NBCSN has a single game in February with the Winnipeg Jets in Edmonton.
The big news is that the sky has fallen. NHL Network will finally show the Battle of Alberta, twice. Every Saturday has at least one HNIC game on the channel and a doubleheader on February 6.
Nicely done.
The U.S. outdoor games in in Lake Tahoe, CA won't get too much in the way of covering Canadian teams. The NHL Network is offering a late HNIC game on February 20.
We like the idea of outdoor games when Canada is included. The league and its outlets do a poor job at promoting what few outdoor games come to Canada.
NBCSN
February 17
Winnipeg @ Edmonton, 10p
NHL Network
February 6
Vancouver @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)/Edmonton @ Calgary, 10p (HNIC)
February 13
Ottawa @ Winnipeg, 3p (HNIC)/Montréal @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p (HNIC)
February 19
Winnipeg @ Vancouver, 10p
February 20
Calgary @ Edmonton, 10p (HNIC)
February 21
Winnipeg @ Vancouver, 10p
February 27
Toronto @ Edmonton, 7p (HNIC)
ESPN+
February 1
Calgary @ Winnipeg, 8p
February 2
Ottawa @ Edmonton, 10p
February 9
Winnipeg @ Calgary, 10p
February 11
Edmonton @ Montréal, 7p
February 15
Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p
February 19
Edmonton @ Calgary, 9p
February 20
Toronto @ Montréal, 7p
February 23
Edmonton @ Vancouver, 10p
Hockey Night in Canada
February 6
Vancouver @ Toronto, 7p/Edmonton @ Calgary, 10p
February 13
Ottawa @ Winnipeg, 3p/Montréal @ Toronto, 7p/Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p
February 20
Toronto @ Montréal, 7p/Calgary @ Edmonton, 10p
February 27
Toronto @ Edmonton, 7p/Montréal @ Winnipeg, 10p
Rogers Sportsnet national telecasts
February 10 Toronto @ Montréal, 7:30p
February 15 Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p
February 17 Ottawa @ Toronto, 7p/Vancouver @ Calgary, 10p
February 21 Montréal @ Ottawa, 7p
February 24 Calgary @ Toronto, 7p
This week on @AfterHoursHNIC, @ScottOake & @LouDeBrusk sit down with #Bern to talk about #berniesmittens pic.twitter.com/MqymhNLQwa
— Kerry (@WestCoastKerry) January 22, 2021
The intimacy of After Hours is why the show is on hiatus thanks to the pandemic. This meme helps us understand why the show works in the normal times.
Scott Oake and Louie DeBrusk did some online episodes this summer. They aren't the same but was fun to watch.
Found an interview with Scott Oake about After Hours where he said that Scott Russell was the original host of the program in the late 1990s. Oake had made the show his own where he is the Jon Stewart and Russell is the Craig Kilborn of The Daily Show.
2021 NHL season preview
Jim Hughson not traveling out of Vancouver for awhile. Truly home team announcers. Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro offering up a Leafs-Sens game for both the TSN4 and TSN5 audiences. Ferraro doing very little travel. Harnarayan Singh making his English-language play-by-play debut. John Bartlett and Garry Galley getting an extended vacation.
COVID-19 is changing the perspective of covering the NHL. The all-Canadian games have been fun.
There have been few obnoxious hits compared to previous seasons. The officiating feels more fair. Usually I would root for a 3-point game when Canadian teams clash. Just enjoying the ride.
The NHL Network dumped the Hockey Central show on Sportsnet to show more game rebroadcasts. More hockey is better though there haven't been too many Canadian rebroadcasts.
NHL the month in preview January 2021
For a lot of reasons, your humble narrator didn't get a chance to try out Jack Michaels as the new Edmonton Oilers TV voice. I did some YouTube research to hear his voice.
Our issues with Kevin Quinn was more about chemistry with analysts. Quinn struggled with Louie DeBrusk and Drew Remenda to develop chemistry.
Quinn called the Edmonton games on TV from 2001-2020. He even worked with Craig Simpson (2001-2003) and Ray Ferraro (2003-2008) before working with DeBrusk (2008-2014; 2018-2020) and Remenda (2014-2018; backup 2018-2020).
Not a huge Louie DeBrusk fan but chemistry with DeBrusk should be really easy. Look forward to getting samples of Michaels and DeBrusk together.
Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig detainment hits 2-year mark thanks to Meng Wanzhou case
Huawei has disappeared from the Rogers Sportsnet studios for the pregame show. The show doesn't have a major sponsor to replace the Chinese phone company.
Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are still trapped in unspeakable conditions in China. Meng Wanzhou is still in Vancouver.
Having the company behind the capture of 2 Canadians sponsor Hockey Night in Canada on Rogers Sportsnet was an embarrassment.
These kinds of contracts shouldn't put a Canadian company in such an awkward position.
More than 200 women's hockey players won't play in NWHL or any other league next season
The National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) is playing in a bubble in Lake Placid, NY. The season, as such, started January 23 and runs through the end of the playoffs on February 5.
The NWHL kept its promise to add a Canadian team — the Toronto Six. The other teams are the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and Minnesota Whitecaps.
The Toronto Six is in an odd situation since the team is representing Canada but not on Canadian soil. The Six finished as the #3 seed through the first week of games.
The Metropolitan Riveters didn't make it to the finish of the shortened regular season.
NBCSN will cover the semifinals on Thursday at 5:30 pm and 8 pm and the finals on Friday at 7 pm.
The more permanent scenario is a NHL-sponsored women's league with several Canadian teams.
Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage
January 20 Edmonton at Toronto 7p Gord Miller/Mike Johnson
January 21 Montréal at Vancouver 9:30p John Walton/Pierre McGuire
We noticed that Ray Ferraro did not participate in the NBCSN version of the bubble over the summer. This might explain why Ferraro didn't work with Gord Miller in Toronto. Mike Johnson is well-known to the U.S. audience through the NHL Network and his work at Rogers early on in their productions.
Johnson normally crosses back and forth but picked TSN over the NHL Network. Johnson has done segments via satellite for the U.S. based network.
Miller and Johnson did well with a so-so game.
Walton and McGuire were not on Canadian soil but we know this is the trend. This is the second straight season NBCSN has shown an early season Vancouver Canucks home game after being unofficially banned from the network.
As much as we say NBCSN, NBC Universal will transition the NHL coverage to USA at some point in 2021. NBCSN is scheduled to shut down by the end of the calendar year.
Can't say I have watched too much USA since the 1980s with Up All Night. NBCSN was Versus and then the Outdoor Life Network. Didn't watch them outside the NHL. USA Network is in 86.2 million U.S. homes versus 80.6 million U.S. homes for NBCSN.
The new U.S. NHL contract would start in the fall of 2021, almost certainly with a second outlet other than NBC. Some of the NHL content will likely end up on Peacock, the future of the NHL in the United States.
Intrigued that @SeattleKraken went with @JohnForslund as their TV PBP. He will miss a lot of games doing national work for @NHLonNBCSports. An expansion team should have a PBP who wants to grow with the team. Forslund made better sense in #Tampa and @DaveRandorf in Seattle.
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) January 27, 2021
The Seattle Kraken went with John Forslund for its TV play-by-play. Ron Francis is likely a key reason for the hiring of Forslund.
Forslund seemed destined for the Tampa Bay TV gig. Being a NHL national announcer, a local job in the east makes more sense since most national games are in the east. Tampa Bay went with Dave Randorf leaving the Kraken for Forslund.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
Chris Cuthbert has read a few CBC promos in his long career. Canadian television has changed for the better since those times. CBC Gem wasn't around either.
Cuthbert's promo material on January 16 said Kim's Convenience was Tuesday at 9 pm instead of 8 pm.
Pretty Hard Cases is likely worth the long preview given that the show will debut on February 3. This is the Meredith MacNeill vehicle about female detectives of a certain age.
The Great Canadian Baking Show isn't debuting until February 14.
For those wondering about the January 30 early game, Rogers Sportsnet took CBC off the game and put Calgary at Montréal on CBC as well as Citytv. Rogers has always whined that it needs CBC to extend coverage. Canadians in most of the country can't randomly go to a bar to watch the game. The NHL has shown signs of wanting more than one rightsholder in each country for the rights to show games in the future.
The CBC has no say in any decisions for Hockey Night in Canada outside of these promos.
January 16 early game: Kim's Convenience (1st); Pretty Hard Cases; Les Misérables; Kim's Convenience (2nd); Pretty Hard Cases; Bobsleigh (3rd)
January 16 late game: Kim's Convenience; Pretty Hard Cases (1st); Les Misérables; Kim's Convenience (2nd); Pretty Hard Cases; Bobsleigh (3rd)
January 23 late game: Pretty Hard Cases; (1st); Coroner; Kim's Convenience; Great Canadian Baking Show (2nd); The Fifth Estate; Alpine Ski Cross (3rd)
January 30 late game: Coroner (1st); Pretty Hard Cases; Kim's Convenience; Coroner (2nd); Pretty Hard Cases; Alpine Ski Cross (3rd)
Twitter capture: @WestCoastKerry; @canadian_xing
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