Canadian Crossing

NHL the week in preview March 22, 2019

The NHL Network jumps back to the CBC feed with Hockey Night in Canada from Toronto. The channel picks up a surprise Montréal game on Thursday night in the Ohio capital on what should be the start of the NHL Center Ice free preview.

CBC goes Original 6 with the New York Rangers in Toronto in the early game. Calgary goes west to Vancouver in the nightcap.

Citytv goes to Montréal on a Saturday night with Buffalo in town.

Rogers Sportsnet has Hometown Hockey festivities are in Enoch Cree Nation, AB with the Habs in the U.S. south but not too far south. The Maple Leafs are in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Rogers Sportsnet One is helpful on Wednesday with the Calgary Flames welcoming Dallas.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 as well as SNW and SNP embrace P.K. Subban and his friends traveling to Winnipeg on Saturday night.

The NHL Center Ice free preview should start on Thursday.

NHL Network

Saturday
NY Rangers @ Toronto, 7p
Thursday
Montréal @ Columbus, 7p

Tape delayed
Friday Winnipeg @ Las Vegas, 3p
Thursday Dallas @ Calgary, 2p (2-hour)

ESPN+

Saturday
Nashville @ Winnipeg, 7p
Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p
Sunday
Montréal @ Carolina, 7p
Columbus @ Vancouver, 10p
Tuesday
Florida @ Montréal, 7:30p
Thursday
NY Islanders @ Winnipeg, 8p

CBC

Saturday
NY Rangers @ Toronto, 7p
Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p

City

Saturday
Buffalo @ Montréal, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Sunday
Montréal @ Carolina, 7p
Wednesday
Toronto @ Philadelphia, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Wednesday
Dallas @ Calgary, 9:30p

Rogers Sportsnet 360

Saturday
Nashville @ Winnipeg, 7p

NHL Center Ice free preview

Thursday
Florida @ Ottawa, 7:30p
NY Islanders @ Winnipeg, 8p
Dallas @ Edmonton, 9p
Los Angeles @ Vancouver, 10p

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The NHL Network didn't think much of Calgary-Winnipeg but Rogers was smart enough to put its top team on the game. Fortunately for U.S. viewers, ESPN+ carried that Hockey Night in Canada game.

Rogers whined for some time that viewers didn't know where games were. They put their #1 team on a game only on Sportsnet West and Pacific, a striking move for Rogers.

Another nice move was Cassie Campbell-Pascall working colour with Bob Cole in Montréal. Rogers had a good roundtable on women in hockey. Campbell-Pascall had strong words over the need to nurture potential hockey analysts regardless of gender.

In watching Kendall Coyne Schofield in Edmonton on NBCSN, I was reminded of those early games Campbell-Pascall called on CBC, mostly with Mark Lee. She is the fill-in for Kelly Hurdey on Calgary Flames telecasts on Rogers Sportsnet West. I thought she was good from the start but she had greatly improved.

Coyne Schofield had moments of sharp analysis mixed with awkward moments and a few too many "awesome" mentions. To Campbell-Pascall's point, you have to give analysts time and experience to develop.

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The 2019 Heritage Classic is still on for October 26 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The press conference gave us the news that the home team has flipped from Calgary to Winnipeg.

Tickets will go on sale on April 25. A pre-sale priority will be given to Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames season-ticket holders.

The Toronto-Nashville matinee rebroadcast got dumped for a press conference for the 2020 Winter Classic on Wednesday.

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The Hometown Hockey game will also air on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network with the audio in the Plains Cree language. The Hometown Hockey crew and festivities are in Enoch Cree Nation near Edmonton in Alberta.

Montréal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price's mother is the former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation.

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The first half of the Rogers pregame was lost to the U.S. audience for a Charlottetown-Halifax Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game. The missing content looked to be previews of the primary games i.e., not the one in Montréal.

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The Calgary-Winnipeg telecast made good use of Rush's Limelight. There are 3 possible connections: the "lime" in Limelight ties in the green of St. Patrick's Day; Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets in the limelight of the NHL; or the Junos that were held the next day in London, ON.

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The Simpsons had a bit of fun with Canada and the Calgary Flames in last week's E My Sports episode. Bart is the leader of the Evergreen Terrors video game team that gets past its first opponent to play the Calgary Lames in the North American final. In a valiant comeback, the Terrors get past the Lames.

When the Lames think they are going to win, they take maple syrup and try to throw it on the coach. The maple syrup is so thick that it never reaches the coach. The other major Canadian joke is that the officials tell the Canadian team they are out. They don't know they are out until the official says "oot."

The Simpsons airs on Global in Canada via Fox in the United States.

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We have noted in the past that Boston's Zdeno Chara leads a charmed life with referees and the league. Chara lifted the stick of Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele to the rafters in a game last week. A penalty would have been called on most NHL players, but not Chara, of course.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

NBCSN has a "Star Sunday" to market NHL players. Mark Stone was opposite Connor McDavid. Liam McHugh said about Mark Stone "not exactly a household name here." This exposes the hypocrisy of NBCSN not carrying Ottawa and Vancouver. If Elias Pettersson wins the Calder Memorial Trophy, NBCSN still won't know who he is.

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NHL Network went with the Chicago feed for the Vancouver game. 2 of the 3 U.S. telecasts for Vancouver have been against Chicago.

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NBCSN gave us the uninspired choice of Los Angeles play-by-play guy Alex Faust and the cluelessness of Brian Boucher for the Winnipeg game in Orange County Wednesday night. Kendall Coyne Schofield isn't as consistent as Boucher but at times, she is a better analyst.

Gord Miller will work Sunday night on NBCSN in Chicago.

NHL the week in preview March 15, 2019

NBCSN carries the Edmonton Oilers visiting the bright desert lights on Sunday night. The channel also has fun with the Winnipeg Jets in Anaheim in the late game on Wednesday night.

The NHL Network shows the Vancouver Canucks for the first time since November 2 as they travel to Chicago Monday night.

CBC starts out Saturday night with the Battle of Ontario in the nation's capital. Edmonton visits the lesser of Gary Bettman's desert children in the nightcap.

Citytv gets Bob Cole with the Hawks in La Belle Province on Saturday.

Rogers Sportsnet enjoys an all-Canadian matchup with the high-flying Calgary Flames in Winnipeg on SNW and SNP. Hometown Hockey from Lethbridge, AB has Vancouver in the Lone Star State. The regional channels jump in on Vancouver's trip to the Windy City on Monday. Wednesday Night Hockey involves the shortest Maple Leafs road trip to Buffalo.

Rogers Sportsnet One is all-Edmonton all the time following the Oilers to St. Louis on Tuesday and hosting Columbus on Thursday.

Those in the Washington and Tampa Bay markets should get Bob Cole and the Citytv feed from Montréal on Saturday night.

NBCSN

Sunday
Edmonton @ Las Vegas, 10p
Wednesday
Winnipeg @ Anaheim, 10p

NHL Network

Monday
Vancouver @ Chicago, 8:30p

Tape delayed
Monday Edmonton @ Las Vegas, 1p
Tuesday Winnipeg @ Los Angeles, 1p
Wednesday Toronto @ Nashville, 3p
Thursday Winnipeg @ Anaheim, 1p

ESPN+

Friday
NY Rangers @ Calgary, 9p
Saturday
Calgary @ Winnipeg, 7p
Tuesday
Toronto @ Nashville, 8p
Columbus @ Calgary, 9p
Thursday
Winnipeg @ Las Vegas, 10p

CBC

Saturday
Toronto @ Ottawa, 7p
Edmonton @ Arizona, 10p

City

Saturday
Chicago @ Montréal, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Calgary @ Winnipeg, 7p (SNW, SNP)
Sunday
Vancouver @ Dallas, 7p
Monday
Vancouver @ Chicago, 8:30p
Wednesday
Toronto @ Buffalo, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Tuesday
Edmonton @ St. Louis, 8p
Wednesday
Columbus @ Edmonton, 9p

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How much history did U.S. television give to Canadian teams last week. This was the first time since we've kept records (late 2010) that:

• a Hockey Night in Canada game was shown from Alberta
• 2 games from Alberta in the same week
• 2 games from Canada shown in the same day on NBCSN

The NHL Network has been reluctant to show teams from Alberta and far more so when those games are in Alberta. The home/road numbers are ridiculously embarrassing. NBCSN has embraced Edmonton, mostly on the road. The channel has only shown 1 regular season game from Calgary and that was last October (The 2011 Heritage Classic was on Versus and was a required telecast).

The attention to Alberta isn't even on the team currently in a playoff spot in the division. So yes, Connor McDavid is the first, second, and third star, er, reason.

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NBCSN brought in a top team for the big game in Toronto. Doc Emrick rarely gets to Canada, though he was in Winnipeg in October. Jeremy Roenick rarely does game analysis; like Eddie Olczyk, he has Chicago ties. Pierre McGuire was at TSN headquarters for the trade deadline coverage late last month.

The channel was really nice for the late game in Edmonton giving us the TSN duo of Chris Cuthbert and Ray Ferraro along with Kendall Coyne Schofield.

We even got a O Canada from Edmonton, a highly rare moment on NBCSN in the regular season.

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Bob Cole got his first game in over a month after going more than a month before the previous game. This was the first of Cole's final 4 games.

You got as much attention as the Ottawa Senators did on the Rogers pregame. Yes, the Sens are out of it on so many levels, including being eliminated from postseason contention this week, but Rogers should find a way to update viewers.

The NHL Network went out of their way to remove Bob Cole from the highlights. The channel uses airs audio and video of the team scoring the goal, but took Cole out of all but a single audio clip. The channel is steering its coverage away from Bob Cole games to the finish, though the April 6 game might be on the channel.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

Gord Miller worked Tuesday night in Pittsburgh for NBCSN.

Chris Cuthbert will work with Shane Hnidy in the desert Sunday night for the Oilers game on NBCSN. Hnidy was the colour analyst for the Winnipeg Jets on TSN3 before jumping to Las Vegas. Given the possibilities, this is a good combo, especially with some of the crews calling Edmonton games on the channel earlier this season.

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We got a healthy dose of CBC promos with a Hockey Night in Canada game and 2 rare Sunday matinees on the NHL Network.

The Junos will air this Sunday with host Sarah McLachlan. The short track promo aired just before the 2nd period with Gene Principe reading the copy. We pointed out last week how the promos were supposed to be within game action.

The Street Legal promo after an in-game ad, another violation. The telecast ran back-to-back mentions with 2:01 left in the 3rd period.

The late game might not have had all 6 promos, unless John Shorthouse went out of order. The Schitt's Creek promo aired but not Diggstown afterward.

The Schitt's Creek promo serves as a helpful promo since the program also airs on Pop TV.

Early game: 2019 Junos (1st); Short Track; Street Legal (2nd); Bobsleigh; Schitt's Creek; Diggstown (3rd)

Vancouver matinee: 2019 Junos; Short Track (1st); Schitt's Creek (3rd)

Toronto-Edmonton matinee: Schitt's Creek; Diggstown (3rd)

NHL the week in preview March 8, 2019

NBCSN has a pure Canadian doubleheader for Wednesday Night Hockey. Chicago makes its only visit to Toronto in the early game (the coverage includes your humble narrator) and a rare Edmonton home game on U.S. TV with New Jersey in town.

The NHL Network recognizes that Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid is worth picking up the CBC feed for Hockey Night in Canada.

CBC has Toronto in Edmonton for a local 5 pm start. The newest desert team goes north to Vancouver in the nightcap.

Citytv follows the Ottawa Senators to Boston on Saturday night.

Rogers Sportsnet has Hometown Hockey from Steinbach, MB with the local Winnipeg Jets against Alex Ovechkin in the U.S. capital. Wednesday Night Hockey is the aforementioned game in Toronto.

Rogers Sportsnet One helps out with a game Sunday night as that new desert team travels to Calgary. The channel will also have the Wednesday late game in Edmonton that will be shown in the U.S.

NBCSN

Wednesday
Chicago @ Toronto, 7p
New Jersey @ Edmonton, 9:30p

NHL Network

Saturday
Toronto @ Edmonton, 7p

Tape delayed
Saturday Winnipeg @ Carolina, 2p
Sunday Las Vegas @ Vancouver, Noon
Toronto @ Edmonton, 3p
Tuesday NY Rangers @ Edmonton, 1p
Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 2p (2-hour)
Wednesday San Jose @ Winnipeg, 1p
Thursday Chicago @ Toronto, 9a (2-hour), 2p (2-hour)
New Jersey @ Edmonton, 1p

ESPN+

Friday
Montréal @ Anaheim, 10p
Saturday
Las Vegas @ Vancouver, 10p
Sunday
Winnipeg @ Washington, 7p
Monday
Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7p
NY Rangers @ Edmonton, 9p
Tuesday
San Jose @ Winnipeg, 8p
Wednesday
NY Rangers @ Vancouver, 10p
Thursday
Boston @ Winnipeg, 8p

CBC

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

City

Saturday
Ottawa @ Boston, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Sunday
Winnipeg @ Washington, 7p
Wednesday
Chicago @ Toronto, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Sunday
Las Vegas @ Calgary, 9:30p
Wednesday
New Jersey @ Edmonton, 9:30p

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Trade your 3 best scorers, then fire the coach. Guy Boucher was a godsend to the Ottawa Senators when he first arrived. Boucher had a good track record, made the Senators a top defensive unit, and nearly led them to the Stanley Cup final.

The Senators have enough self-inflicted wounds to jump on that bandwagon, but the timing of the decision looks horrible on top of the trades and the self-inflicted screwup that has been trying to get a downtown arena.

Former After Hours co-host Marc Crawford will do a fine job as the interim coach. I feel sorry for Anthony Duclair. This is a young man with a lot of talent but has had a few problems. Boucher was really good about Duclair to "put the counter back at zero." Duclair will be on his 3rd Ottawa coach in the fall if Crawford isn't hired.

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The Rogers pregame aired on time in the U.S. The NHL Network had a late Saturday afternoon game and has another one tomorrow.

Kelly Hrudey helped out Scott Oake in Calgary for the Jarome Iginla retirement ceremony. Brian Burke substituted for Hrudey. Now we need to get Nick Kypreos out of the studio every week and get Brian Burke on the set.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

We talk about the rarity of Hockey Night in Canada feeds in the second half of the season. With a bit of juggling, you could have seen 3 HNIC games on U.S. soil this past weekend. The NHL Network had the Maple Leafs, NHL.tv carried the Habs game, and ESPN+ actually carried the HNIC feed for the game in Calgary.

NHL.tv is great if you don't care about the ads or intermissions. They offer some free games, such as the Canadiens last Saturday. The cool part is you pick the feed so you could pick TSN5 if Edmonton plays Ottawa and even select the French language feed if you comprend Francaise.

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NHL Network used the Buffalo feed for the Oilers game Monday night. The Sabres feed is one of the best U.S. feeds. Detroit and Buffalo might be the best. Dallas had a good one when Dave Strader was still alive.

Chris Cuthbert worked for NBCSN in Orange County late on Wednesday night.

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We did get 6 CBC promos but the timing of them left a lot to be desired.

The letter and the spirit of the CBC promos is during the period. We occasionally see a promo before a period. Saturday's game had 3 promos before a period. There were 0 promos in the initial period. Jim Hughson finally gave us a promo before the 2nd period. Kyle Bukauskas ran off back-to-back promos to start the 3rd period. Back-to-back promos are also a violation of the letter and the spirit of the CBC promos.

Early game: none (1st); Murdoch Mysteries; Street Legal (2nd); Speed Skating; Diggstown; Dragons' Den; Rugby

NHL the week in preview March 1, 2019

The NHL Network remembers that there are CBC feeds on Hockey Night in Canada with its first CBC feed in almost 2 months. The U.S. channel will also follow Edmonton to western New York against the Sabres.

CBC gets the Buffalo-Toronto rivalry from Canada in the early game on Saturday. The network goes Wild in Calgary in the late game.

Citytv gets warm with Ottawa in western Florida.

Rogers Sportsnet enjoys Sidney Crosby in his favourite road trip to Montréal early on Saturday. Hometown Hockey from Winkler, MB features the nearby Winnipeg Jets in the Ohio capital. Wednesday Night Hockey has the Maple Leafs in Vancouver in a relatively decent time slot of a 6 pm local start.

Rogers Sportsnet One tracks the Edmonton Oilers to Buffalo on Monday and helps out late on Wednesday with Calgary in the bright desert lights.

Rogers Sportsnet West will have the Jarome Iginla number retirement ceremony prior to Saturday night's game. The NHL Network will run that footage Sunday afternoon at 3 pm Eastern.

NHL Network

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

Tape delayed
Friday Edmonton @ Ottawa, 2p
Tuesday Toronto @ Calgary, 9a (2-hour), 2p (2-hour)
Edmonton @ Buffalo, 1p
Wednesday Winnipeg @ Tampa Bay, 3p

ESPN+

Friday
Nashville @ Winnipeg, 8p
Saturday
Minnesota @ Calgary, 10p
Sunday
Vancouver @ Las Vegas, 4p
Monday
Toronto @ Calgary, 9p
Tuesday
Winnipeg @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
Wednesday
Calgary @ Las Vegas, 9p
Thursday
Montréal @ San Jose, 10:30p

CBC

Saturday
Buffalo @ Toronto, 7p
Minnesota @ Calgary, 10p

City

Saturday
Ottawa @ Tampa Bay, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Pittsburgh @ Montréal, 7p
Sunday
Winnipeg @ Columbus, 7p
Wednesday
Toronto @ Vancouver, 9p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Monday
Edmonton @ Buffalo, 7p
Wednesday
Calgary @ Las Vegas, 10:30p

hi @NHLNetwork. The @NHL schedule page says @NHL_Sens are on your channel tonight. Can you confirm? Merci. Thanks. pic.twitter.com/Aj8BQnk36z

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) February 22, 2019

The NHL Network never responded but the channel did switch to carry the TSN5 feed with Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro. TSN moved Ferraro to cover the game for the obvious reason: the Senators traded Matt Duchene while Columbus was in Ottawa.

When Duchene was traded from Colorado to Ottawa, his first game was against the Colorado Avalanche.

Duchene played well for Ottawa but his arrival came at a bad time for the franchise. The deal may cost Ottawa the #1 overall pick in the 2019 draft. The Sens get a 2019 1st round draft pick (lottery protected) from Columbus and a 2020 1st-round pick if Duchene stays with Columbus, which isn't likely.

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Those with ESPN+ were able to watch the TSN coverage of Monday's trade deadline. ESPN2 carried the TSN coverage during the crucial time of 1 hour before to 30 minutes after the trade deadline.

The NHL Network cut off the Rogers Sportsnet coverage at that time of 2 pm Eastern for its own coverage. The channel wasn't breaking trades so ESPN2 was the better choice.

The NHL Network couldn't use the TSN people (Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie) that NBCSN uses since they were at their day job. Even Pierre McGuire was in Toronto at the TSN desk.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

We know the NHL Network has been cutting back on its matinee rebroadcasts this season. Going with only 2 games in 2 weeks with Canadian-based teams is starvation. If human beings actually responded to the NHL Network Twitter feed, we could find out why these decisions are being made. As we saw from the Ottawa last-minute switch, there appears to be no human interaction from the channel.

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For Canadians who have relied on the WGN signal to get a few more NHL games, you should know that this will be the last season the Hawks will be on WGN. The new deal with NBC Sports Chicago keeps the games exclusively on cable starting in the fall.

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After TSN TradeCentre and covering the Maple Leafs Monday night in Toronto, Gord Miller worked for NBCSN in Philadelphia Tuesday night.

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We haven't had CBC promos on U.S. television in almost 2 months. We got a CBC feed with ESPN+ last Saturday. The service has shown quite a few HNIC games but not with the HNIC feed. An all-Canadian feed forces the hands of ESPN+.

So hopefully you will indulge a round of CBC promos even if they didn't appear on the NHL Network. There were 6 promos, 2 devoted to sports events the following day.

Cavendish and Burden of Truth were just wrapping up their runs while Street Legal and Diggstown are just beginning their runs.

Early game: ISU World Sprint Speed Skating; Cavendish (1st); Men's skeleton; Burden of Truth; Street Legal (2nd); Diggstown (3rd)

Twitter capture: @canadian_xing

NHL the week in preview February 22, 2019

Editor's note: The NHL Network did a very last-minute switch to add the Ottawa Senators home game against Columbus on Friday. The Matt Duchene trade is the primary reason.

The U.S. outdoor game means the NHL Network has to sit out another Saturday night. The channel will also blow off the Rogers pregame.

CBC gets to carry the Montréal-Toronto matchup from Canada's largest city. Citytv and ESPN+ will show the CBC feed. The late game features Edmonton hosting Anaheim.

Rogers Sportsnet carries a late Saturday game with Vancouver hosting the team hanging out part-time in Brooklyn. Hometown Hockey will be in Okotoks, AB with the hometown Flames in Ottawa. Wednesday Night Hockey has Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews in Toronto.

Rogers Sportsnet One has a Wednesday game with Calgary in New Jersey.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 has a late Wednesday game with the Vancouver Canucks way up in Denver.

The NHL Network will simulcast Rogers coverage of the trade deadline coverage on Monday starting at 8 am Eastern. Despite the 3 pm Eastern deadline, the NHL Network will run its own coverage starting at 2 pm Eastern. We think TSN coverage is better than Rogers coverage but both are way better than what the NHL Network can do.

NHL Network

Friday
Columbus @ Ottawa, 7p

Tape delayed
Tuesday Buffalo @ Toronto, 1p

ESPN+

Friday
Winnipeg @ Las Vegas, 10p
Saturday
Montréal @ Toronto, 7p
Monday
Edmonton @ Nashville, 8p
Thursday
Toronto @ NY Islanders, 7p

CBC

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

Citytv

Saturday
Montréal @ Toronto, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
NY Islanders @ Vancouver, 10p
Sunday
Calgary @ Ottawa, 7p
Wednesday
Edmonton @ Toronto, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Wednesday
Calgary @ New Jersey, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet 360

Wednesday
Vancouver @ Colorado, 9:30p

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The NHL Network showed its second Hockey Night in Canada game in 2019 but the coverage had so much love for Tampa Bay. The Canadian crews do have an eye out for Canadian teams but the love Dave Randorf and Garry Galley had for the Florida-based team was gushing.

I will never live long enough to have a game involving a Canadian-based team that would get that much love for U.S. national announcers.

The winter months means sometimes Ron MacLean stays on the site of Hometown Hockey. Having MacLean and Don Cherry at CFB Esquimalt, BC, just west of downtown Victoria on Vancouver Island, looked like a scheduled move. Was fun to have a sunset behind Don and Ron for Coach's Corner.

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Rick Ball is essentially the long-term replacement for Bob Cole. Rogers had 5 HNIC games last weekend and none of them had Ball on the call. 6 of the 7 Canadian teams were in prime time, but the Flames were in Pittsburgh in the afternoon.

Dave Randorf moved east for the weekend. The Edmonton crew (with Drew Remenda) covered the game in Brooklyn and John Shorthouse handled Vancouver in San Jose.

Rogers needs to decide if Ball will be a truly national announcer next season or if local announcers will cover in situations such as this past weekend.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

Chris Cuthbert worked the Maple Leafs game Tuesday night with Pierre McGuire in St. Louis. Cuthbert will also cover Sunday night in St. Paul. The Leafs game was on Sportsnet Ontario so the TSN people were eligible.

NHL the week in preview February 15, 2019

NBCSN features the Toronto Maple Leafs again this week with a Tuesday night game in St. Louis.

The NHL Network remembers to carry a Canadian team with the Montréal Canadiens in western Florida on Hockey Night in Canada. This is the network's second and final telecast of the month for Canadian teams.

CBC goes to the desert as the Toronto Maple Leafs travel to Auston Matthews' birth state. The network will have the Vancouver Canucks in San Jose in the nightcap.

Citytv has the Habs in a sunny climate as we mentioned earlier.

Rogers Sportsnet splits the Saturday feed with West and Pacific carrying Edmonton in Brooklyn. Hometown Hockey from CFB Esquimalt, BC has the Canadiens in very southern Florida. Wednesday Night Hockey showcases the Winnipeg Jets in Denver.

Rogers Sportsnet One has the all-Canadian battle of the Ottawa Senators in Winnipeg. The channel jumps in late on Wednesday as the Calgary Flames host Brooklyn's best.

NBCSN

Tuesday
Toronto @ St. Louis, 8p

NHL Network

Saturday
Montréal @ Tampa Bay, 7p

Tape delayed
Wednesday Toronto @ St. Louis, 1:30p (90-min)

ESPN+

Saturday
Calgary @ Pittsburgh, 1p
Monday
Arizona @ Calgary, 4p
Wednesday
Winnipeg @ Colorado, 8:30p
Thursday
Washington @ Toronto, 7p

CBC

Saturday
Toronto @ Arizona, 7p
Vancouver @ San Jose, 10p

City

Saturday
Montréal @ Tampa Bay, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Edmonton @ NY Islanders, 7p (SNW, SNP)
Sunday
Montréal @ Florida, 7p
Wednesday
Winnipeg @ Colorado, 8:30p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Saturday
Ottawa @ Winnipeg, 7p
Wednesday
NY Islanders @ Calgary, 9:30p

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Found out Saturday morning that NHL Center Ice did have coverage of Hockey Day in Canada. They carried the events before the matinee game and covered the second part before 6 pm Eastern. Incomplete, last-minute, and expensive to access: that sounds the NHL in motion.

The first part was reduced from 2 hours to an hour.

The NHL Network carried a vague NHL Tonight that ran from 1 pm Eastern so this wasn't like the network had programming to run instead.

To be clear, the games would have been nice but our concern was the actual programming: 1 hour before the matinee and 1 hour after the matinee. Shuffling off the coverage to Center Ice at the very last minute is poor form.

The NHL Network hasn't carried a whole lot of anything Canadian in the 2019 calendar year. While this always happens in the second half of the season, not carrying Hockey Day in Canada is an extra slap to the face.

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The highlight from the Rogers pregame was the Stephen Brunt essay about Saskatchewan and hockey as read by Dick Irvin, Jr.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

NBCSN had an "interview" with Auston Matthews and Jeremy Roenick but gave no coverage to the Maple Leafs in the intermission breaks Sunday night.

John Forslund worked with the top NBCSN crew of Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire for the Oilers game. Made me miss Ken Daniels and Ray Ferraro in the game in Edmonton.

Kathryn Tappen worked at ice level. We did get an interview with Leon Draisaitl. We also had analysis on the Canadian team after the 1st period, a rarity from NBCSN.

Gord Miller worked in Philadelphia Monday night. Chris Cuthbert will work one of the Hockey Day in America games on Sunday from Detroit on NBCSN.

NHL the week in preview February 8, 2019

NBCSN shows the same Hometown Hockey game with the Toronto Maple Leafs in an Original 6 game at Madison Square Garden Sunday night. The channel also has Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in Pittsburgh with the same Wednesday Night Hockey game.

The Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada festivities will be in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Other celebrations will be in Montréal, Halifax, and Whistler. The NHL Network is blowing off everything from the 2019 version. ESPN+ isn't carrying any of the games. You can find out more details about the 2019 version of Hockey Day in Canada.

CBC runs a tripleheader with the Winnipeg Jets in Ottawa as the matinee; the classic Toronto-Montréal battle from La Belle Province (simulcast on Citytv); and the Calgary Flames out west in Vancouver.

Rogers Sportsnet helps out with Edmonton hosting the lone U.S. team of the day: San Jose. Hometown Hockey from Whistler, BC has the Maple Leafs game mentioned at the top. Wednesday Night Hockey has the previously mentioned Edmonton Oilers game.

Rogers Sportsnet One shows the late Wednesday night game with Vancouver in Orange County.

NBCSN

Sunday
Toronto @ NY Rangers, 7p
Wednesday
Edmonton @ Pittsburgh, 8p

NHL Network

Tape delayed
Friday Winnipeg @ Montréal, 1p
Monday Toronto @ NY Rangers, 1a (2-hour), 1p
Tuesday San Jose @ Vancouver, 1p
Wednesday Calgary @ Tampa Bay, 1p
Thursday Vancouver @ Anaheim, 1p
Edmonton @ Pittsburgh, 2p (2-hour)

ESPN+

Sunday
Winnipeg @ Buffalo, 3p
Monday
San Jose @ Vancouver, 10p
Tuesday
Calgary @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
Wednesday
Vancouver @ Anaheim, 10:30p
Thursday
Toronto @ Las Vegas, 10p

CBC

Saturday
Winnipeg @ Ottawa, 2p
Toronto @ Montréal, 7p
Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p

City

Saturday
Toronto @ Montréal, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
San Jose @ Edmonton, 7p
Sunday
Toronto @ NY Rangers, 7p
Wednesday
Edmonton @ Pittsburgh, 8p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Wednesday
Vancouver @ Anaheim, 10:30p

Oh baby!

For 50 years, Bob Cole’s calls have captivated the country.

Tonight he takes to the broadcast booth in Toronto for the final time. Congratulations and thank you, Bob! pic.twitter.com/Ox7FOHU0XN

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 7, 2019

Hope you caught the matinee rebroadcast of the Battle of Ontario on the NHL Network. This was Bob Cole's last game in Toronto and the Maple Leafs put together some of Cole's calls over the years.

There was about a month in between appearances for Cole and another month until his next appearance. The next Bob Cole appearance is March 9 with the Ottawa Senators in Boston.

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Catching up on telecasts from before and after the break, I enjoyed getting some Ray Ferraro into the telecasts. Ferraro was in Edmonton for NBCSN, Toronto for NBCSN, and Winnipeg against Columbus on TSN3.

His knowledge is vast, his analysis is crisp and insightful, his stories are fun, and even makes the most of the mini-interviews with the coaches on NBCSN.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

NBCSN will use Kenny Albert and Brian Boucher for the Maple Leafs game Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. Albert is the radio voice of the New York Rangers, though he does have a decent national sensibility. Would rather have Albert call the Rangers than John Forslund. Then again, I would rather have Joe Micheletti (Rangers TV analyst) do this game than Boucher.

The NHL Network carried the Philadelphia Flyers feed for the game with Edmonton.

Twitter capture: @MapleLeafs

NHL the week in preview February 1, 2019

NHL Network shows us another Canadian team in Philadelphia, likely with the home feed as Edmonton makes that trip on Saturday afternoon.

The channel is forced to go dark on Saturday night because NBC is afraid to have another game during its national game Saturday night. [end of rant]

CBC gets its first shot at the NHL after the All-Star Game break with Sidney Crosby and his group in Toronto. The Vancouver Canucks get a mile high in Denver in the nightcap.

Citytv follows the Detroit Red Wings to Ottawa on Saturday night.

Rogers Sportsnet has a Saturday matinee with the Edmonton Oilers in Philadelphia. Hometown Hockey is the Super Bowl matinee with an all-Canadian game with the Oilers in Montréal and festivities from Leduc, AB.

Wednesday Night Hockey features Bob Cole and the Battle of Ontario from Toronto.

Rogers Sportsnet One helps out on Tuesday with Vancouver in the U.S. capital and a Calgary home game on Thursday against San Jose.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 gets a rare Saturday game with the Winnipeg Jets hosting Anaheim on Hockey Night in Canada. The channel has some Super Bowl Sunday fun with the Calgary Flames visiting the former home of their current coach.

The NHL Network rebroadcast of the Super Bowl matinee is late on Sunday night.

NHL Network

Saturday
Edmonton @ Philadelphia, 1p

Tape delayed
Friday Columbus @ Winnipeg, 1a (2-hour), 1p
Saturday Calgary @ Washington, 1a (2-hour)
Monday Edmonton @ Montréal, Midnight (2-hour), 1p
Wednesday San Jose @ Winnipeg, 1p
Vancouver @ Washington, 2p
Thursday Ottawa @ Toronto, 1p

ESPN+

Friday
Calgary @ Washington, 7p
Saturday
Pittsburgh @ Toronto, 7p
Sunday
Edmonton @ Montréal, 2p
Monday
Vancouver @ Philadelphia, 7p
Thursday
San Jose @ Calgary, 9p

CBC

Saturday
Pittsburgh @ Toronto, 7p
Vancouver @ Colorado, 10p

City

Saturday
Detroit @ Ottawa, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Edmonton @ Philadelphia, 1p
Sunday
Edmonton @ Montréal, 2p
Wednesday
Ottawa @ Toronto, 7:30p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Tuesday
Vancouver @ Washington, 7p
Thursday
San Jose @ Calgary, 9p

Rogers Sportsnet 360

Saturday
Anaheim @ Winnipeg, 7p
Sunday
Calgary @ Carolina, 2p

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There were only 10 NHL teams in action since Monday. Winnipeg and Philadelphia each played 3 games. Boston, Buffalo, Columbus, New Jersey, NY Rangers, and Pittsburgh each played 2 games. Dallas and Tampa Bay each played Wednesday.

Each NHL team gets scheduled time off during the season but 21 NHL teams got some extra time. Playing these games so soon after the All-Star break could give those teams a disadvantage down the road.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

Almost every Canadian team has a decent shot at the playoffs. Calgary, Winnipeg, and Toronto have the strongest positions. Montréal and Vancouver have been pleasant surprises. Edmonton is close to a playoff spot. Ottawa has virtually no shot and has to give up its #1 draft pick to Colorado in the Matt Duchene deal.

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Turns out NBCSN used national announcers for the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Kenny Albert and Brian Boucher had the call.

Gord Miller worked for NBCSN at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. Chris Cuthbert will work the NBC game in St. Paul on Saturday night.

NHL the week in preview January 18, 2019

NBCSN brings Canadian teams to the U.S. audience on back-to-back evenings. The U.S. channel will be in Edmonton Tuesday night with the Detroit Red Wings. The first-round series from spring 2017 is on tap Wednesday night with Washington in Toronto.

NHL Network will carry Hometown Hockey via the Rogers Sportsnet feed.

CBC is lost without the Maple Leafs but gravitates toward the Montréal Canadiens hosting Philadelphia. The CBC knows what to do with the Battle of Alberta in the provincial capital in the late game.

Citytv showcases for the Ottawa Senators on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis.

Rogers Sportsnet has Hometown Hockey has the lonely desert team in Toronto with festivities in West Kelowna, BC. Wednesday Night Hockey offers the aforementioned Washington game in Toronto.

Rogers Sportsnet One is a little obsessed with Edmonton with home games against Carolina on Sunday and that Detroit game on Tuesday. The channel also helps out on Wednesday night with the forgotten desert team in La Belle Province.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 gets involved on Saturday night with the Winnipeg Jets in Dallas.

The NHL All-Star Game break runs Thursday-Sunday.

NBCSN

Tuesday
Detroit @ Edmonton, 9p
Wednesday
Washington @ Toronto, 7:30p

NHL Network

Sunday
Arizona @ Toronto, 7p

Tape delayed
Friday Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 3p
Wednesday Detroit @ Edmonton, 1p

ESPN+

Friday
Detroit @ Calgary, 9p
Saturday
Philadelphia @ Montréal, 7p
Sunday
Detroit @ Vancouver, 4p
Wednesday
Carolina @ Vancouver, 10:30p

CBC

Saturday
Philadelphia @ Montréal, 7p
Calgary @ Edmonton, 10p

Citytv

Saturday
Ottawa @ St. Louis, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Sunday
Arizona @ Toronto, 7p
Wednesday
Washington @ Toronto, 7:30p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Sunday
Carolina @ Edmonton, 9:30p
Tuesday
Detroit @ Edmonton, 9p
Wednesday
Arizona @ Montréal, 7:30p

Rogers Sportsnet 360

Saturday
Winnipeg @ Dallas, 7p

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The U.S. feed hadn't seen a Rogers pregame since December 22, 2018. So the first pregame in several weeks turned out to be very U.S. friendly. Boston and Colorado got way more coverage than Toronto and Montréal in the Rogers pregame. We had no promotion of the late games, but that was far less of a surprise than the slanted coverage.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

Scott Oake usually hosts After Hours from the site of the late CBC game. CBC went with Ottawa in San Jose but Oake was in Edmonton. Drew Remenda worked in his old stomping grounds in San Jose on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. John Bartlett worked with Remenda doing the Senators game. Dave Randorf was back east in Montréal this week.

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NBCSN brought out the unusual team of John Forslund, AJ Mleczko, and Brian Boucher. 1 out of 3 isn't all that great. We saw Mleczko outshine Boucher last spring in the Stanley Cup playoffs. This was the only Montréal game on the channel's schedule.

Chris Cuthbert wasn't used in Boston on Monday night but NBCSN did use him late on Wednesday night in the non-exciting desert stop.

2019 CBC television winter schedule

The CBC promos returned to U.S. TV for the first time in 2019. We got 5 promos instead of the usual 6 promos. There certainly could have been a second promo in the 3rd period but there were no breaks in the last 6:55 of the period, an almost unprecedented stint.

Coroner and Unspeakable are brand new shows.

Early game: Coroner; Grand Slam of Curling (1st); Kim's Convenience; Unspeakable (2nd); Little Dog (3rd)

NHL the week in preview January 11, 2019

NBCSN shows its only Montréal Canadiens game of the season Monday night and, of course, the game is in Boston.

The NHL Network picks up the CBC feed for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada.

CBC has those Bruins in Toronto in the early game with the Ottawa Senators finding the way to San Jose in the late game.

Citytv copies the CBC feed in the early game.

Rogers Sportsnet carries the hot Colorado Avalanche in Montréal early on Saturday night and features the Edmonton Oilers hosting the older desert team late. The regional channels have Roberto Luongo back in Vancouver with Hometown Hockey in Langley, BC. Wednesday Night Hockey follows Colorado to the Canadian capital against Ottawa.

Rogers Sportsnet One is following the Calgary Flames with a pair of home games Sunday vs. the ignored desert team and Buffalo late on Wednesday.

NBCSN

Monday
Montréal @ Boston, 7:30p

NHL Network

Saturday
Boston @ Toronto, 7p

Tape delayed
Friday Toronto @ New Jersey, 2p
Monday Anaheim @ Winnipeg, 2p (90-min)
Tuesday Montréal @ Boston, 2p (2-hour)

ESPN+

Monday
Colorado @ Toronto, 7p
Wednesday
Buffalo @ Calgary, 9:30p
Thursday
Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
Winnipeg @ Nashville, 8p

CBC

Saturday
Boston @ Toronto, 7p
Ottawa @ San Jose, 10p

Citytv

Saturday
Boston @ Toronto, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

Saturday
Colorado @ Montréal, 7p
Arizona @ Edmonton, 10p
Sunday
Florida @ Vancouver, 7p
Wednesday
Colorado @ Ottawa, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet One

Sunday
Arizona @ Calgary, 9:30p
Wednesday
Buffalo @ Calgary, 9:30p

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The NBCSN audience got John Walton and Pierre McGuire to call the Winnipeg Jets in St. Paul. We did joke about Gord Miller calling the game, given what happened last April. Miller and Chris Cuthbert were working their day jobs on Thursday.

NBCSN interviews the coaches by this pattern: home team coach in 1st period and road team coach in 2nd period. McGuire interviews the Minnesota coach and does a nice job. McGuire doesn't interview Paul Maurice of Winnipeg. We only monitor games involving Canadian teams. More often that you would imagine, NBCSN blows off the coach of the Canadian team and never blows off the coach of the U.S.-based team. This is just sad.

Elias Pettersson was injured and didn't play on Saturday for Vancouver in Toronto. Rogers Sportsnet still did a feature on Pettersson in the pregame. The pregame didn't air in the United States but the video was posted online.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

ESPN+ proved its continued allergy to the Hockey Night in Canada feed. Carrying the Nashville feed with Montréal at home on Hockey Night in Canada continues the pattern. The channel also blew off a chance to carry a Bob Cole telecast. The service does carry home feeds during the week.

The NHL Network used the NBC Sports Philadelphia feed with the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon. The only relative surprise is that the channel carried the Philly feeds during the intermissions.

Cuthbert called his first NBCSN game of 2019 with Brian Boucher in the U.S. capital on Tuesday.