Hockey Night in Canada

Hockey Night in Canada (often abbreviated Hockey Night or HNIC) is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the NHL.

While the name is used for all NHL broadcasts on CBC Television (regardless of the time of day), Hockey Night in Canada is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts which was a practice originating from Saturday NHL broadcasts that began in 1931 on the CNR Radio network and continued on its successors, and debuting on television beginning in 1952.

Initially only airing a single game weekly, the modern incarnation airs a weekly double-header, with game times normally at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. (ET).

The broadcast features various segments during the intermissions and between games (such as Don Cherry's Coach's Corner), as well as pre and post-game coverage of the night's games.

The Hockey Night in Canada brand is currently exclusive to CBC Sports through the 2013–14 NHL season.

Beginning in the 2014–15 NHL season, the brand will be involved in broadcasts by CBC and networks owned by Rogers Communications which secured exclusive national multimedia rights to NHL games and will sublicence Saturday night and playoff games to CBC and the French language TVA.

Radio Coverage
Hockey Night in Canada has its origins in the General Motors Hockey Broadcast which transmitted Saturday night hockey games of the Toronto Maple Leafs beginning in November of 1931 over the Canadian National Railway radio network.

In 1933, the CNR's successor, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), commenced broadcasts of Montreal Canadiens and Montreal Maroons games on its Quebec stations.

In 1934, Imperial Oil of Canada took over the sponsorship from General Motors Products of Canada and the broadcast became known as the Imperial Esso Hockey Broadcast.

The broadcasts began at 9:00 p.m. Eastern 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 Corporation. The series acquired its present title around the same time, coined by Foster Hewitt.

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 Lesueur.

Montreal broadcasts were hosted by Doug Smith and Elmer Ferguson broadcast for Montreal Maroons games in English and René Lecavalier broadcast Montreal Canadiens games in French.

After the Maroons folded in 1938, 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 northern United States.

If a U.S.-based team (located in either Boston, Chicago, Detroit or New York City) 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 skywave 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, then Sunday Night NHL Hockey through 1976 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 CBL.

Television
Hockey Night in Canada began airing on Saturday nights on CBC Television in 1952, just weeks after television broadcasting commenced in Canada, retaining Esso as sponsor.

It continued to feature regular season NHL games on the English network every Saturday evening during the NHL season and retained many of the features such as the Hot Stove Lounge and the three stars 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 9:00 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.

Beginning with the 1966–67 NHL season, all games broadcast on HNIC were in colour. In 1970–71, the Vancouver Canucks joined the NHL, meaning that there were now three possible venues for an HNIC telecast.

During the 1979–80 and 1980–81, four more Canadian teams, the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, and Calgary Flames, joined the NHL.

The Oilers and Flames were featured frequently; in contrast, as the Nordiques were owned by Carling-O'Keefe, a rival to the show's sponsor Molson, they were rarely shown.

After Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, the network began showing occasional double-headers when Canadian teams visited Los Angeles to showcase the country's most popular player.

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.

CBC claims that Instant replay made its debut on a 1955 HNIC broadcast. CBC director George Retzlaff made a kinescope recording of a goal, and replayed it to the television audience seconds later.

Olympic women's ice hockey champion Cassie Campbell joined Hockey Night in Canada as a rinkside reporter, becoming (on October 14, 2006) the first woman to do colour commentary on a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. She filled in when Harry Neale was snowed in at his home in Buffalo.

On July 23, 2010, Trevor Pilling was named the executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada, replacing Sherali Najak.

In September of 2012, Steve Sloan and Joel Darling were named co-executive producers of Hockey Night in Canada. Trevor Pilling was promoted to the head of CBC Sports programming.

Present Day
CBC's current deal with the NHL began runs through the 2013-2014 season, a deal that will be replaced in 2014-15 by a sublicencing deal with Rogers Communications (see below).

The deal includes airings of games on the conventional over-the-air CBC Television network as well as carriage of those broadcasts through digital media including CBCSports.ca.

The deal came after controversy and discussion before and during the 2006-07 NHL season, when private broadcaster CTVglobemedia attempted to acquire exclusive Canadian distribution rights to the NHL for its own networks including broadcast network CTV and cable channels TSN and RDS.

Such a package, which would have left CBC without NHL hockey, would have increase TSN's previously existing coverage of NHL games.

The attempt also came at a time when CTVglobemedia had outbid the CBC for Canadian television rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics (along with Rogers Media) as well as the major television package for curling.

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, the title 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 current deal with CBC and TSN maintains the 50-plus-year tradition of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC, but also allows TSN to expand its coverage.

A caveat of the deal limits CBC to the number of games per Canadian team it can show so that the seven Canadian-based teams, particularly the Toronto Maple Leafs, can distribute more games to regional carriers, thereby increasing the value of their local packages.

In addition to television coverage, CBC produces a daily programme, Hockey Night in Canada Radio, that premiered October 1, 2007 on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 122 (aka Sports Play-by-Play 1).

While the broadcaster trumpeted HNIC Radio's launch as the return "back to the radio airwaves" for HNIC, the programme does not feature actual game coverage. Sirius' HNIC Radio is separate entity on which only a few of CBC's HNIC commentators regularly appear.

After the merger between Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio was completed, the show moved to NHL Network Radio, which is found on Sirius channel 207 and XM channel 211.

2014: Takeover by Rogers
On November 26, 2013, the NHL announced that it had reached a twelve-year, $5.2 billion deal with Rogers Communications for exclusive television and digital rights to all national NHL broadcasts beginning in the 2014-15 season.

The contract will see Rogers pay twice as much as NBC paid for its own long-term contract with the league in 2011.

As part of the deal, CBC will sub-license a package of games from Rogers, allowing the network to continue airing the iconic Hockey Night in Canada for at least the first 4 seasons of the agreement (2014-2015 thru 2017-2018).

The deal will also see CBC cede all creative and editorial control of Hockey Night to Rogers, including decisions on game lineups and personnel (though CBC will retain the right to consult Rogers on those decisions).

Rogers will also sell all advertising and receive all revenue from the telecasts; CBC will not receive any revenues in the deal, nor will it pay any rights fees to Rogers or the NHL.

Additionally, CBC will no longer exclusively broadcast games on Saturday night or split games regionally.

CBC will be joined by Rogers' over-the-air City network and the Sportsnet family of networks, who will air other games nationally alongside CBC, and share the Hockey Night in Canada branding.

Even though split national/regional broadcasts are possible, arrangements will be made to ensure that viewers have on-air access to any games affected, ensuring that no Saturday night game will be unavailable to viewers on a regional basis.

The networks will share in coverage of the NHL Playoffs, and CBC will retain coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, though it may be possible for Finals coverage to be simulcast on a Rogers network if needed.

CBC will also be given advertising time across Rogers' networks for its own programming during the games.

Rogers will provide afternoon pre-game and post-game coverage on Saturdays and will also retain exclusive rights to the NHL All-Star Game.

As for the on-air makeup of the Hockey Night broadcasts, Rogers management has said that reviews of content and production will take place in the months leading up to the launch of the consortium.

The review will include retaining and sharing of personnel (including announcers) and ancillary content.

In announcing the deal, Rogers Media's president Keith Pelley considered CBC's staff to be "legendary" (and considered Don Cherry to be an "iconic Canadian") and theoretically stated that under the arrangement, Hockey Night personalities "could appear on seven different networks."

CBC President Hubert T. Lacroix, in notifying CBC employees of the deal in an internal memo, noted that the new sub-licensing arrangement with Rogers "may not be the ideal scenario [for the CBC] but it is the right outcome for Canadian hockey fans" as it allows NHL hockey and the Hockey Night brand to remain on CBC and be made available to a wider audience with minimal cost to the public broadcaster, which has gone through reductions in funding in recent years and will likely face reductions in staffing and revenue as a result of its agreement with Rogers.

Hockey Night has been estimated to provide half of CBC Television's total advertising revenue.

In his memo, Lacroix believed that CBC's non-hockey content would remain well-promoted on the new Hockey Night and that being shut out of the package entirely would have been a major blow to the CBC's prestige.

On February 4, 2014, it was revealed that Rogers was renting Studio 41 of the Canadian Broadcasting Centre (right next door to Hockey Night's current home in Studio 42) to build a set for its NHL coverage.

On March 9, 2014, TSN personality Bob McKenzie reported that there were plans to keep Coach's Corner for at least two years, although it was left unclear whether Don Cherry was signed with Rogers.

He also reported that CBC personality George Stroumboulopoulos was to become the new host of Hockey Night in Canada and that Ron MacLean would take on a more limited role.

The next day, Rogers officially announced that George Stroumboulopoulos would serve as the new host of Hockey Night in Canada and the rest of Sportsnet and City's national NHL coverage, joined by Sportsnet's Daren Millard and Jeff Marek.

Ron MacLean will no longer host Hockey Night, but will remain alongside Don Cherry for Coach's Corner. MacLean will instead host City's new Sunday-night Hometown Hockey games.

Concurrently, CBC announced that his talk show "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight" would end after a ten-year run.

Pregame Show
Hockey Night in Canada coverage typically begins at 6:30 P.M. Eastern time, a little more than 30 minutes prior to the opening faceoff of the first game with the pregame show called Scotiabank Hockey Tonight.

Ron MacLean hosts the program along with Kelly Hrudey and Mike Milbury, 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 Friedman 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 Frogs member Michael Zweig.

This song was replaced by Kid Rock and Nickelback's version of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (which was previously used to introduce the night's first game).

In the 2011-2012 season, 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" is used as an outro to the pre-game show.

Game 1
The first game of the Saturday night doubleheader typically originates in Eastern Canada, beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Most CBC stations will air the night's featured game (often involving the Toronto Maple Leafs), but games are also split regionally for other markets such as Ottawa Senators games for the Ottawa Valley, the Montreal Canadiens for Quebec, the Winnipeg Jets for Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the Detroit Red Wings for nearby Windsor if they are facing a Canadian team.

Play-by-play for the feature game and seen by the majority of the country is provided by Jim Hughson, with Craig Simpson serving as colour commentator.

Glenn Healy is often situated between the benches and Elliotte Friedman is usually the rinkside reporter.

On December 13, 2008, the Maple Leafs received their first Saturday off (apart from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) in nearly 13 years.

Other broadcast teams include Bob Cole and Garry Galley (who usually broadcast the Montreal Canadiens game) and Dean Brown and Greg Millen (who usually broadcast the Ottawa Senators game).

At the end of the first period, MacLean hosts Coach's Corner, featuring himself and former NHL Coach of the Year Don Cherry. On Coach's Corner, Cherry analyzes the game's first period, shares his opinions on current issues surrounding the sport or league, 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 French-Canadians 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, although the segment is still only shown live during the telecast of the first game that enters the first intermission.

The theme music played in the opening is "Flame Of Victory", from the Network Music production library.

This segment 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.

Game 2
The second game airs at 10:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. PT, 8:00 p.m MT) originating from a Mountain or Pacific Time Zone city and usually featuring one of the three teams from Western Canada (the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks or occasionally Winnipeg Jets).

Since hurry-up faceoffs 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 Lee and Kelly Hrudey, though sometimes Hughson and Simpson call the late game if it is deemed to be the marquee game of the night. Scott Oake is the ice-level reporter.

Beginning in the 2013 NHL season, the first intermission of the second game features a short analysis segment with Ron MacLean and Don Cherry followed by the segments "Inside the Game" and "Scoreboard Saturday" which features highlights from earlier games

The first game will sometimes originate from a U.S. city, if the local NHL team there is playing host to a Canadian club.

The second game will often originate from Los Angeles, San Jose, California, Phoenix, Denver or Anaheim, California if the local team is playing host to a Canadian team.

This is more common with the second, Western game, because between the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, and Montreal Canadiens (Canada's four 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 extremely special occasions.

These have included Wayne Gretzky's final game in 1999 (which actually took place on a Sunday afternoon), the retirement of Steve Yzerman's jersey in 2007, Sidney Crosby's comeback game in Pittsburgh against the New York Islanders in 2011 and the league's major outdoor games (such as the Winter Classic though the 2014 edition did feature a Canadian team, and the Stadium Series).

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 NHL coverage from the city of the late game.

From 2000 to 2008, the hosts were Scott Oake and Kelly Hrudey, Scott Oake and Marc Crawford (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.

Past Features
Peter Puck (a series of three-minute animated shorts produced by Hanna-Barbera) were regular between-periods features on HNIC (and on NBC's NHL telecasts in the U.S.) in the 1970s.

Playoffs
CBC also provides extensive Stanley Cup playoff 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.

CBC tends to select series involving at least one Canadian team and series involving Detroit (strong fanbase in Canada, particularly concentrated in Southwestern Ontario), Pittsburgh (Sidney Crosby), Boston (strong fanbase in Atlantic Canada, division foe to Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa) or Buffalo (strong fanbase in the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, division foe to Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa).

In subsequent rounds, TSN could again show a Canadian team if at least three of them get that far.

The selection also takes into account where games will be played and in what time zone, so sometimes they will alternate games due to scheduling conflicts.

If on one day TSN has 3 series playing while CBC only has one, CBC will likely pick up a game from one of the TSN series and broadcast that game.

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.

After the Stanley Cup finals, interviews with the players and coaches of the winning team are shown in which each person says where they are from and who their favourite player growing up was.

Hockey Day in Canada
Since 2000, the CBC has aired an annual special Hockey Day in Canada broadcast to celebrate the game in Canada.

The broadcast includes hockey-related features all afternoon, leading up to a tripleheader of NHL action featuring the seven Canadian teams (Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets).

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 MacLean broadcast from a remote area.

The broadcast includes live broadcast 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 Olympics and 2006 Winter Olympics respectively.

The 2007 event was also held in January (January 13th), though no sporting events key to Canada were scheduled.

The 2010 events were held on January 30 because of the 2010 Winter Olympics, held in February.

The 2014 event was held on January 18th due to the 2014 Winter Olympics, which will be held from February 8th to February 24th.

Hockey Day in Canada has also featured special events, such as world-record all-night pick-up hockey games from Red Deer, Alberta (in 2001) and Windsor, Nova Scotia (2002).

Viewers got to see the games after the CBC ended regular programming for the night, without commentary.

Hockey Day in Canada was held in Whitehorse, Yukon 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 arrival of the new Winnipeg Jets for the 2011-12 NHL season, there was an odd number of Canadian teams in the NHL, meaning HDIC again required the presence of an American team. This season, the Jets played the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Broadcast Locations

 * 2000: Toronto, Ontario (February 19th)
 * 2001: Red Deer, Alberta (February 24th)
 * 2002: Windsor, Nova Scotia (January 5th)
 * 2003: Iqaluit, Nunavut (February 15th)
 * 2004: Shaunavon, Saskatchewan (February 21st)
 * 2005: No Hockey Day in Canada due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout
 * 2006: Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador (January 7th)
 * 2007: Nelson, British Columbia (January 13th)
 * 2008: Winkler, Manitoba (February 9th)
 * 2009: Campbellton, New Brunswick (February 21st)
 * 2010: Stratford, Ontario (January 30th)
 * 2011: Whitehorse, Yukon (February 12th)
 * 2012: Prince Edward Island (February 11th)
 * 2013: Peterborough, Ontario (February 9th)
 * 2014: Lloydminster, Alberta (January 18th)

In January of 2005, due to the NHL labour dispute, the CBC cancelled that year's broadcast.

Rival TSN aired a similar broadcast instead "Hockey Lives Here: Canada's Game" based from the World Pond Hockey Championships in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick.

It also featured NHL players competing in an exhibition game to raise money for various charities in Hamilton, Ontario.

TSN did not revive its version after the lockout ended.

Lockout Programming
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 Show."

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 CHL 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 CFL to end their sublicense deal with CBC after the 2007 season, as games from that league aired without commentary during the lockout.

During the 1994-95 and 2012-13 lockouts, the CBC ran classic "Hockey Night in Canada" games in its place.

During the latter of the two lockouts, the games were selected by viewer polls at HNIC's website.

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 Boston, Chicago, Detroit and New York (the four U.S. cities that had NHL teams at the time).

Foster Hewitt always acknowledged these listeners in his opening greeting, "Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland" (before Newfoundland 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 networks), although some C-band satellite dishes can still receive the CBC's over-the-air feeds.

U.S. cable television outlets near the international border (including markets such as Metro Detroit (which includes Windsor, Ontario); Seattle, Washington; Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan) 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 out of sporting events.

Beginning with the 2008–09 season, Hockey Night's main games were simulcast 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 or is televised instead by the U.S. team's local broadcaster.

For example, if the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Boston Bruins in "Hockey Night"'s main game, the NHL Network's telecast is blacked-out in the Boston area and the game is instead televised by the Boston-based New England Sports Network (NESN).

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 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 NBC networks (originally OLN and Versus) 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 and its current incarnation as NBCSN, 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 UK and Ireland on ESPN 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 Cayman 27 in the Cayman Islands as part of their regular Saturday night programming and to Canadian Forces members on Canadian Forces Radio and Television.

Announcers
The legendary Foster Hewitt, who had developed a style that welcomed Canadians to the radio broadcast 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 Series" between a team representing Canada (an NHL all-star team) and the Soviet National Team.

This style of play-by-play announcers in hockey broadcasting 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 Gallivan, Dan Kelly, Dick Irvin, Jr., Jim Robson, Bob Cole, Hewitt's son, Bill Hewitt and Jim Hughson.

The previous show hosts included Wes McKnight, Ward Cornell, Jack Dennett, Ted Darling and Dave Hodge.

Ron MacLean is the current host and Jim Hughson is the primary play-by-play announcer.

Play-by-Play

 * Rick Ball: 2011–present
 * Dean Brown: 2000–present
 * Bob Cole: 1973–present
 * Jim Hughson: 1985–1986, 2005–present
 * Mark Lee: 1997–present

Punjabi Commentators

 * Harnarayan Singh: 2008-present

Colour Commentators

 * Garry Galley: 2007–present
 * Glenn Healy: 2000-2003, 2009-present
 * Kelly Hrudey: 1998–present
 * Greg Millen: 1995–1998, 1999–present
 * Daryl Reaugh: 2011-present
 * Craig Simpson: 2007–present
 * Kevin Weekes: 2009-present

Punjabi Commentators

 * Amarinder Singh: 2010-present

Rinkside Reporters

 * David Amber: 2011-present
 * Cassie Campbell-Pascall: 2006–present
 * Elliotte Friedman: 2003–present
 * Scott Oake: 1988–present
 * Nabil Karim: 2011-present
 * Mitch Peacock: 2010-present
 * Andi Petrillo: 2011-present
 * Bruce Rainnie: 2003–present

Studio Hosts

 * Ron MacLean: 1986–present
 * Scott Oake: 1988–present

Studio Analysts

 * Don Cherry: 1981–present
 * Elliotte Friedman: 2012-present
 * Glenn Healy: 2000-2003, 2009-present
 * P.J. Stock: 2007–present
 * Kevin Weekes: 2013-present

Current broadcast teams

 * Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson and David Amber (7:00 Toronto game)
 * Bob Cole, Garry Galley and Cassie Campbell (7:00 Montreal game)
 * Dean Brown, Greg Millen and Mitch Peacock (7:00 Ottawa game)
 * Mark Lee, Kelly Hrudey, Scott Oake and Glenn Healy (10:00 game)
 * Rick Ball (fill–in play-by-play)

Play-by-Play Commentators

 * Chris Cuthbert: 1984–2004
 * Ken Daniels: 1992–1997
 * Don Wittman: 1979–2008
 * Danny Gallivan: 1952–1984
 * Bill Hewitt: 1958–1982
 * Foster Hewitt: 1952–1960
 * Dick Irvin, Jr.: 1966–1999
 * Dan Kelly: 1977–1980
 * Jim Robson: 1970–1985

Colour Commentators

 * Scotty Bowman: 1987–1990
 * Guy Carbonneau: 2009-2010
 * Don Cherry: 1980–1981
 * Marc Crawford: 1998–1999, 2008-2009
 * Keith Dancy: 1952–1966
 * John Davidson: 1983–1986, 1995–2006
 * Gary Dornhoefer: 1978–1986
 * Elmer Ferguson
 * John Ferguson: 1973–1975
 * Gerry Pinder: 1978-1981
 * Patrick Flatley: 1998–2000
 * Bob Goldham: 1960–1964
 * Bobby Hull: 1980–1983
 * Dick Irvin, Jr.: 1966–1999
 * Doug MacLean
 * Donnie Marshall: 1977-1980
 * Pit Martin: 1979-1980
 * Brian McFarlane: 1964–1989
 * Howie Meeker: 1969–1987
 * Lou Nanne: 1979
 * Harry Neale: 1986–2008
 * Bobby Orr: 1977-1980
 * Jim Peplinski: 1990–1995, 1997
 * Gerry Pinder: 1979–1981
 * Walter Pratt: 1970–1978
 * Mickey Redmond: 1980–1987
 * Drew Remenda: 2006–2007
 * Glenn Resch: 1978 playoffs, 1988
 * Steve Shutt: 1990–1994
 * Parminder Singh: 2008-2010
 * Ron Tugnutt: 2005–2007

Rinkside Reporters

 * Chris Cuthbert: 1984–2004
 * Martine Gaillard: 1998–2004
 * Brenda Irving: 2001–2006
 * Jeff Marek: 2009–2011
 * John Wells: 1979–1984

Studio Hosts

 * Mike Anscombe: 1970-1972
 * Ward Cornell: 1958–1971
 * Ted Darling: 1955–1970
 * Jack Dennett: 1959-1975
 * Bill Good, Jr.: 1970–1977
 * Dave Hodge: 1971–1987
 * Dick Irvin, Jr.: 1966–1999
 * Brian McFarlane: 1964–1989
 * Wes McKnight: 1952–1958
 * Ted Reynolds: 1970–1976
 * Frank Selke, Jr.: 1960-1965

Studio Analysts

 * Rick Bowness: 1993–1996 playoffs
 * Kelly Hrudey: 1998-2012
 * Howie Meeker: 1969–1987
 * Mike Milbury: 2008-2012
 * Walter Pratt: 1970–1978
 * Red Storey: 1970-1977

IDesk Contributors

 * Scott Morrison: 2009–2011

1952-1968
The television show's original theme song was "Saturday's Game", a march composed by Howard Cable.

The CBC and the advertising agency responsible for the broadcasts at the time, MacLaren Advertising, later replaced the tune with the "Esso Happy Motoring Song."

1968-2008: The Hockey Theme
The companies later commissioned the composition of yet another theme "The Hockey Theme" composed in 1968 by Dolores Claman and orchestrated by Jerry Toth.

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 the 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 TSN and RDS 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 $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 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 Demons 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 Filemobile Media Factory platform for a new theme in collaboration with music label Nettwerk.

The contest began June 10, 2008. At the end of the submissions period on August 31, 2008, the network had received over 14,000 entries.

These entries were reduced to five semi-finalists, whose themes were re-arranged by producer Bob Rock and presented for public voting:


 * "Ice Warriors" by Gerry Mosby
 * "Sticks to the Ice" by Robert Fraser Burke
 * "Eleventh Hour" by Graham McRae
 * "Let the Game Begin" by Christian St-Roch and Jimmy Tanaka
 * "Canadian Gold" by Colin Oberst (Winner)

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 received $100,000 (plus 50% of the theme's royalties), the other half of which will be donated to minor hockey.

CBC received exclusive rights on the theme for three years and renewed the rights for the 2011-2012 season.

Awards
Hockey Night in Canada has received four Gemini Awards out of six nominations most notably for Ron MacLean.


 * 1992: Best Sports Broadcaster: Ron MacLean
 * 1994: Best Sports Broadcaster: Ron MacLean
 * 2004: Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program or Sportscast: Ron MacLean
 * 2004: Best Sports Program or Series: Joel Darling, Chris Irwin, Sherali Najak
 * 2006: Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program or Sportscast: Ron MacLean

Programming Choices
Critics of what the show chooses to program allege that the Eastern broadcast in particular favours the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Some feel that Toronto games are aired too often across the network, usually to the detriment of the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets, 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.

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. Windsor viewers on CBET will sometimes receive Detroit Red Wings games, provided they are playing against a Canadian team.

Another incident was when CBC refused to air the sweater 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 Domi. 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 HDTV 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. 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 xenophobia towards European-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 Propagandhi has written a song called "Dear Coach's Corner" that criticizes Cherry and the overt nationalism on display at NHL hockey games.

Foreign Language Coverage
In addition to its English-language broadcasts, Hockey Night in Canada has also broadcast games in other minority languages.

In 2007, the cable channel Telelatino (TLN) simulcast a game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks in Italian with special features and commentary by Alf De Blasis, who hosts soccer games for TLN.

As part of Hockey Day in Canada, CBC also televised a game in the Inuit language Inuktitut.

The following two years, matches were presented in Punjabi, Tagalog, Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese.

CBC subsequently added a regular schedule of games broadcast in Punjabi via the network's website and some cable/satellite providers.

However, prior to the beginning of 2010 regular season, CBC discontinued its Punjabi telecasts due to financial issues. Punjabi coverage was subsequently restored in 2013.

French-Language Coverage
In parallel with CBC, its French language sister network Télévision de Radio-Canada aired La Soirée du hockey featuring Montreal Canadiens games on Saturday evenings.

In the past, the network also aired Quebec Nordiques and Ottawa Senators 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, RDS 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-Minister Sheila Copps, who suggested that the network would somehow be violating its conditions of licence by not airing LSDH.

In reality, there is no specific regulatory requirement 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 Lecavalier (as beloved in French-speaking Canada as Foster Hewitt was in English-speaking Canada), Richard Garneau, and Claude Quenneville.

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.