Canadian Crossing

NHL the week in preview March 31, 2017

NBCSN rises to the occasion in the final week. The channel will carry the Edmonton Oilers in Los Angeles Tuesday night. Like last year's Winnipeg game in Anaheim, this is more about getting the game on TV in Los Angeles. So look for the Rogers feed as the Oilers actually get on NBCSN. The channel also picks up the Ottawa Senators game in Boston on Thursday night. Since the game is blacked out in Boston, NBCSN can give us Canadian announcers through TSN5.

The NHL Network flipped on the Ottawa Senators at the last minute and will carry the Toronto Maple Leafs in Buffalo Monday night. So much for the temporary love affair with the playoff-bound Sens. This isn't as much of a coup since the game falls in the NHL Center Ice free preview.

CBC gives us the 401 series as the Toronto Maple Leafs play their final game at Joe Louis Arena Saturday night. A bonus for Red Wings fans in Windsor who don't even need cable to watch. The NHL Network picks up the telecast, the channel's first Maple Leafs game on HNIC since December 10. The Edmonton Oilers host Anaheim in the CBC nightcap.

City TV features the Montréal Canadiens way far south in Tampa Bay.

Rogers Sportsnet has an all-Canadian battle as the Ottawa Senators in Winnipeg.

Hometown Hockey from Guelph, ON has the Vancouver Canucks hosting San Jose Sunday night. Wednesday Night Hockey has the Montréal Canadiens in Buffalo.

Rogers Sportsnet One features a home-and-home with the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks. The teams play in Calgary Sunday and travel to the U.S. for Tuesday. The channel also follows the Maple Leafs across the border to Buffalo Monday night.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 helps out on Friday as Vancouver hosts Los Angeles. The channel also has Calgary in the Flames' southern California road trip to Los Angeles Thursday night.

The NHL Network has a rare 3-game matinee set on Tuesday since all 3 Monday night games involve eastern Canadian teams.

The NHL Center Ice free preview starts Monday.

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NBCSN

Tuesday
Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10:30p
Thursday
Ottawa @ Boston, 7p

NHL Network

Saturday
Toronto @ Detroit, 7p
Monday
Toronto @ Buffalo, 7p

Tape delayed
Tuesday Toronto @ Buffalo, 1p
Montréal @ Florida, 2p
Ottawa @ Detroit, 3p
Wednesday Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 2p
Thursday Montréal @ Buffalo, 1p

CBC

Saturday
Toronto @ Detroit, 7p
Anaheim @ Edmonton, 10p

City

Saturday
Montréal @ Tampa Bay, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Ottawa @ Winnipeg, 7p
Sunday
San Jose @ Vancouver, 7p
Wednesday
Montréal @ Buffalo, 7:30p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Sunday
Anaheim @ Calgary, 9:30p
Monday
Toronto @ Buffalo, 7p
Tuesday
Calgary @ Anaheim, 10p

Rogers Sportsnet 360

Friday
Los Angeles @ Vancouver, 10p
Thursday
Calgary @ Los Angeles, 10:30p

NHL Center Ice

Monday Ottawa @ Detroit, 7p
Montréal @ Florida, 7:30p
Tuesday Washington @ Toronto, 7:30p
Detroit @ Ottawa, 7:30p
Winnipeg @ St. Louis, 8p
Calgary @ Anaheim, 10p
Vancouver @ San Jose, 10:30p
Wednesday Montréal @ Buffalo, 7:30p
Thursday Winnipeg @ Columbus, 7p
Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p
Vancouver @ Arizona, 10p
Calgary @ Los Angeles, 10:30p
Edmonton @ San Jose, 10:30p

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We debuted our look at the playoff run for the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. Click here to see our update.

Down the stretch for the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs

The Ottawa Senators will play regular season games in Sweden next season. The Sens and Colorado Avalanche will play November 10 and 11 in Stockholm.

The NHL hasn't been to Europe since 2011. All the other times the league has played there in games that count have been at the beginning of the season. This time, the games will fall in November. That puts a lot more pressure on the teams participating, almost like a mini-Olympics break. The other regular season games have to be condensed. Colorado is rebuilding while the Senators are playoff contenders.

Colorado and Ottawa are good contenders to play in Sweden. Sens captain Erik Karlsson, 2-time Norris Trophy winner, and Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog are Swedish. The Senators also have the legacy of Daniel Alfredsson, who is Swedish.

The Vancouver Canucks split a 2-game series with the then Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1997. The Canucks won 3-2 on October 4 in Tokyo but lost 3-2 on October 5. The Calgary Flames went to Tokyo in 1998. The Flames tied the San Jose Sharks 3-3 on October 9 and downed the Sharks 5-3 on October 10.

The Ottawa Senators were in Sweden in 2008 for the Victoria Cup. The tournament was in several European countries, but the Senators only played in Sweden. The Senators defeated Frölunda Gothenburg 4-1 on October 2. The Swedish team featured Eric Karlsson, who had been drafted a few months earlier by the Senators. Ottawa lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on OT on October 4 before the Sens beat Pittsburgh 3-1 on October 5.

Vancouver Canucks and the Los Angeles Kings will be the first NHL teams in China, playing exhibition games this fall on September 21 in Shanghai and September 23 in Beijing.

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Many years ago, I was more into the NBA than the NHL. The referees bias for star players was legendary. While there were other factors as to why I lost interest in the NBA, ref bias didn't help. At least with those blown calls, players weren't getting seriously hurt.

Sidney Crosby didn't simply slash Ottawa defenseman Mark Methot; Crosby's slash did severe damage to Methot's pinky, likely knocking him out of the playoffs. Crosby, star among stars, didn't get penalized and won't receive a suspension. Now we know there won't be a suspension because Crosby is Crosby. The fact that Ottawa will suffer was also a factor (more on that in a moment).

We know slashes don't always get caught, but this Crosby slash was egregious. It's not even likely that the Pens and Sens will meet in the playoffs, but Crosby's damage has been done and will go unpunished.

In the last 2 weeks, Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames and Roman Polak of the Toronto Maple Leafs received 2-game suspensions. Tkachuk elbowed star defenseman Drew Doughty and Polak boarded Columbus' Oliver Bjorkstrand. Tkachuk's play was a cheap shot but Doughty came back later that game. Tkachuk was not penalized for the play but did end up in the penalty box when an LA player retaliated for the hit. Polak's play didn't look that bad, but Polak was penalized for boarding and game misconduct.

I'm willing to go along on the 2-game suspensions based on what happened on the ice. But how does Crosby not get something for doing way more damage than either Tkachuk or Polak?

On February 13, 2013, Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke, a textbook example of a known offender, lacerated Erik Karlsson's Achilles tendon with Cooke's skate. Cooke, who has known suspensions for numerous cheap shots, received no suspension. The U.S. media played the "he's changed" theme to justify Cooke's actions. That tone changed on April 21, 2014, when Cooke, then with Minnesota, delivered a knee-on-knee check to Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie in the playoffs. Barrie was out for weeks. Cooke was suspended for 7 games. Suddenly, Cooke was a horrible person once again, just not against Ottawa.

Karlsson has the talent of a star player but doesn't receive the protection of the NHL because he plays for Ottawa in Canada. While what Crosby did to Methot was horrible, that wasn't Crosby's only unpunished action that week.

If I ever give up this beat, and that is tempting in moments such as these, I will not miss this hypocrisy. The NBA is still pretty horrible but at least, the players can play most of the time after a non-call foul.

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Rogers has been generally good about not using local crews for all-Canadian matchups. Sunday, Rogers broke that streak by using the Vancouver crew for the Canucks and Winnipeg Jets. The argument was that the crew was in Minnesota on Saturday. Rick Ball and Greg Millen were in St. Louis on Saturday and could have made the quick trip.

The consensus is that when playing a U.S. team, the local crew can handle that assignment. There are very few all-Canadian matchups on a national game that isn't on Hockey Night in Canada. Rogers wants respect theoretically with the cheapest approach. The financial difference can't be that big, especially when you are the only national broadcaster. People are willing to look the other way on many cheap moves. Rogers could buy some respect for not that much money.

Rogers blew off the Winnipeg Jets during the pregame a while back when the Jets hosted Calgary. Some things are more important than money, but Rogers doesn't understand that concept.

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Gord Miller will work with NBC's #1 crew with Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire in Chicago on Sunday on NBC. We should see more of Miller possibly with Ray Ferraro next weekend on the U.S. side.

Down the stretch for the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs

At this time last year, we were bored, waiting for the end of the NHL regular season. This year, we aren't bored. We are very likely to see at least 4 Canadian teams in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. Toronto hopes there are 5 teams, including the Maple Leafs.

Edmonton clinched a playoff spot for the first team since 2006. Calgary blew a chance to clinch a playoff spot last night. Will there be a Battle of Alberta in the first round? Will there be a Battle of Ontario in the first round?

Team	W	L	OT	Pts	Games left
Montréal	43	24	9	95	6
Ottawa	41	25	9	91	7
Toronto	36	24	15	87	7

#2 Wild Card race

Team	W	L	T	Pts	Games left
Toronto	36	24	15	87	7
Boston	40	30	6	86	6
Tampa Bay	37	29	9	83	7
NY Islanders	35	28	12	82	7
Carolina	34	27	14	82	7

The Toronto Maple Leafs have the worst chase thanks to 15 OT losses. There is a tight battle for the #3 seed and the #2 wild card. The New York Rangers will be the #1 wild card and will play the "Adams Division" winner. The #2 wild card has to face the "Patrick Division" winner, a very tough battle.

The Leafs can get some help from their "Adams" rivals. The Habs have a home-and-home with Tampa Bay. The Sens play at Boston and at the New York Islanders.

The Canadiens play 4 of the last 6 games away from Montréal. The Senators play 5 of their last 7 games away from Ottawa. The Maple Leafs play 4 of the last 7 games in Toronto, the final 4 games of the season.

Montréal

March 30 Florida 7:30p
April 1 @ Tampa Bay 7p
April 3 @ Florida 7:30p
April 5 @ Buffalo 7:30p
April 7 Tampa Bay 7:30p
April 8 @ Detroit 7p

Ottawa

March 30 @ Minnesota 8p
April 1 @ Winnipeg 7p
April 3 @ Detroit 7p
April 4 Detroit 7:30p
April 6 @ Boston 7p
April 8 NY Rangers 12:30p
April 9 @ NY Islanders 5p

Toronto

March 30 @ Nashville 8p
April 1 @ Detroit 7p
April 3 @ Buffalo 7p
April 4 Washington 7:30p
April 6 Tampa Bay 7:30p
April 8 Pittsburgh 7p
April 9 Columbus 6p

Team	W	L	T	Pts	Games left
Anaheim	42	23	11	95	6
San Jose	43	26	7	93	6
Edmonton	42	25	9	93	6
Calgary	43	30	4	90	5

Wild Card race

Team	W	L	T	Pts	Games left
Calgary	43	30	4	90	5
St. Louis	42	28	6	90	6
Nashville	39	26	11	89	6

The Alberta teams are in good shape for the playoffs. However, positioning is really tight. The team that finishes fourth wants to get the #7 seed (top wild card) to avoid playing Chicago. While Vancouver and Winnipeg are eliminated, the Canucks play home-and-home with Edmonton and San Jose.

Calgary, or the #4 seed out of the "Smythe" division, only has to beat out the bottom team of the Nashville-St. Louis fight to be the #1 wild card.

The Oilers play half of their 6 remaining games in Edmonton. The Flames play 2 of their 5 games in Calgary.

Edmonton

March 30 San Jose 9p
April 1 Anaheim 10p
April 4 @ Los Angeles 10:30p
April 6 @ San Jose 10:30p
April 8 @ Vancouver 10p
April 9 Vancouver 9p

Calgary

March 31 San Jose 9p
April 2 Anaheim 9:30p
April 4 @ Anaheim 10p
April 6 @ Los Angeles 10:30p
April 8 @ San Jose 10p

Schedule for "Smythe" contenders

March 30 Anaheim @ Winnipeg 8p//San Jose @ Edmonton 9p
March 31 San Jose @ Calgary 9p
April 1 Anaheim @ Edmonton 10p
April 2 San Jose @ Vancouver 7p//Anaheim @ Calgary 9:30p
April 4 Calgary @ Anaheim 10p//Vancouver @ San Jose 10:30p
April 6 Chicago @ Anaheim 10p//Edmonton @ San Jose 10:30p
April 8 Calgary @ San Jose 10p
April 9 Los Angeles @ Anaheim 8:30p

Schedule for wild card contenders

Boston; Tampa Bay; NY Islanders; Carolina; St. Louis; Nashville

March 30

NY Islanders @ Philadelphia 7p
Columbus @ Carolina 7p
Dallas @ Boston 7:30p
Detroit @ Tampa Bay 7:30p
Toronto @ Nashville 8p

March 31

New Jersey @ NY Islanders 7:30p
St. Louis @ Colorado 9p

April 1

Florida @ Boston 1p
Minnesota @ Nashville 2p
Montréal @ Tampa Bay 7p
Dallas @ Carolina 7p

April 2

Boston @ Chicago 12:30p
NY Islanders @ Buffalo 3p
Nashville @ St. Louis 4p
Carolina @ Pittsburgh 5p
Dallas @ Tampa Bay 6p

April 4

Tampa Bay @ Boston 7p
Winnipeg @ St. Louis 8p
NY Islanders @ Nashville 8p
Carolina @ Minnesota 8p

April 6

Ottawa @ Boston 7p
NY Islanders @ Carolina 7p
Tampa Bay @ Toronto 7:30p
St. Louis @ Florida 7:30p
Nashville @ Dallas 8:30p

April 7

Tampa Bay @ Montréal 7:30p

April 8

Washington @ Boston 3p
NY Islanders @ New Jersey 6p
Nashville @ Winnipeg 7p
St. Louis @ Carolina 7p

April 9

Buffalo @ Tampa Bay 5p
Ottawa @ NY Islanders 5p
Colorado @ St. Louis 6p
Carolina @ Philadelphia 7p

Toronto Blue Jays welcome Pittsburgh to Montreal

The New York Mets in 2014: legacy of Gary Carter. The Cincinnati Reds in 2015: Canadian Joey Votto. The Boston Red Sox in 2016: regional favourites and the Boston-Montréal connection. The Pittsburgh Pirates are the 2017 opponent at Olympic Stadium in Montréal for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Marcus Stroman pitches Friday night for the Toronto Blue Jays. Former Pittsburgh Pirates hurler Francisco Liriano will start Saturday's game.

Tim Raines finally makes the Baseball Hall of Fame

Tim Raines, newly elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, will be the guest of honour for a tribute prior to Friday’s game.

Montreal comes out even stronger for Toronto Blue Jays 2016 visit

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

The Pittsburgh Pirates have some Canadians who might play including 3B/OF Eric Wood (who played for Canada in the World Baseball Classic) and pitcher Jameson Taillon (who didn't pitch for Canada in the 2017 World Baseball Classic).

Friday night's game starts at 7 pm and will be live on Rogers Sportsnet. The U.S. audience won't get the game live but the MLB Network will run the game tape-delayed at 6 am Eastern Saturday morning. MLB Network will simulcast the Rogers Sportsnet feed Saturday afternoon at 1 pm Eastern.

Last year's 2-day attendance was over 106,000. That number may be tough to beat. The 2016 numbers were significantly larger than the first 2 years by about 10,000 extra fans.

Toronto Blue Jays at Olympic Stadium in Montréal

Date	Opponent	Score	Attendance
April 2, 2016	Boston	Boston 7-4	53,420
April 1, 2016	Boston	Boston 4-2 (10)	52,682
April 4, 2015	Cincinnati	Toronto 9-1	50,231
April 3, 2015	Cincinnati	Cincinnati 2-0	46,314
March 29, 2014	NY Mets	Toronto 2-0	50,229
March 28, 2014	NY Mets	Toronto 5-4	46,121

 

photo credit: Toronto Blue Jays/MLB

CBC Marketplace says Subway Canada chicken isn't all there

Subway Canada says the company will sue CBC for $210 million after allegations that the chicken DNA was well below the standard even for other major fast food chicken.

Marketplace, a CBC-TV investigative show, sampled the Subway Oven Roasted Chicken Sandwich: its average chicken DNA was 53.6%. The average of the Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki chicken strips was 42.8% chicken DNA.

The other major fast food chicken scored between 84.9%-89.4% chicken DNA. If the chicken was marinated and/or had fillers, that would account for less than 100% scores.

The allegations were reminiscent of allegations against Taco Bell in the United States over reduced beef in its taco filling.

CanadianCrossing.com coverage of BalanceofFood.com

Canadian standards are different: processed cheese has to be identified as such. Coffee whitener is the term in Canada for "non-dairy creamer." The USDA standard for taco filling is a lower percentage (40%) of fresh meat than in the findings for the chicken in Subway Canada. But that doesn't mean that things such as this can't happen in Canada.

For a full report, and a chance to see the Marketplace episode in question, click here for the full story from our sister blog, BalanceofFood.com.

Marketplace airs Friday nights at 8 pm local time on CBC.

photo credit: Marketplace/CBC

NHL the week in preview March 24, 2017

CBC gives Buffalo Sabres fans an OTA option Saturday night as the Queen Elizabeth Way series takes the Toronto Maple Leafs to Buffalo. The Edmonton Oilers host Colorado in the CBC nightcap.

City TV draws the Calgary Flames trip to the U.S. Midwest in St. Louis.

Rogers Sportsnet gets the last of the 3 games in 8 days with the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre against the Montréal Canadiens. Hometown Hockey from Portage La Prairie, MB has an all-Canadian matchup of the Vancouver Canucks in Winnipeg. The Calgary Flames welcome the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday Night Hockey.

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NHL Network

Tape delayed
Monday Vancouver @ Winnipeg, 1p
Tuesday Colorado @ Calgary, 2p
Wednesday Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 3p
Thursday Los Angeles @ Calgary, 2p

CBC

Saturday
Toronto @ Buffalo, 7p
Colorado @ Edmonton, 10p

City

Saturday
Calgary @ St. Louis, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 7p
Sunday
Vancouver @ Winnipeg, 8p
Wednesday
Los Angeles @ Calgary, 9p

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The NHL Network finally showed an Ottawa Senators home game and only the second Sens game of the season. Yet the channel decided against carrying the home feed of TSN5, one of the best local crews in the NHL. The NHL Network used the extremely lame and heavily biased Root Sports Pittsburgh feed.

The Penguins are on the NHL Network a lot, even tonight. The Sens have had 2 games. We should have had the TSN5 feed.

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Congratulations to the Ottawa Senators and the city of Ottawa for getting an outdoor game. The Senators will host the Montréal Canadiens at TD Place on December 16. The date is a Saturday close to the 100th anniversary of the first time the two cities met as NHL teams on December 19, 1917.

The Scotiabank NHL 100 Classic, as it is called, coincides also with Canada's 150th birthday as well as the 100 years of the NHL.

The original idea was to set up a temporary rink of the Parliament building lawn. That would have been tremendous but that plan was nixed.

Canadians know TD Place for the last few years as the home of the Ottawa RedBlacks in the CFL. They might also remember TD Place from the Women's World Cup soccer in 2015. Hopefully, any temporary seating for the Grey Cup will stay on for this outdoor NHL game.

Since the Senators play their games in Kanata, this might be the first Ottawa Senators home game ever in the city of Ottawa.

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Those in Denver and Chicago got an extra Hometown Hockey telecast. This might have been only because Ottawa-Montréal started 30 minutes after the scheduled game on the NHL Network. Lots of hockey in that episode and yet the vast majority of weeks, the NHL Network blows off the show.

We've also seen the disappearance of Sunday matinee rebroadcasts. In the unofficial Hockey Night in Canada ban by the NHL Network, we also didn't get a single matinee rebroadcast. How far have we fallen from coverage of both games to hardly any HNIC games or rebroadcasts. If there are human beings at the network that would like to respond to our concerns, hit the e-mail button in the right-hand column.

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The Winnipeg Jets game in Newark, New Jersey was postponed due to the blizzard. The makeup date for that game is March 28. At least this blizzard didn't magically knock out the Edmonton Oilers from a NBCSN appearance, like what happened last season.

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Gary Bettman loves his favourite desert team (until next season), but Bettman is one of the few people that does love the team.

The Arizona Coyotes will reduce the arena seating capacity next season. The Coyotes have consistently been in the bottom 3 in NHL attendance every year for 9 years. The Coyotes have an average 12,961 per game, second-worst in the league.

The tarping off of 4 sections in the Gila River Arena will reduce the capacity of 17,125 by 1,256 to a new capacity of 15,869. The capacity is 7.3% smaller after the move.

Using 12,961 as a base, with the current capacity, the Coyotes are drawing 75.7% of capacity. With the new capacity, the team would be drawing 81.7%. The games will still look like there aren't that many fans since cameras rarely show the upper deck.

The 12,961 figure could be surpassed in a number of Canadian markets: Hamilton, Toronto GTA, Saskatoon, Regina, Thunder Bay, and definite consideration (with bigger arenas) from Halifax, Saint John, Moncton, and St. John's. Seattle in a crappy arena, Kansas City in a good arena, and possibly Houston would also draw better numbers.

The Arizona Coyotes TV numbers are also horrible. In a SportsBusiness Journal analysis, the 2016 Arizona Coyotes had a 0.38 rating, down 25% from 2015. Amazingly, that is only the third worst in the league behind the New Jersey Devils (0.30) and Florida Panthers (0.25). By contrast, the Buffalo Sabres led the way among American teams with a 6.55 rating. Carolina and Nashville didn't have available information.

If there was a Arizona Shuffleboard League, that league would outdraw the Coyotes on TV.

Canadian tourism ads from 2017 winter NHL Center Ice free preview

We had enough tourism ads in the latest NHL Center Ice free preview to warrant its own column. The last few ads fit a different kind of tourism so follow along until the end.

Prince Edward Island may not be a place where you want to spend all 12 months, but the summer months are absolutely beautiful. The food lovers element is a nice category: the food was very good there except for the overcooked burger thanks to stupid federal laws. Eat more Cows ice cream and take the tour in Charlottetown.

Explore Edmonton is a nice alliteration to show the northern Alberta city. Most of the shots are summer and, in different shots, could be anywhere. You can find fun in Edmonton and the surrounding area for a few days. The ad must be somewhat new since footage of Rogers Place is there. With the new arena, there is more pressure on downtown businesses to respond to hockey fans used to being on the northeast side of town.

Manitoba tourism ads never focus on Winnipeg, the province's largest city. This ad gave us more than polar bears, a nice change. Don't worry, there is a polar bear in this ad. It's a requirement for a Manitoba tourism ad.

I only scratched the top of the iceberg that floats off-shore in the spring in Newfoundland and Labrador. None of these pictures are from St. John's. The buffalo in the Manitoba ad should have matched by a moose in Newfoundland. Still haven't seen Labrador in a tourism ad.

Analysis: Canadian food ads from 2017 winter NHL Center Ice free preview

Coca-Cola pool ad explores sexuality already standard in Canadian ads

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

This isn't really a tourism ad for Ontario, but this ad speaks to what living in Ontario can be like when you are new to Canada. Toronto is a very integrated city. Ottawa has cosmopolitan elements being a national capital. And many smaller Ontario cities have done well in taking in refugees. Tourism ads show what can happen in a place. This ad shows us the everyday life.

Stuart McLean took us through Canada with The Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio One. McLean passed away on February 15 after a battle with cancer. Nice of CBC to run this promo to help celebrate what McLean brought to the Canadian landscape.

This Canadian Pacific ad showcases beautiful Canadian scenery even though this was about train safety. The message is to approve changes so they can monitor audio and video recordings to make trains safer. Not sure why that isn't happening. I kept thinking about the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec accident while watching this PSA.

videos credit: Companies in the ads

Analysis: Canadian food ads from 2017 winter NHL Center Ice free preview

We've seen milk and sports in ads in the United States but they're usually pumping up chocolate milk, regardless of the sweetener. And quite frankly, most milk ads are lame or awful (such as TruMoo's "no junk food please" ad).

The Dairy Farmers of Canada ran a pair of ads designed to promote milk drinking. They are clever, interesting, memorable, and not a single word about chocolate milk.

The first ad mocks the standard beer commercial about which drink to turn to after the game. The outdoor hockey with men above the standard NHL age level adds a nice Canadian touch.

The second ad plays on the classic "no use crying over spilled milk" line. What would happen if the milk was so good that it would be worth a tear or two?

Coca-Cola pool ad explores sexuality already standard in Canadian ads

We already gave a spotlight to the Tim Hortons perfect partners campaign, with the parallel of food pairings and human pairings. (Click here if you missed this ad.) This is the latest Tim Hortons Roll up and Win promo. There are no donuts, food, or coffee in the ad but if you are looking for a taste of Canadiana, this ad will help.

McDonald's in Canada and the United States seem to be run in parallel universes. The Canadian version has had a double Big Mac for some time ready for the U.S. to steal. The U.S. goes in a confusing Big Mac direction with Goldilocks and the Three Bears type serving sizes or A&W Canada that has established this hierarchy (Papa Burger, Mama Burger, Teen Burger). Meanwhile, McDonald's Canada decided the Big Mac just needed bacon. The burger comes with the argument as to whether bacon takes away the Big Mac name for the new sandwich. Sometimes in this world, it's fun having an argument where no one really cares who is right.

Speaking of A&W Canada, this chicken burger ad looks like it is set on a high school campus. The theme of chicken not raised on antibiotics continues. The message is that the chicken is this good but doesn't cost too much, especially for the high-school audience. U.S. outlets will sell a chicken sandwich on a hamburger bun but it would never be a chicken burger. Canadians buy burgers identified as such made from chicken, lamb, and other animals not associated with a burger in the States.

Swiss Chalet is encouraging people to bring a buddy in its 2 can dine for $14.99 deal. The quarter-chicken deal with roll, side, and Swiss Chalet sauce is a pretty good deal for $7.50 Canadian. The food isn't exciting but you will get full. I finally got a chance to do Swiss Chalet last summer — yes with someone else. I did feel more Canadian afterward. Someday, I'll do Boston Pizza.

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

Rickard's Red is not a beer that I know before this ad. But the ad feels Canadian because if I lived in Canada, storing beer bottles in the snow would be tempting. The contrast with the "outdoors" versus the back yard is pretty funny. Again, beer advertising is hardly ever about the beer but was worth a chuckle.

videos credit: companies featured in ads

Workin' Moms provides CBC with Canadian humour for adults

Three women are sitting, commenting on the changes to their own breasts after having had babies. Their analysis is pretty thorough but overall positive in nature.

Then we get the wide shot of the three women topless in a daycare setting with kids and their moms. No black bars, no pixellation. Three women with breasts and nipples and everything at 9:30 pm on a Tuesday night.

The complaint about modern Canadian comedy is that it's too light, too subtle, and not enough belly laughs. Workin' Moms flips that on its side right from the start.

Catherine Reitman, yes sister of Jason, daughter of Ivan, created Workin' Moms and is the star of the show. Reitman's character, Kate Foster, tries to keep up in the corporate world, even taking a call trying to talk over the noise from the breast-pumping machine.

Dani Kind as Anne Carlson just had a kid and is pregnant again soon after having a kid. That isn't so good for Anne since as a psychiatrist, she self-medicates. Juno Rinaldi as Frankie Coyne has post-partum depression. In the initial episode, Juno is dunking her head in the pool much to the horrified look of prospective home buyers.

Jessalyn Wanlim as Jenny Matthews seems fine on the outside. Jenny has to go back to work to support her husband chasing his scriptwriter dreams. She finds herself asking a lot of questions that lead to the question of self-discovery.

CBC launches 2017 winter schedule

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

The humour feels real. These actresses embody complex, real characters and they take chances. Even when it's a bit over the top, the humour remains.

Orphan Black fans would recognize Wanlim as the evil Evie Cho from Season 4. She is about 178 degrees away from Evie Cho on Workin' Moms. Peter Keleghan plays Foster's clueless boss.

Reitman also has a hand in writing in the show. She wrote the first 4 episodes and the final 2. Reitman based the story on things that happened to you, including post-partum depression after returning to work 10 days after birth. At the end of the second episode, Reitman's character has trouble getting her son to latch on to her breast. Turns out in that scene, she ended up using her real-life son and he latched on. So the actual emotion was completely real.  

As Tom Power noted when he interviewed Reitman on Q, "there's nudity, there's swearing, there's masturbation."

'Young Drunk Punk' was more of what Canadian TV should be

We have criticized the CBC for getting rid of edgy shows such as Strange Empire and Young Drunk Punk. Though Workin' Moms is a different kind of edgy, hopefully, the CBC will give these kind of shows a bit more leeway. 

Workin' Moms airs after Schitt's Creek Tuesday nights at 9:30 pm/10 pm in Newfoundland on CBC. The season finale of Workin' Moms is April 4 on CBC.

photos and videos: Workin' Moms/CBC

Come From Away hits Broadway, shows how Canada helped out after 9/11

Come From Away is a play that told an amazing true-life story on the heels of the September 11, 2001 attacks that has largely been ignored or untold in the United States. 38 planes in the air that morning that were crossing the Atlantic Ocean had to land in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador since the United States had cut off air traffic to U.S. air space after the attacks.

The people of Gander responded well with housing and feeding the stranded passengers. The influx nearly doubled the population of the town in northeastern Newfoundland. The play incorporates the stories of that moment in history, right down to the names of the residents and passengers.

In real life and the play, Gander and the 38 planes represent several Canadian cities that housed passengers from 200 planes in the Maritimes. Halifax and St. John's were major cities that also housed a considerable number of passengers.

Part of why the story didn't gain notoriety in the United States had to do with George W. Bush. His September 20 speech passed along considerations to people in many countries who responded with generosity. Canada was not on that list.

David Frum, Bush speechwriter and actual Canadian, recounted the story years later. According to Frum, he recalls fellow Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson as saying "We just … forgot." Frum says he pleaded to get them to add some words for Canada.

"Let's reopen the text, I urged. Futile. Bush was adamant in his demand for an orderly and conclusive speech process, unlike the endless rewrites of the Clinton White House. Once a speech was deemed closed — it was closed."

Bush did have a known animosity toward Canada. He broke considerable tradition by not making the first foreign trip to Canada. He only finally made a trip to Canada after the 2004 election; that trip took him to Ottawa and Halifax. Not that we are doubting Frum's story, but by that logic, Canada was forgotten for over 3 more years until December 2004.

Then Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien did send Canadian troops to Afghanistan shortly after he September 20, 2001 snub of Canada. Chrétien did not send troops to the Iraq War in 2003, insisting that the war did not have the backing of the UN Security Council. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Paul Martin was the Canadian prime minister when Bush finally arrived, almost a full year after Chrétien left office.

Come From Away can help with some of that healing. This is a part of recent American history, history that needs to be told. Canada showed incredible generosity at a very vulnerable time. The play showcases those joyful and heartwarming stories. The George W. Bush animosity against Canada, despite its incredible generosity, is not in the play. That is part of American history, just not a part of American history that Americans know.

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The Broadway debut was March 12, but the March 15 show gave the play additional publicity with the arrival of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other dignitaries, including more than 125 UN ambassadors. Trudeau was accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire on the trip, but the actual seating for the play had Ivanka Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley sitting on either side of the prime minister.

"The world gets to see what it is to lean on each other and be there for each other through the darkest times," Trudeau said, according to The New York Times. "There is no relationship quite like the friendship between Canada and the United States. This story, this amazing story, is very much about that, and it's about friendship as well."

Chrétien, who was in charge in Canada that fateful day, recounted his memories from that time at the March 15 event. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the other current Canadian dignitaries in attendance.

Tom Brokaw, the long-time NBC anchor, was also at the event. The clip above is part of a documentary Brokaw did about the people of Gander and how well they performed to a difficult challenge. Up until the play, Brokaw's documentary was one of the few storytellers visible to Americans. The Operation Yellow Ribbon documentary originally aired on February 27, 2010, as part of the NBC coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

"Tonight we honor what was lost, but we also commemorate what we found." — Claude the mayor from Come From Away.

Come From Away was written by a Canadian couple: Irene Sankoff and David Hein. The play was first workshopped and produced at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario before successful runs in La Jolla, CA and Seattle. The show had limited runs at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC and the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto before the Broadway debut. The play is currently being performed at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City.

We saw how many people discovered the amazing life of Alexander Hamilton through the Broadway play Hamilton. We're not saying Come From Away has the power of Hamilton, but songs and music have a way of getting people interested in American history. Even the film 1776 had some effect on enhancing people's knowledge.

While this is only a play, the hope is that the story is also timeless in the current world setting. The passengers on these flights were refugees in a sense. The response was as warm as it was instantaneous. These people were stranded and needed housing and food. But they also needed understanding and compassion. We are all human beings underneath the surface and national identity. If Canadians led the way in making people understand this basic human concept, then this story will always be remembered.

photo credit: Matthew Murphy
video credit: NBC News
map credit: Google

NHL the week in preview March 17, 2017

The NHL Network has discovered the existence of the Ottawa Senators. The channel has added the Senators home game Thursday against Pittsburgh. That should mean a TSN5 simulcast. The NHL Network's only other telecast of the likely playoff-bound Sens was a road game on November 27.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be the Toronto St. Pats on Saturday night to honour their history and the Irish connection to St. Patrick's Day. CBC and City TV will carry the game as Chicago comes to the Air Canada Centre. Stunningly, the NHL Network turned down this Original 6 game with playoff implications.

The Vancouver Canucks travel to Edmonton in the CBC nightcap.

Fans of the Ottawa Senators and Montréal Canadiens should leave their TV sets on Rogers Sportsnet over the weekend. The teams play in the nation's capital Saturday night and in La Belle Province for Hometown Hockey Sunday night. The Hometown Hockey ceremony airs from the nation's capital in Ottawa. Folks in Denver and Chicago are scheduled to see this game.

Wednesday Night Hockey features the Maple Leafs in the Ohio capital.

Rogers Sportsnet One contributes a late Sunday game as the Calgary Flames welcome Los Angeles.

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NHL Network

Thursday
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa, 7:30p

Tape delayed
Friday Chicago @ Ottawa, 1p
Boston @ Edmonton, 2p
Monday Ottawa @ Montréal, 1p
Los Angeles @ Calgary, 2p
Tuesday Boston @ Toronto, 1p
Wednesday Vancouver @ Chicago, 1p
Thursday Toronto @ Columbus, 1p
Edmonton @ Anaheim, 2p

CBC

Saturday
Chicago @ Toronto, 7p
Vancouver @ Edmonton, 10p

City

Saturday
Chicago @ Toronto, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Montréal @ Ottawa, 7p
Sunday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 7:30p
Wednesday
Toronto @ Columbus, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Sunday
Los Angeles @ Calgary, 9:30p

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So NBC/Comcast punished Pat Foley and the local Chicago feed for Foley's justifiably criticism last spring of playoff times for Central Time Zone teams. So until this point, NBCSN would use the Chicago feed but substitute other announcers. Lazy on top of lazy on top of mean.

Perhaps the first possible Comcast local feed in Montréal led NBC/Comcast to allow a Chicago feed with Foley's voice to be used on NBCSN.

This would be the time I would normally mention the use of Canadian announcers. Unfortunately, Gord Miller, Chris Cuthbert, Ray Ferraro, and Jamie McLennan were working on Tuesday for TSN4 and TSN5.

Lazy, petty, and mean are supposed to be the landmarks of Rogers, not NBC. But NBC is doing a very good impression of Rogers.

Even if it wasn't a NBCSN production, the Montréal Canadiens need to start learning how to win on the channel. NBCSN is the primary channel in the States for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

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The NHL Network teaser for the Philadelphia-Toronto game talked about the Flyers were fighting for their playoff chances but not the Maple Leafs. The Flyers were just behind the Maple Leafs going into that game. That is a dynamic you would use when a team fighting for a playoff spot is playing a team already set with a playoff spot. Both teams fighting for a playoff spot makes for better copy.

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There were 4 teams in the early games on Hockey Night in Canada. The pregame show only covered 3 of them. If you guessed the Winnipeg Jets were left out, you would win a twoonie for your efforts. Calgary played at Winnipeg Saturday night and the Flames got time. Toronto and Ottawa were playing in the States: each team got plenty of notice.

We have seen that the pregame is ultra-planned, maybe even rehearsed. But no one mentions that fans in Winnipeg are going to be justifiably upset over the lack of pregame coverage.

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The Hometown Hockey matinee coverage on the NHL Network gave us the unusual duo of Bob Cole and Louie DeBrusk. A legend matched up with someone who struggles to give good analysis. Also, interesting that Rogers sent Cole from St. John's to Edmonton. He doesn't usually go that far west.

Edmonton had Montréal in check most of the game, but Les Habs found a way to score 4 goals in the last 6:27 of the game, including 2 empty-net goals. For a team that has been winning by scoring very few goals, that was a strange one.

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Ray Ferraro worked without his Canadian brethren Monday night in Brooklyn on NBCSN.