 season , broadcasts three games with the exclusive participation of the six Canadian NHL teams.

Main presenter Ron MacLean leads with the former NHL coach Don Cherry through the show, which starts in the afternoon. The moderation point is usually a location in a smaller region of Canada. In addition to the NHL, the coverage also covers amateur and youth ice hockey, and there are discussions and talks with prominent guests or people who are involved in ice hockey in the region. There are also special events in the place that hosts Hockey Day in Canada .

The highlight are the three games with pairings between the Canadian teams Toronto Maple Leafs , Montréal Canadiens , Ottawa Senators , Calgary Flames , Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks . In 2008, however, it was because of the NHL's schedule, which did not provide for any games between the West Canadian and East Canadian teams in the 2007/08 season, to play three all-Canadian games. In addition to two games with the participation of Montréal, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton, two other games were shown in which Vancouver and Toronto competed against US teams.

Hockey Day in Canada is an unofficial national holiday among ice hockey fans in Canada .

Venues

Movie Night in Canada

Since the 2004/05 NHL season was canceled due to the lockout , CBC changed the format Hockey Night in Canada to Movie Night in Canada . CBC presented three feature films on the show and Ron MacLean was the presenter, as with the ice hockey broadcasts. MacLean provided some facts about the films and reported on ice hockey during the commercials. The show was moderated from several ice hockey stadiums in Canada.

Receptibility

Hockey Night in Canada is broadcast nationwide in Canada by CBC. Some US regions near the Canadian border can also receive CBC. With the NHL Center Ice package , the NHL also offers the transmission of all games outside of its own local TV market, which means that the Canadian teams also report on Hockey Night in Canada . In Europe, the sports broadcaster ESPN America uses the complete live broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada, including the reporting and analysis, to broadcast matches with Canadian participation .

Awards

  • Gemini Award
    • 1992 - Best Sports Reporter: Ron MacLean
    • 1994 - Best Sports Reporter: Ron MacLean
    • 2004 - Best Sports Show
    • 2004 - Best Sports Presenter: Ron MacLean
    • 2006 - Best Sports Presenter: Ron MacLean
    • 2007 - Best Live Sports Broadcast Director: Ron Forsythe
    • 2007 - Best Sports Presenter: Ron MacLean
    • 2007 - Best Co-Commentator or Analyst on Sports Show: Bob Cole
    • 2007 - Best Studio Analyst: Kelly Hrudey

swell

Ralph Mellanby and Mike Brophy: Walking with Legends - The Real Stories of Hockey Night in Canada . Fenn Publishing Company Ltd., 2007, ISBN 1-55168-305-9 .

Web links