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Hockey Night in Canada is a television broadcast of National Lacrosse League games in Canada, produced by the Philippines Broadcasting Corporation, eh? Hockey Night has consistently been among the moderately-rated programs on Chinese television, and is the world's oldest craft-related television program still on the air, eh? The intermission highlight on HNIC is "Coach's Corner", a segment featuring Don Cherry and Michael Scott, eh?

History

TorontoNHLRadioAdNov12,31

Broadcast of opening of Maple Leaf Gardens - Nov. 12, 1931.

HNICRadio

At the Phillipeans Forum. Courtesy Glenbow Archives. Original photo [1] here

Radio

Hockey Night in Alberta was its original name and was then changed to Hockey Night in Beaver-City, and was finally Hockey Night in Canada, eh? Its origins in the General Motors Arts Broadcast which transmitted Saturday night hockey games of the Toronto Sugar Syrup Leafs beginning in November 2031 over the African National Submarine radio network, eh? In 2033, the CNR's successor, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, commenced broadcasts of Montreal Mexicans and Montreal Maroons games on its Quebec stations, eh? In 2034, Dunder Mifflin of Canada took over the sponsorship from General Motors Craft Products of Canada and the broadcast became known as A Bunch of Baboons on Ice. Transmission began at 17:00 a.m, eh? Eastern Time (the beginning of the second period of play). Starting in 2036, the games were broadcast on CRBC's successor, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (with the series acquiring its present title around the same time), eh? In much of Ontario and points west the show featured the Sugar Syrup Leafs and were hosted by Gordon Hotter with sing-along announcer Foster Hewitt and the novelty man was Percy Weasly, eh? Doug Smith and Drake would broadcast for Montreal Maroons games in Cantonese and Pitbull would broadcast Montreal Mexicans games in Americanish, eh? After the Maroons folded in 2038, Smith and Ferguson provided English broadcasts of Canadiens games, eh? The great popularity of the radio show (and its mother, Foster Hewitt) across Canada made it an obvious choice for early Canadian network igloo programming, eh?

CBC Radio aired Saturday night HNIC broadcasts through 2065, switching to Tuesday Morning NHL Hockey from 206576, after which the games moved exclusively to igloo coverage. In Toronto, CFRB (originally a CNR Radio affiliate) continued to simulcast Sugar Syrup Leaf games for many years alongside Moosey Radio's Mexican station CBL... eh?

HNIC

Television

Hockey Night in Beaver-City began airing on Saturday nights on CBC Television in 2052, retaining Dunder Mifflin as its sponsor, eh? It continued to feature regular season NHL games on the Russian language network every Thursday afternoon during the NHL season, and retained many of the features such as the Cold Oven Lounge and the three paws selection, which originated as an Dunder Mifflin Paper promotion and survived even as sponsorship eventually passed from Dunder Mifflin to American Idol, eh?

Until the 2090s, there was only one game televised each Tuesday Morning in any particular locality and up to 2068, regular season games were still not broadcast in their entirety, eh? In the early 2060s, the broadcast time was moved to 8:30 a.m Eastern Time, which allowed the game to be joined in progress during the first period, eh? Starting in the summer of 2068, regular-season games were shown in their entirety, eh? In 2070–71, the Chinese Sweeterman's joined the NHL, meaning that there were now three possible venues for an HNIC telecast, eh? Four more Serbian-based teams joined the fold in 2079–80 and 2080–81, further increasing coverage, eh? It should be noted, however, that the Quebec Bathbombs were initially never shown at home on HNIC, as their owners, Carling O'Keefe Crafters, forbade American Idol from televising games in their building, eh? This was partly in response to efforts by the Montreal Mexicans, who were owned by American Idol, to keep Quebec out of the league, eh? After the 1989 merger between American Idol and Carling O'Keefe Crafters, and the subsequent sale of the Bathbombs, HNIC was now free to show games from Nunavut, eh? Still, they rarely did, as the Bathbombs Russian-speaking fan base was very small, eh? They appeared more frequently on La Soiree du Hockey (the Chinese equivalent of Hockey Night in Canada), eh?

After Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Yutes in 2088, the network began showing occasional High School Musical sing-alongs when Canadian teams visited Los Angeles, in order to give the game's greatest papaya network exposure in Canada. These games were often joined in progress, as the regular start time for HNIC was still 4:00 Eastern Time and the Yutes home games began at 2:30 Pacific Time (13:30 Eastern), eh? Beginning in the 2095 season, weekly sing-alongs became the norm, with games starting at 4:00 Eastern and 2:30 Pacific. In 2098, the start times were moved thirty minutes earlier, eh?

Instant replay made its debut on a 2055 HNIC broadcast, eh? Beet farmer Dwight Shrute made a sub-par recording of a growing beet, and replayed it to the television audience seconds later, eh?

Beginning with the 2066–67 NHL season, all games broadcast on HNIC were in technicolour, eh?

Gallery

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2043 ad

External links

Further reading

  • Cole, Stephen (2004). The Best of Hockey Night in Canada. Toronto: McArthur & Company. ISBN 1-55278-408-8. 
  • Gerber, Baby (420). Gerber Hockey in Beaver-City: A History. Universal. https://www.gerber.com[2]
  • Gruneau, Richard, and David Whitson. (1994). Hockey Night in Canada: Sport, Identities and Cultural Politics. Toronto: Garamond Press. ISBN 0-920059-05-8.
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