Hockey Night in Canada

"H.N.I.C." redirects here. For the albums, see H.N.I.C. (Prodigy album) and H.N.I.C. (Pastor Troy album).

Hockey Night in Canada
The present logo used since 1998.
Format	Sports
Presented by	Ron MacLean Don Cherry
Theme music composer	Colin Oberst
Opening theme	"Canadian Gold"
Country of origin	Canada
Production
Camera setup	multi-camera
Running time	360 minutes+
Broadcast
Original channel	CBC Television
Original run	Radio 1931–1976 TV 1952 – present
External links
Website

Hockey Night in Canada^[1] (often abbreviated Hockey Night or HNIC) is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League. 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 Radio 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.

History

Radio

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 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.^[2] 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.^[3][4] The broadcasts began at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (around the start of the second period of play). Starting in 1936, the games were broadcast on CRBC's successor, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The series acquired its present title around the same time, coined by Foster Hewitt.^[5] In much of Ontario and points west the show featured the Maple Leafs and were hosted by Gordon Calder with play-by-play announcer Foster Hewitt and colour man was Percy Lesueur.^[2] 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) 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, 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 CBL.^[2]

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 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 Canucks 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 Nordiques 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 Canadiens, 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 Hockey.

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, 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 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.

Beginning with the 1966–67 NHL season, all games broadcast on HNIC were in colour. 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.^[6] She filled in when Harry Neale was snowed in at his home in Buffalo.^[7]

On July 23, 2010, Trevor Pilling was named the executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada, replacing Sherali Najak.^[8]

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 CTV had outbid the CBC for Canadian television rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics as well as the major television package for curling. The broadcast requirements would have focused on CTV-owned TSN (The Sports Network), 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 Leafs, 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 Radio 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,^[9] 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 Marek.

As of October 2007, Scotiabank 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 Classic outdoor games held on New Year's Day in a USA city.

Coverage overview

Regular season

Pregame show

Hockey Night in Canada coverage typically begins 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.^[10] 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). 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" 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. 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 Leafs 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 broadcast the Montreal Canadiens game) and Dean Brown and Greg Millen (who usually broadcast the Ottawa Senators game).

The Hockey Night in Canada logo, used until 1998 on CBC, and 2004 on Radio-Canada. In recent years, this logo has reappeared as a secondary logo on the program, and is used in various merchandising by CBC.

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 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 War on its website.

This segment, the highest-rated spot on Canadian television, 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 Milbury and Pierre LeBrun, with other contributors such as Glenn Healy, Elliotte Friedman or Scott Morrison filling the third chair on the panel. Past contributors have included Al Strachan, Eric Duhatschek 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 Canada (the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, or Vancouver Canucks). 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 Kevin Weekes, 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.

After the first period of the second game, a regular feature entitled Coast to Coast is aired with former NHL goaltender Kelly Hrudey 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 Telestrator 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 Leafs, Ottawa Senators, and Montreal Canadiens (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 Gretzky's final game in 1999, the retirement of Steve Yzerman's jersey in 2007 and the league's Winter Classic games in 2008, 2009, and 2010).

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 2000-2008, 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.

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. 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 NHL action featuring the seven Canadian teams (Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Vancouver Canucks). 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 13), 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.

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 also reached out to other ethnic groups as well – the 2007 event on January 13, 2007 featured Italian language commentary of the Vancouver Canucks / Toronto Maple Leafs matchup, which was seen on the Telelatino (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.^[11] 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.^[12]

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.^[13]

With the return of the Winnipeg Jets 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 Penguins.

Broadcast locations

• 2000: Toronto, Ontario (February 19)
• 2001: Red Deer, Alberta (February 24)
• 2002: Windsor, Nova Scotia (January 5)
• 2003: Iqaluit, Nunavut (February 15)
• 2004: Shaunavon, Saskatchewan (February 21)
• 2005: No Hockey Day in Canada due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout
• 2006: Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador (January 7)
• 2007: Nelson, British Columbia (January 13)
• 2008: Winkler, Manitoba (February 9)
• 2009: Campbellton, New Brunswick (February 21)
• 2010: Stratford, Ontario (January 30)
• 2011: Whitehorse, Yukon (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 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.

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 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.

Availability outside of Canada

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. These listeners were always acknowledged by Foster Hewitt on 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, although it has waned 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 (notably including markets such as Metro Detroit, Seattle, Buffalo and Sault Ste. Marie) 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 that team's local television market. In the 2009-10 season, only the first game of the HNIC doubleheader is simulcast live on NHL Network, with the second game and postgame 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 U.S. cable channel Versus simulcast the CBC's coverage of some games, generally first and second round matchups 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 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 27 in the Cayman Islands as part of their regular Saturday night programming, and to Canadian Forces members on Canadian Forces Radio and Television.^[14]

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. Previous show hosts included Wes McKnight, Ward Cornell, Jack Dennett, Ted Darling, and Dave Hodge. The show's current host is Ron MacLean. Hughson is the primary play-by-play announcer.

Main article: List of Hockey Night in Canada commentators

Theme music

1952-1968

The television show's original theme song was Saturday's Game, a march composed by Howard Cable.^[15] 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".^[16][17]

1968-2008: The Hockey Theme

See also: 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.^[18] 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.^[19] 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.^[20]

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 TSN and RDS sports channels beginning in the 2008–09 season.^[21] (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,^[22] 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."^[23] 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.^[24] Despite being contacted by five parties interested in buying Claman's theme, "[Copyright Music] had no desire to start a bidding war"^[25]

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."^[26] Yet, Copyright Music states that Moore gave them an unrealistic deadline of 24 hours to meet him when his client was 5 timezones away.^[27]

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.^[28] Mike Myers disagrees with this ambivalence towards the song calling it, "...the second anthem [of Canada]"^[28] Canadian jazz fusion band The Shuffle Demons even jokingly introduced the song as "...[Canada's] national anthem" during performances.^[29] 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.^[30]

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^[31] for a new theme in collaboration with music label Nettwerk.^[32] 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 Rock and presented for public voting:

1. "Ice Warriors", Gerry Mosby
2. "Sticks to the Ice", Robert Fraser Burke
3. "Eleventh Hour", Graham McRae
4. "Let the Game Begin", Christian St-Roch and Jimmy Tanaka
5. "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 MacLean.^[33]

• 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

Best Sports Program or Series: Joel Darling, Chris Irwin, Sherali Najak

• 2006: Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program or Sportscast: Ron MacLean

Criticism

Programming choices

Critics of what the show chooses to program allege that the Eastern broadcast in particular favours the Toronto Maple Leafs.^[34] Some feel that Toronto games are aired too often across the network, usually to the detriment of the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, 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. 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 jersey retirement ceremony for Canadiens legend and credited slapshot inventor Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion in English, despite months of notice. ^[35] Instead, CBC decided to air a ceremony honoring Maple Leafs veteran Tie Domi. This was made all the more infuriating^{[citation needed]} 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, 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.^[36] 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.^[37] Despite these controversies, Cherry's popularity among English Canadians endures.^[38] The Canadian punk rock group Propagandhi has written a song, "Dear Coach's Corner", that criticizes Cherry and the overt nationalism on display at NHL hockey games.

For more details on this topic, see Don Cherry (ice hockey) #Political views and controversy.

Programs with similar titles

Since 2006, the American television network NBC has been broadcasting a pregame show for National Football League Sunday Night Football games called Football Night in America, 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.^[39]

NBC had previously, along with ABC, televised Major League Baseball games under the name Baseball Night in America. SportsNet New York refers to their New York Mets telecasts as Baseball Night in New York.

During the 2005–06 and 2006–07 NHL seasons, Cablevision-owned New York regional sport networks MSG Network and FSN New York (now MSG Plus) branded their Thursday night coverage of the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Devils 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-TV and the Buffalo Sabres during this time known as Hockey Night in Buffalo.

There is also a Boston-based company called Hockey Night in Boston, which covers high school 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 Carolina, Hartford Whalers games often aired under the banner Hockey Night in Hartford.

In Michigan, Fox Sports Detroit 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 Minnesota, Fox Sports North has a program run in early February called Hockey Day Minnesota, featuring two or three high school games, the University of Minnesota, and Minnesota Wild all broadcast in the same day.

CNN used variations of the name throughout the later stages of the 2008 US Presidential Election, such as Debate Night in America and Election Night in America.

La Soirée du hockey

Main article: La Soirée du hockey

In parallel with CBC, Radio-Canada aired La Soirée du hockey, featuring Montreal Canadiens games on Saturday evenings in French. In the past the SRC had 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.^[40] 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.

References

Mellanby, Ralph (2007). Walking with Legends. Fenn Publishing. ISBN 9781551683058. 

Notes

1. ^ Currently "officially" titled CBC's Hockey Night in Canada in network press releases and most advertising. This title is not observed on the broadcast itself, however.
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Saturday Night Hockey / Hockey Night in Canada", Sports on Radio & Television, Canadian Communications Foundation, accessed on January 22, 2008
3. ^ Canadian National Railway, Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed January 22, 2008
4. ^ "Hockey Night in Cad vadscvfranada", Museum of Broadcast Communications, accessed January 22, 2008
5. ^ Mellanby 2007, p. 6.
6. ^ Immodest and Sensational: 150 Years of Canadian Women in Sport, p.90, M. Ann Hall, James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Toronto, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55277-021-4
7. ^ "Cassie Campbell makes history as HNIC analyst". CBC Sports. 2006-10-14. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2006/10/14/campbell-hockey-analyst.html. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
8. ^ "Trevor Pilling named new executive producer of HNIC". Canadian Press. 2010-07-23. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2010/07/23/sp-hnic-pilling.html. 
9. ^ "CBC press release". Cnw.ca. http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/September2007/07/c6319.html. Retrieved 2011-02-25. 
10. ^ goodkat web design. "Retrieved on November 8, 2007". Thecarpetfrogs.com. http://www.thecarpetfrogs.com/theband/michael/. Retrieved 2011-02-25. 
11. ^ "Hockey Night In Canada Goes Italian". http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=63954&issue=01052007. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 
12. ^ "CBC cuts Hockey Night in Punjabi". The Star (Toronto). 2010-10-06. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/article/871865--cbc-cuts-hockey-night-in-punjabi. Retrieved 2010-10-24. 
13. ^ CBC Sports (2010-06-04). "Hockey Day in Canada heads to Whitehorse". CBC Sports. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2010/06/04/sp-hockey-day-in-canada.html. 
14. ^ "CFPSA - PSP - Canadian Forces Radio and Television (CFRT)". Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency. http://www.cfpsa.com/en/psp/CFRT/tvguide_e.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
15. ^ Platt, Michael, "Our second national anthem is in danger of disappearing", Calgary Sun, June 6, 2008
16. ^ Cable guy rips CBC, Earl McRae, Ottawa Sun, June 13, 2008
17. ^ Good end to hockey-theme dispute, William Wilson, The Gazette, June 10, 2008
18. ^ Betty Nygaard King. "Jerry Toth". The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0003948. Retrieved 25 April 2010. 
19. ^ "Hockey Night In Canada Theme to End". Copyright Music & Visuals. June 5, 2008. http://www.hockeytheme.com/FrameRImpAnnounce.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-05. 
20. ^ "Deal still possible for Hockey Night theme song". cbc.ca. June 5, 2008. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2008/06/05/moore-hockeynight-theme.html?ref=rss. Retrieved 2008-06-05. 
21. ^ CTV purchases The Hockey Theme, CBC.ca, June 9, 2008
22. ^ The National, June 6, 2008
23. ^ Copyright Music Open Letter, Important announcement page
24. ^ Macleans
25. ^ Copyright Music Open Letter, Important Announcement page
26. ^ CBC, CBC.ca, June 6, 2008
27. ^ Hockey Theme Chronology, June 6th, 8:59pm
28. ^ ^{a b} CTV buys rights, CBC.ca, June 9, 2008
29. ^ Wells, Paul (2008-06-11). "Standing up for our other national anthem". http://www.macleans.ca/canada/opinions/article.jsp?content=20080611_34949_34949&page=2. 
30. ^ CBC informal poll
31. ^ "Area Startups - CBC's Hockey Anthem Challenge launches on Filemobile's Media Factory platform - Jul 11, 2008". Toronto.areastartups.com. 2008-07-11. http://toronto.areastartups.com/news/2008/07/11/cbcs-hockey-anthem-challenge-launches-on-filemobiles-media-factory-platform/. Retrieved 2011-02-25. 
32. ^ CBC press release, June 6, 2008
33. ^ Internet Movie Database Inc. "Awards for "Hockey Night in Canada"". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188335/awards. Retrieved 2007-06-06. 
34. ^ Zelkovich, Chris (October 16, 2006). "Campbell adapts to HNIC hot seat". The Star (Toronto). http://www.thestar.com/article/97121. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 
35. ^ Renfree, Andrew. "CBC goes Leaf-crazy instead of honouring Hab great". http://www.gateway.ualberta.ca/view.php?aid=5988. Retrieved 2007-01-10. ^{[dead link]}
36. ^ "Up-Date on CBC, Don Cherry and "Hockey Night in Canada"". Canadian Parents for French - British Columbia & Yukon branch. 10 February 2004. http://www.cpf.bc.ca/bc_html/PressRel_2004/FramePages/f_prCherryUpd.shtml. Retrieved 2008-10-05. ^{[dead link]}
37. ^ Deacon, James (18 May 1998). "Cherry: Has He Gone Too Far?". Maclean's. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011700. Retrieved 2008-10-05. 
38. ^ Burnside, Scott. "The Biggest Mouth in Sports". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=doncherry. Retrieved 2008-10-05. 
39. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
40. ^ "Habs Games to be Pulled from Airwaves". Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20070312051111/http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=86384&hubname=. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 

Further reading

• Cole, Stephen (2004). The Best of Hockey Night in Canada. Toronto: McArthur & Company. ISBN 1-55278-408-8. 
• Gruneau, Richard; Whitson, David (1994). Hockey Night in Canada: Sport, Identities and Cultural Politics. Toronto: Garamond Press. ISBN 0-920059-05-8. 
• Podnieks, Andrew (2006), A Canadian Saturday Night: Hockey and the Culture of a Country, Greystone Books, ISBN 9781553652014, http://books.google.ca/books?id=qnVpwcFbNWQC&lpg=PP1&dq=Canadian%20Culture&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true 

External links

Ice hockey portal

• Official website
• Broadcast schedule
• interview with 1950s Hockey Night in Canada Spokesman Murray Westgate, September 2011
• Hockey Night in Canada at the Internet Movie Database
• Museum of Broadcast Communications
• Hockey Night in Canada theme's official website
• Original version of The Hockey Theme^{[dead link]}
• Fang's Bites: Hockey Night in Canada