Canadian Crossing

NHL the week in preview December 14, 2018

CBC seeks the warmth of southern Florida where there will be many more Toronto Maple Leafs fans than home fans. The Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in Vancouver in the late game.

Citytv will carry the CBC feed, a rare occurrence this season.

Rogers Sportsnet has an all-Canadian game with Ottawa down the road in Montréal. Hometown Hockey is in Chatham-Kent, ON with Winnipeg hosting the other Florida team. Wednesday Night Hockey has the Habs in the high air in Denver.

Rogers Sportsnet One steps in on Tuesday with the Edmonton Oilers hosting St. Louis.

Vancouver dominates the ESPN+ lineup this week, including the HNIC late game.

Those watching the NHL Network in the Los Angeles and Pittsburgh markets will get the Maple Leafs Saturday night. 

NHL Network

Tape delayed
Friday Vancouver @ Nashville, 2p
Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 3p
Monday Calgary @ St. Louis, 1p
Tuesday Boston @ Montréal, 2p (2-hour)
Wednesday Toronto @ New Jersey, 1p
Thursday Montréal @ Colorado, 1p

ESPN+

Saturday
Philadelphia @ Vancouver, 10p
Sunday
Edmonton @ Vancouver, 10p
Monday
Boston @ Montréal, 7:30p
Thursday
St. Louis @ Vancouver, 10p

CBC

Saturday
Toronto @ Florida, 7p
Philadelphia @ Vancouver, 10p

Citytv

Saturday
Toronto @ Florida, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 7p
Sunday
Tampa Bay @ Winnipeg, 7p
Wednesday
Montréal @ Colorado, 8:30p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Tuesday
St. Louis @ Edmonton, 9p

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We thought we were 2 games away from Bob Cole's forced retirement by Rogers. Cole has had a stay to be able to finish the regular season. Cole's last game is now scheduled to be April 6 with the Toronto Maple Leafs in Montréal.

Here is a list of remaining games Bob Cole will call this season:

• December 15 Ottawa @ Montréal
• December 22 NY Rangers @ Toronto
• January 5 Nashville @ Montréal
• February 6 Ottawa @ Toronto
• March 9 Ottawa @ Boston
• March 16 Chicago @ Montréal
• March 30 Montréal @ Winnipeg
• April 6 Toronto @ Montréal

If you are looking for logic on why Cole gets an extra 6 games and 4 months, you could point to Scott Moore's departure as a reason for the extension. Also, Rogers didn't have a backup plan to cover weeks with extra games in the east this season. 

When Cole actually retires, Rogers could look into using Mark Lee as needed or make Rick Ball a national announcer and/or use Ball for most Calgary games and have Lee substitute when Ball is covering national games.

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Bob Cole made stop #8 in Edmonton for the Battle of Alberta Sunday night as part of the Hometown Hockey doubleheader. The game in Edmonton was available on ESPN+, which has carried both Battle of Alberta games this seas. The service might be poking at NBCSN and the NHL Network at their refusal to carry this matchup.

Canada paying a price to go along with U.S. desire to arrest Meng Wanzhou

As we noted in yesterday's story, the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on Canadian soil sparked changes in the Huawei sponsorship with Rogers Sportsnet on Hockey Night in Canada. The visual references remained while the audio copy disappeared. The disappearance of 2 Canadians in China should change the dynamic even more this week. U.S. viewers can only monitor the pregame show this week.

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NHL Network picked up the Winnipeg Jets feed on TSN3 for the Friday game with St. Louis.

The channel messed up and left out a 2nd period Calgary goal in the Thursday matinee rebroadcast of the game with Philadelphia. My sample size is rebroadcasts with Canadian teams, but every time there is a missing goal, that goal was scored by a Canadian-based team.

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CBC promos in December can be a little unusual since the fall season is winding down. The first promo was for Hockey Night in Canada and other NHL fare. However, the ad is for the Sportsnet page on the Shopping Channel in Canada. Unless the CBC gets revenue for actual Hockey Night in Canada fare, which is doubtful, then this shouldn't count as a CBC promo.

The promo for The National was for an interview with Rosemary Barton and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Cavendish is one of the new winter offerings. The intriguing element of the promo was citing a Tuesday, January 8 debut even though the show will run on Thursday nights.

Early game: HNIC and NHL fare; The National (1st); Still Standing; Cavendish (2nd); Canada's Smartest Person Junior; Mr. D (3rd)

Canada paying a price to go along with U.S. desire to arrest Meng Wanzhou

Canada and the United States have an extradition treaty agreement to honour each other's request for arrests. Unfortunately, Canada has been put in a really horrible situation with the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.

Like the Safe Third Country Agreement, Canada's willingness to go along with the United States on an agreement is biting them in the posterior.

We have already seen the Chinese government confirm the detention of 2 Canadians: entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig on "endangering national security." This is on top of the threats that may lead to more negative consequences for Canada.

The United States wants to extradite Meng from Canada to the United States for, well, unofficially over concern that Skycom, an alleged subsidiary company, violated U.S. trade sanctions with Iran.

Meng was arrested December 1 in Vancouver as she was switching planes. Meng was released on $10 million CDN bail Tuesday. Her next court date is February 6.

A Eastern District of New York judge issued an arrest warrant for Meng in August.

Canada did unusual favour for U.S. to arrest Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Chinese tech giant #Huawei. Can we talk #tariffs now? https://t.co/4eDj3ZTCzB

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) December 6, 2018

There is a sense of concern over the Chinese telecommunications giant and its ties to the Chinese government to security issues, especially with the implementation of 5G. Huawei is a major sponsor of Rogers Sportsnet with Hockey Night in Canada. While the visual elements remained in the Sportsnet coverage, there was no audio copy that is usually found in the sponsorship.

"Our extradition partners should not seek to politicize the extradition process or use it for ends other than the pursuit of justice," said Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

To no one's surprise, Donald Trump spoke on just that point. Even before that remark, there was considerable speculation that this was a political arrest. Even if the allegations are true, Meng hasn't violated any Canadian laws. As long as Meng is on Canadian soil, Canada will suffer as a result.

Trump threat to withdraw from NAFTA should lead back to original Canada-U.S. free trade agreement

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As you might recall in the USMCA/CUSMA negotiations, the United States sneaked a provision that if Canada were to negotiate a trade deal with China (without saying China) that the United States would have to get access to secret negotiation information from Canada. The arrest hurts Canadian trade negotiations with China while helping the United States work out a deal with China.

The arrest of Meng Wanzhou might be justified in terms of the charges but this dispute shouldn't involve Canada. The United States is once again taking advantage of Canada's integrity in international agreements.

As we noted in the above tweet, the United States still has major tariffs in steel, aluminum, softwood lumber, and Bombardier planes against Canada. There is a USMCA/CUSMA deal in place and still the tariffs exist. Canada should retain integrity in agreements but find some way to fight back against unfair practices by the United States.

Twitter capture: @canadian_xing

Video review: Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould is one of those Canadian figures who Canadians know but few outside Canada are familiar with his work.

Yet Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould works well as a biography film because Gould's eccentricities are illuminated by the genius of Colm Feore (as Gould), director Francois Girard, and writer Don McKellar (with Girard).

Glenn Gould was a renown piano genius most associated with his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach's music. His idiosyncrasies such as shaking people's hands while wearing gloves adds to a character worth exploring.

Gould only lived to be 50 (1932-1982). Gould was one of the finest concert pianists until he abruptly retired after playing on April 10, 1964 and never performed in public again.

The film is filled with different storytelling elements: dramatic versions of key events with interviews with real people who knew Gould. The film skips around in seemingly a random order but feels like a carefully crafted order of the chaos.

The highlight might indeed be Gould on Gould where Feore as Gould interviews himself. The scene can play out like an internal monologue among himself but gives space to explore what might be happening in his brain. Girard shoots the scene in shadows to hide Feore's face to play with the illusion.

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Even Canadians may struggle with the story if they don't know too much about Gould. The film doesn't offer much context or explanation about his story. You almost could enjoy this as a story about a fictional character who was actually real.

The film is entertaining enough as a way to tell a story about a person's life. You can watch the film and then learn more about Gould. I didn't know that much about Gould before the film and the film held my interest.

Glenn Gould was an intriguing figure in classical music in the 2oth century. His life needed an unique way to tell his story. Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould accomplishes that goal.

The 1993 film received 6 Genie Award nominations and won 4 Genies, including Best Motion Picture and Best Direction for Girard.

video credit: YouTube/Reel Canada
photo credit: Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

Tatiana Maslany makes her debut on The Daily Show

"If people aren't watching, then it doesn't matter."

Tatiana Maslany finally got on The Daily Show well after her success on Orphan Black. Maslany was promoting her current work in the Broadway play Network based on the 1976 film written by Paddy Chayefsky.

Maslany plays television executive Diana Christensen, the role Faye Dunaway had in the film. Bryan Cranston plays Howard Beale in the Broadway version.

Had a blast talking to the wonderful @Trevornoah about @DestroyerMovie & @NetworkBway. Check it out tonight 11pmET @TheDailyShow pic.twitter.com/U0IauDEd4y

— Tatiana Maslany (@tatianamaslany) December 11, 2018

"It's about fake news. It's about the way entertainment and news have become fused and the line is blurry and the people that we let go on television and speak and let their beliefs be what we then ingest."

Trevor Noah also referred back to her work and many accents on Orphan Black. Noah resorted to the stereotypical question about whether Maslany would be bored playing only one character.

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Tatiana Maslany wins the Lead Actress Emmy for Orphan Black

Maslany was on the program to promote her role in the Nicole Kidman film Destroyer. The film looks pretty intense. Maslany joked that she did a lot of drugs while filming Destroyer.

Noah pointed out that Maslany is drawn to characters that nobody would want to play and have to find the human side.

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At press time, there is no extended interview with Maslany. If that changes, this article will be updated. Last week, Noah had lost his voice so he had help from the correspondents. Noah had no trouble with his voice on Monday.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah airs on Comedy Central in the United States and the Comedy Network and CTV in Canada.

video and photo credit: Comedy Central/The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Twitter capture: @tatianamaslany

Trudeau Government proposes ways to help out Canadian journalism

A proposed $595-million tax package over 5 years from the Trudeau Government to help Canadian journalism shows some promise to help the ailing industry in Canada. Like good journalists would do, let's break down what that proposal actually offers and what kind of impact could be made.

• Non-profit journalism organizations will get a boost from “qualified donees.” They will be able to give out receipts for donations from individuals and corporations. Foundations could also be part of potential financial support.
• A refundable tax credit will go to labour costs with original content for non-profit and for-profit news organizations. The qualifiers are supposed to be sources that “produce a wide variety of news and information of interest to Canadians.” An independent panel of news industry people will define the eligibility.
• The portion that applies to news consumers is a non-refundable 15% tax credit for those who purchase a digital subscription. If a digital subscription costs $120, you would get a $18 tax credit.

The donations for non-profit journalism organizations feels like an easy call. There is no direct government money. Tax credits reduce tax bills but tax credits are used in all kinds of areas of society.

The digital subscriptions tax credit will be a boost for those who already have those subscriptions. The question will be whether 15% will be enough to get people to jump on the bandwagon. But 15% is a good place to start.

The refundable tax credit for labour costs has a few issues:

• The government money is being given directly to journalism outlets, including for-profit entities.
• The tax credit is refundable, which can lead to a tax refund depending on the size of the credit. The digital subscription tax credit is specifically non-refundable.
• The company that likely would benefit the most is Postmedia, currently controlled by U.S. hedge funds.
• Even with an independent panel, eligibility is not automatic.

Other objections are subject to interpretation. Conservatives howled as they do, not so much on principle but to score cheap political points. Their outrage feels false in that conservative outlets, the vast majority of Canadian print media, would get the vast majority of the money. Their unspoken outrage is that far-right outlets, such as Rebel Media, won't be included.

This tax credit would likely go to reward bad decisions made by large media outlets, instead of improve the research into investigative journalism.

La Presse to be large example of a newspaper going non-profit

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TorStar Corp./Postmedia Network Inc. 'trade'

Postmedia newspaper cuts mean even fewer Canada journalism voices

CBC proposes $400 million increase to go ad-free

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

"Then it needs a panel that includes journalists from old and new media, startups and experiments, with different models.

"And — this is critical — the panel must include people from outside journalism. Academics who have researched the issue; citizen groups who have seen the effects of reduced coverage; advocates and community leaders.

"The question shouldn’t be what a handful of journalists with the same experiences and worldviews want. It should be how we can invest public money in ways that effectively address the most critical information challenges in our communities."

The Tyee is one of those small, independent Canadian journalism outfits. This column in The Tyee questions the wisdom of "throwing money at them (large newspaper companies) at this late date is pointless."

Canadian journalism doesn't need more of the same. A lot of communities in Canada have little to no local news coverage. Even the ones that do have an outlet likely don't have a whole lot of substance.

Some of these proposed solutions will have a minor impact. The fear is that good money will be thrown after bad money in a field desperate for help to uncover the truths in Canadian politics and society.

video credit: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah; YouTube/thetyee

NHL the week in preview December 7, 2018

The NHL Network has a full weekend with the Winnipeg Jets hosting St. Louis on Friday, the CBC feed with the Maple Leafs in Boston Saturday and the early Hometown Hockey game as the Habs are in Chicago.

CBC has the Original 6 matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs in Boston. P.K. Subban and his squad visit Calgary in the nightcap.

Citytv gets to showcase Sidney Crosby as the Pens are in the nation's capital.

Rogers Sportsnet has a Hometown Hockey doubleheader from Aurora, ON with the Habs in Chicago followed by the Battle of Alberta in the provincial capital.

Wednesday Night Hockey has an early local start in Calgary as Philadelphia comes to Alberta.

NHL Network

Friday
St. Louis @ Winnipeg, 8p
Saturday
Toronto @ Boston, 7p
Sunday
Montréal @ Chicago, 6p

Tape delayed
Friday Montréal @ Ottawa, 1p
Sunday Toronto @ Boston, 2p
Monday Boston @ Ottawa, 1p
Montréal @ Chicago, 2p (90-min)
Thursday Philadelphia @ Calgary, 1p

ESPN+

Sunday
Calgary @ Edmonton, 9p
Tuesday
Chicago @ Winnipeg, 8p
Thursday
Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
Vancouver @ Nashville, 8p

CBC

Saturday
Toronto @ Boston, 7p
Nashville @ Calgary, 10p

Citytv

Saturday
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Sunday
Montréal @ Chicago, 6p
Calgary @ Edmonton, 9p
Wednesday
Philadelphia @ Calgary, 8:30p

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Kenny Albert and Pierre McGuire were in Buffalo Tuesday night for the Maple Leafs game. We do beg for Gord Miller or Chris Cuthbert to work on NBCSN with Canadian teams. The Maple Leafs game Tuesday night was the perfect storm for why that couldn't happen this time.

Miller and Ray Ferraro worked the Maple Leafs game in Buffalo for TSN4. Cuthbert worked the Ottawa game in Montréal for TSN5.

The main NBC Wednesday crew (Brian Boucher for McGuire) worked the Oilers game in St. Louis. Doc Emrick worked for a different network the last time he worked an Oilers regular-season game. Edmonton was invisible on NBCSN for many, many years.

Fun to watch NBCSN get excited about Connor McDavid yet this is the first telecast with a neutral NBCSN crew in 3 appearances this season.

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Why most of Canada hates Toronto: the NHL press can finally stop talking about William Nylander. The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nylander to a 6-year, $41.4 million contract extension. The winger missed the first 28 games of a 82-game season.

The press would have been obsessed with the holdout if Nylander played for another Canadian team but because the player was with the Maple Leafs, the coverage seemed more obnoxious.

While his Maple Leafs teammates are happy to see Nylander, your humble narrator is a bit more skeptical until Nylander shows us his top NHL form.

The Maple Leafs traded Josh Leivo to Vancouver for Michael Carcone to free up roster space for Nylander

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Seattle officially will be the newest NHL franchise but not until 2021. The excitement is an even 32 teams and a rivalry with Vancouver. The NHL team in Arizona will move over to the Central Division and a possible move to Houston.

The delay is about the rehab of Seattle Center (aka Key Arena). The city looked into an arena near the Seattle outdoor stadiums but that bid was thwarted.

"If say Power Corporation's Paul Desmarais Jr. and his family were involved with the Quebec City bid, (Gary) Bettman would be ecstatic and help provincial capital lasso a team," said Tim Wharnsby of CBC Sports. This is intriguing since this is the first I've seen of a specific element of concern within the Quebec City bid.

The $650 million (U.S.) fee speaks volumes for the potential trouble of getting the NHL back to Quebec City with the Quebec Nordiques. That would be about $780 million Canadian. Moving the Carolina Hurricanes to La Belle Province made so much sense but a lot under Gary Bettman has defied common sense.

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U.S. viewers can watch more Canadian teams if they live in a NHL market. For your humble narrator, we get more Winnipeg Jets games via a local telecast than any other Canadian team. The NBC Sports Chicago feed in Winnipeg on November 29 had lots of trouble even going to the TSN3 feed for a minute in the 1st period before completely going out at 4:03 in the 2nd period for the rest of the game. So the Chicago-area viewers got to watch Dennis Beyak and Kevin Sawyer call their local team for almost half the game.

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Bob Cole was in Montréal for game 7 of the 10-game farewell package. John Bartlett had Saturday off but worked the Sunday game in Montréal. RJ Broadhead was brought in to work the Winnipeg Jets for Hockey Night in Canada. Broadhead was also used on U.S. Thanksgiving Eve for the Senators game.

When Cole is done, Rogers will be short-handed on weeks with 3 Eastern games unless Dave Randorf goes east and Rick Ball covers out west. For all those who complained about Mark Lee, he is still a better option than Broadhead.

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The NHL Network took the Chicago feed for the Calgary game Sunday night. Those in Chicago caught a break and got the Hometown Hockey game with San Jose in Montréal. Too bad the Habs offence didn't show up.

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Hockey Night in Canada was not on the NHL Network schedule so we got no live CBC promos. The channel did run the Toronto-Minnesota game condensed in a Sunday matinee rebroadcast and we did get a single CBC promo.

Toronto-Minnesota matinee rebroadcast: Still Standing (2nd)

Trump threat to withdraw from NAFTA should lead back to original Canada-U.S. free trade agreement

"And so Congress will have a choice of the USMCA or pre-NAFTA, which worked very well." — Donald Trump

Despite the lavish signing ceremony for the post-NAFTA agreement, the new trade agreement may run into a snag despite the Democratic leadership will be in charge of the U.S. House in January. The Dems might still pass the agreement somehow but only because they are in the habit of capitulation in the name of compromise.

Countries can withdraw from NAFTA, which would kick in 6 months after the announcement. Trump has said he will withdraw from NAFTA but U.S. law isn't crystal clear as to whether Congress needs to approve that move.

Canada is trying to remove the stigma of the ugly USMCA by renaming the deal CUSMA putting Canada first. The NAFTA name is starting to look better.

Even though the CUSMA will hurt Canada on many levels, the Liberals will pass the new deal in Parliament. The Conservatives are more into free trade than the Liberals so we'll see if they have any real objections. The senators might take their time, but maybe not as slow as their path with the marijuana legalisation bill.

The NAFTA withdrawal is designed to force the Dems to pass the new trade agreement. Canada does have an ace up the sleeve, something that the U.S. have virtually forgotten even exists: The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement would be the standard bearer if NAFTA didn't exist.

The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement was negotiated in 1987 and signed by the country leaders in 1988. The CUSFTA standard was the impetus for NAFTA negotiated by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as well as U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who passed away on Friday.

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NAFTA 2.0, er, USMCA is a nightmarish trade deal for Canada

Despite childish threats by Donald Trump, Canada should hold out for a good NAFTA deal

If the goal was to truly reinvent NAFTA, then let's start with the work of CUSFTA. Start from as close to the bottom as you can and truly rebuild a new NAFTA. Going back to CUSFTA would also take out the threat of GM moving jobs to Mexico.

GM's plans last week to close the Oshawa, ON plant as well as 4 U.S. plants is a reminder of the threat of auto jobs to Mexico. While that might seem unfair to Mexico, so was going behind Canada's back on USMCA/CUSMA. Canada would negotiate a separate trade deal if NAFTA didn't exist.

The move could be seen as playing to Trump's bizarre theory that 2-way trade agreements are significantly better than 3-way trade agreements as well as getting Mexico out of the deal, but Canada needs to be in a good deal and CUSMA is not a good deal.

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There is also the issue that tariffs on steel and aluminum still exist as well as tariffs on softwood lumber and the Bombardier planes. The threat also exists for tariffs on cars between Canada and the United States. There is no plan to get those tariffs to go away. The tariffs are part of the reason why GM is pulling out of 5 plants in Canada and the U.S. We haven't heard a peep from the WTO on the U.S. tariffs against Canada.

If CUSMA becomes official, there will be no incentive to renegotiate the deal in the future. The only leverage is to not have CUSMA become a reality. CUSFTA is not an ideal situation but there is huge incentive to build on that ancient agreement to give Canada a chance to have a trade agreement that benefits Canada.

photo credit: Martin Mejia/AP Photo

Doug Ford should learn that francophones are Ontarians and Canadians

Canada has 2 official languages: English and French. 8 of the 10 provinces conduct their government business only in English with Quebec (French) and New Brunswick (English and French) being the exception. Minority language rights are protected in the provinces as French-language communities are scattered throughout Canada.

Most people in Ontario are familiar that there are francophone communities in the province. Doug Ford isn't one of them.

In its fall economic statement, the Ontario premier's government eliminated the French language services commissioner position and shut down the planned French-language university in the greater Toronto area.

As we noted on election night for the last Ontario election, Doug Ford was the only party leader who did not speak in French. The throne speech traditionally contains some French though Ford broke with the tradition and didn't include a single French sentence.

Earlier this year, Ford didn't seem to know people in Ontario speak French.

MPP Amanda Simard (Glengarry–Prescott–Russell) left the Progressive Conservative caucus to sit as an independent as a result of the moves against French speakers.

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Doug Ford narrowly pulls out victory in Ontario Progressive Conservatives leadership race

You can build a government in Ontario while freezing out francophones. The path for the Conservatives in the 2019 federal election requires francophones, especially in Quebec.

Turns out Quebec has been paying attention to what Ford has done and Simard's reaction. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has been supportive of Ford in general and his party may pay the price in Quebec in the 2019 federal election.

With the Bloc Quebecois losing most of its power and the NDP losing those same seats in the last election, the Conservatives had a shot for those seats, many of which are currently held by the Liberals. In a province where the motto is Je me souviens (I remember), Quebecers may indeed remember.

Toronto city election damaged by Doug Ford bully move to threaten notwithstanding clause

Ford's major moves have revolved around pettiness, such as shrinking the size of the Toronto city council during its last election cycle. Ford has gone out of his way to not include French despite the fact that, according to the latest census, French is the primary language of more than half a million people in Ontario.

2018 Canadian politics preview

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On the federal level, party leaders need to be bilingual. Kevin O'Reilly tried to be the exception but he didn't get very far in the last Conservative leadership race. Provincial leaders don't have to be bilingual as we've learned in Ontario and New Brunswick this year.

Speaking more than one language is an asset in this world. Canada has an advantage over the United States in being officially bilingual in communicating with the world. Being bilingual reflects the shared history of Canada in English and French as well as respect for the people in your country and province.

photo credit: Rozenn Nicolle/Radio-Canada

NHL the week in preview November 30, 2018

NBCSN carries back-to-back games featuring Canadian teams. The U.S. channel starts out with the Toronto Maple Leafs shortest road trip to Buffalo on Tuesday. Wednesday Night Hockey showcases Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in St. Louis.

The NHL Network blows off Hockey Night in Canada for the second time in 3 weeks and picks up a different Sunday night game other than Hometown Hockey as the Calgary Flames are in Chicago.

CBC starts out Saturday night with the Maple Leafs in the Twin Cities. Gary Bettman's dream desert team will be in Edmonton in the nightcap.

Citytv is content to get the Winnipeg Jets in New Jersey.

Rogers Sportsnet has a weekend of Montréal Canadiens home games with the New York Rangers on Saturday. San Jose will be in town on Sunday with Hometown Hockey from Boisbriand, QC. The regional channels will match NBCSN with the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday Night Hockey.

NBCSN

Tuesday
Toronto @ Buffalo, 7:30p
Wednesday
Edmonton @ St. Louis, 8p

NHL Network

Sunday
Calgary @ Chicago, 7p

Tape delayed
Friday Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 1p
Chicago @ Winnipeg, 3p
Sunday Toronto @ Minnesota, Noon
Monday Winnipeg @ NY Rangers, 2p (2-hour)
Thursday Edmonton @ St. Louis, 1p

ESPN+

Saturday
San Jose at Ottawa, 2p
Thursday
Minnesota at Edmonton, 9p

CBC

Saturday
Toronto @ Minnesota, 7p
Las Vegas @ Edmonton, 10p

Citytv

Saturday
Winnipeg @ New Jersey, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
NY Rangers @ Montréal, 7p
Sunday
San Jose @ Montréal, 7p
Wednesday
Edmonton @ St. Louis, 8p

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Toronto's Andreas Johnsson had a hat trick in the first 12:20 of the game, but didn't have the best performance by a player on a Canadian team Saturday night. Patrik Laine had 5 goals for Winnipeg in St. Louis. Thought the NHL Network might switch the matinee rebroadcasts to carry the stellar performance but that did not happen.

Rogers took the Canadiens leaving the Jets for Citytv, but the Rogers-owned OTA network got the much better game.

Next Saturday, @RonMacLeanHTH and the #HockeyNight panel will wear the original baby blue Hockey Night in Canada blazers and will auction them off after the show in support of #HockeyFightsCancer month. 💜 pic.twitter.com/JVOjCvB2Wt

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 18, 2018

Ron McLean and Bob Cole were the only current people who knew the baby blues from 1971-1987. Special guest Dave Hodge looked very familiar in that jacket. McLean took over for Hodge in March 1987 after the pen-flipping incident. McLean had a nice interview with Hodge in the pregame.

Speaking of older CBC nostalgia, the NHL Network ran the 2003 Heritage Classic on the 15th anniversary on November 22. Was fun to hear Chris Cuthbert with Greg Millen and Glenn Healy from that night in the cold in Edmonton. Cuthbert was with CBC during the era of the baby blues.

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The Grey Cup mentions were limited to the promotion for Hometown Hockey. The Hockey Night in Canada baby blue blazers might have proved to be a distraction. Even with 4 games, the CFL cities didn't match up with the NHL cities. The Grey Cup was not held in the east.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

We are nearing the end of the fall season for the CBC so CBC promos will switch to such activities as alpine skiing. The early game only had 5 promos likely because the 3rd period went so quickly. We should note that the telecast added a power play promo when there was no power play.

Early game: Frankie Drake Mysteries (1st); Alpine Skiing; Still Standing; Canada's Smartest Person Junior (2nd); Mr. D (3rd)

The art of the double double

We are sorry if you came to this article looking for NBA basketball or if you were chasing an In-N-Out burger with 2 beef patties with 2 slices of cheese.

This double double is about something truly Canadian. For those not familiar, a double double is a coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars at Tim Hortons. The fun part is that they put in the cream and sugar so you get the drink without the extra work.

During the 2018 Windsor International Film Festival, I decided to be a part of that Canadian experience. To give some perspective, I am not a coffee drinker. If you are looking for someone to tell how great anyone's coffee is, you are on the wrong blog post.

I ordered the Simply Sausage biscuit, 2 chocolate Timbits, and a small double double. I did order the drink to get the hockey trading cards too.

Canadian ads from fall 2018 NHL Center Ice free preview

My double double was quite hot. I opened the little flap but couldn't get it to close properly. I brought the drink into my first film of 6 films that day, so the caffeine would be helpful.

I did let the coffee cool off a bit. When I went back to the coffee, the drink was warm but not hot.

The double double was pretty satisfying though a bit on the sweet side. I could drink the coffee, which isn't always true for a black coffee. In the future, I might want to play with getting a double single (2 creams, 1 sugar) or a double (2 creams). The Double Double did accomplish what few cups of coffee can do: mask the taste of coffee so I could drink it.

Tim Hortons poutine donut serving up bad Canadian stereotypes to Americans

There are non-coffee ways to feel Canadian. They don't always involve donuts or poutine or donair but often they do. Eating ketchup chips or all-dressed chips or having fries with gravy are gateways to feeling Canadian. Lamb burgers seem Canadian. A double double might be the quickest and cheapest way to feel Canadian.

photo credit: me