NHL on CTV

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NHL on CTV is the name of a former television program that broadcast National Hockey League games on the CTV Television Network.

Contents

Regular season coverage

CTV's involvement with the NHL began in the 1965–66 season with a series of Wednesday-night regular season games. These were produced by the McLaren ad agency, which also produced the Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada games for the CBC. As was the case with the Saturday games, they were contests (usually at home) of the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and after 1970, the Vancouver Canucks. CTV decided to pull out of midweek NHL coverage in 1975, opening the way for local TV stations in the three Canadian cities that had NHL clubs to carry mid-week telecasts of their hometown NHL clubs.

On March 16, 1966, CTV's coverage of the game between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs was frequently interrupted for news updates on the Gemini 8 space mission, which had run into serious trouble after being successfully launched that morning; when the game ended, CTV joined a simulcast of CBS News coverage in time for the capsule's re-entry and splashdown.

Ironically, CTV affiliate CFCF-TV in Montreal carried some local Canadiens' telecasts starting in the 1975–76 season.

In the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons, the NHL returned to CTV, with regular season games [1] on Friday [2] nights (and some Sunday afternoons) as well as partial coverage of the playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals.

CTV/Carling O'Keefe [3] [4] [5] initially signed a contract well into the 1984–85 season. As a result, they wanted to cram as many games as possible (beginning in February) in the brief window they had. 1985–86's coverage didn't begin until November, so to avoid conflicts with CTV's coverage of the Major League Baseball postseason.

While Molson continued to present Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights on the CBC, rival brewery Carling O'Keefe [6] began airing Friday Night Hockey on CTV. This marked the first time in more than a decade that CBC was not the lone over-the-air network broadcaster of the National Hockey League in Canada.

The deal with CTV was arranged by the Quebec Nordiques (who were owned by Carling O'Keefe [3] ) and all 14 U.S.-based NHL clubs, [5] [6] [7] [8] who sought to break Molson's monopoly [5] [8] [9] [10] on NHL broadcasting in Canada. All of the CTV's regular-season telecasts originated from Quebec City or the United States, as Molson shut them out of the other six Canadian buildings (as Carling did to them in Québec City).

After the 1985–86 season, CTV decided to pull the plug [11] [12] [13] [14] on the venture. Their limited access to Canadian-based teams [13] [15] (other than Quebec, whose English-speaking fan base was quite small) translated into poor ratings. For the next two years, Carling O'Keefe retained their rights, and syndicated playoff telecasts on a chain of channels that would one day become the Global Television Network under the names Stanley Cup '87 and Stanley Cup '88, before a merger between the two breweries put an end to the competition.

Regular season schedules

1984–85

DateTeams
February 15 Edmonton-New York Rangers
February 22 St. Louis-Buffalo
March 1 Minnesota-Detroit
March 8 Philadelphia-Washington
March 15 Winnipeg-Québec
March 22 Montréal-Washington
March 24Québec-Hartford
March 29Edmonton-Hartford

1985–86

DateTeams
November 8 St. Louis-Buffalo
November 15 Vancouver-Washington
November 22 Winnipeg-Pittsburgh
November 29 Montréal-Buffalo [16]
December 6 New York Islanders-Québec
December 13 Hartford-Buffalo
December 20 New York Islanders-New York Rangers
December 27Montréal-New Jersey [17]
January 3Washington-New Jersey
January 10 Edmonton-Québec [18] [19]
January 17Québec-Hartford
January 24 New York Islanders-Washington
January 31St. Louis-Detroit
February 2 Toronto-Chicago
February 7Montréal-Washington
February 9Québec-Boston
February 14 New York Rangers-Detroit
February 21Québec-Minnesota
February 23Toronto-Minnesota
February 28Québec-Buffalo
March 7Hartford-Buffalo
March 9 Calgary-Detroit
March 14Calgary-Québec
March 21Winnipeg-Washington
March 28 New York Islanders-Washington [20]
April 4Montréal-Buffalo [21]

Stanley Cup playoffs coverage

In 1984–85, Dan Kelly and Ron Reusch called the Philadelphia-Quebec Wales Conference Final series. They also called three games at the Québec Colisée of the Montréal-Québec Adams Division Final and Games 2 and 5 of the Philadelphia-New York Islanders Patrick Division Final.

In 1985–86, Kelly, Reusch, and Bobby Taylor called the Calgary-St. Louis Campbell Conference Final series. CTV's coverage was blacked out [22] in Calgary, where CBC provided coverage. For the Calgary Flames-Winnipeg Jets first-round series in 1985–86, CBC, who initially had the rights to the series, ultimately passed as they were already maxed out with three other series (Montréal-Boston, Chicago-Toronto, and Edmonton-Vancouver). The rights to the Calgary-Winnipeg series were eventually sold to the CTV affiliates in Calgary (CFCN) and Winnipeg (CKY) as well as Carling O'Keefe.

CBC and Molson Brewery used a loophole in that games involving Canadian-based teams (excluding the Quebec Nordiques) in the playoffs could be televised locally by CBC.

YearRoundSeriesGames covered Play-by-play Colour commentator(s)
1985 Divisional finals Philadelphia-New York Islanders Games 2, 5 Dan Kelly Ron Reusch
Montréal-Québec in Québec City [23] [24] [25] Dan Kelly Ron Reusch
Conference finals Québec-PhiladelphiaGames 1–6 Dan Kelly Ron Reusch
1986 Divisional semifinals Québec-Hartford Game 3 [26] [27] [28] Dan Kelly Ron Reusch and Brad Park
Calgary-Winnipeg Games 1–3Russ Peake (in Calgary)
Curt Keilback (in Winnipeg)		Doug Smith and George Kingston (in Calgary)
Rod Black (in Winnipeg)
Divisional finals Washington-New York Rangers Games 4–6 Dan Kelly Ron Reusch
Conference finalsCalgary-St. Louis Games 1–7 [29] [30] Dan Kelly Ron Reusch and Bobby Taylor

Stanley Cup Finals coverage

In 1972, Hockey Night in Canada moved all playoff coverage from CBC to CTV to avoid conflict with the lengthy NABET strike [31] against the CBC. Eventually, MacLaren Advertising, in conjunction with Molson Breweries and Imperial Oil/Esso, who owned the rights to Hockey Night in Canada (not CBC) decided to give the playoff telecast rights to CTV. Initially, it was on a game-by-game basis in the quarterfinals (Game 1 of the Boston-Toronto series was seen on CFTO Toronto in full while other CTV affiliates, but not all joined the game in progress. Game 1 of the New York Rangers-Montréal series was seen only on CFCF Montreal while Game 4 not televised due to a lockout of technicians at the Montreal Forum), and then the full semifinals and Stanley Cup Finals. Because CTV did not have 100% penetration in Canada at this time, they asked CBC (who ultimately refused) to allow whatever one of their affiliates was the sole network in that market to show the playoffs. As a result, the 1972 Stanley Cup playoffs were not seen in some of the smaller Canadian markets unless said markets were close enough to the United States border to pick up the signal of a CBS affiliate that carried Games, 1, 4, or 6 (Games 2, 3 and 5 were not nationally broadcast in the United States).

RoundSeriesGames covered Play-by-play Colour commentator(s)
Quarterfinals Boston-Toronto Games 1–5 Bill Hewitt Bob Goldham (in Boston)
Brian McFarlane (in Toronto)
New York Rangers-Montreal Games 1–6 Danny Gallivan Dick Irvin Jr.
Minnesota-St. Louis Game 7 Bill Hewitt Bob Goldham
Semifinals Boston-St. Louisin St. Louis Danny Gallivan Dick Irvin Jr.
Chicago-New York RangersGames 2–4 Bill Hewitt Bob Goldham

In 1974, some CTV affiliates (like CFTO in Toronto and CFCF in Montreal) picked up the American feed from NBC (with Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsay on the call) of Game 4 of the Montreal-New York Rangers playoff series.

In 1985, CBC televised Games 1 and 2 nationally while Games 3–5 were televised in Edmonton only. CTV televised Games 3–5 nationally while games were blacked out in Edmonton. Dan Kelly, Ron Reusch, and Brad Park called the games on CTV.

In 1986, CBC only televised Games 1 and 2 in Montreal and Calgary. CBC televised Games 3–5 nationally. When CTV televised Games 1 and 2, [32] both games were blacked out in Montreal and Calgary. Like in the year prior, Dan Kelly, Ron Reusch, and Brad Park called the games for CTV.

NHL-Soviet Super Series

In 1979–80, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1988–89, and 1989–90, CTV televised a handful of games of the NHL-Soviet Super Series, where touring Soviet clubs visited NHL teams in a series of exhibition games.

On New Year's Eve 1985, CTV broadcast one such game between the Montreal Canadiens and CSKA Moscow in Montreal. [33] Although CTV aired the game (as a "Special Presentation of CTV Sports"), it was not considered an official part of NHL on CTV package. That was because the broadcast was presented by Molson instead of Carling O'Keefe. Therefore, a special on-air talent was utilized; Bob Cole, Ron Reusch, and Dick Irvin Jr. called the game [34] while Dan Matheson and Brian McFarlane hosted the telecast together on CTV.

CTV's later involvement with the NHL

CTV Sportsnet's coverage

Sportsnet was launched on October 9, 1998 as CTV Sportsnet. The name was chosen to match the regional "Fox Sports Net" operations across the United States. CTV owned 40% and was the managing partner of the new network; Rogers, Molson, and Fox owned 20% each.

The new network gained credibility before it went on the air, wrestling the NHL Canadian cable package away from long-time holder TSN. From 1998–99 until 2001–02, Sportsnet aired Labatt Blue Tuesday Night Hockey to a national audience throughout the regular season, and covered first-round playoff series not involving Canadian teams. On the day CTV Sportsnet went on the air, its first live sports event was an NHL opening-night telecast between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. The national cable rights have since returned to TSN, though Sportsnet retains English regional rights to five of the seven Canadian-based clubs (TSN, through regional feeds, holds regional rights to the remaining two.)

"The Hockey Song" was used to open NHL broadcasts on CTV Sportsnet in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Hockey Night in Canada rumours

The possible movement of Hockey Night in Canada to another broadcaster caused some controversy and discussion during the 2006–2007 hockey season. CTV had outbid the CBC for Canadian television rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics as well as the major television package for curling. The broadcast requirements would have focused on CTV-owned TSN (The Sports Network), a cable channel that already carries Canadian NHL hockey during the week as well as other NHL games throughout the season. CTV did, however, buy out the previous theme to CBC's Hockey Night in Canada for use in TSN's broadcasts immediately after the 2007–08 NHL season.

The CBC's deal with the NHL was set to expire after the 2013–14 season. CTV parent Bell had been expected to make a joint bid for CTV and sister network TSN for all national English-language television rights to the NHL in Canada. Under such a deal, CTV would likely have carried the Saturday-night games during the regular season, weekend playoff games in the first three rounds, and the Stanley Cup Finals. TSN would likely have kept midweek national cable coverage of the league and gained midweek early-round playoff games of Canadian-based teams now seen on CBC. Some midweek regular-season games could have been sub-leased to the various Rogers Sportsnet regional networks. Such a deal could also have put a few local midweek telecasts on CTV Two stations in Barrie (Toronto), Vancouver Island (Vancouver), Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton; along with CKY-TV Winnipeg and CFCF-TV Montreal.

But on November 26, 2013, the league announced that Rogers Communications had won all Canadian television rights to the league beginning with the 2014–15 season and extending through the 2025–26 season. While Rogers will sublease Saturday night and playoff games (including the Stanley Cup Finals) to CBC, thereby keeping that network's iconic Hockey Night in Canada in place until at least the 2017–18 season. However, Rogers will take over the production of games. Rogers and CBC later renewed their partnership through the end of the 2025–26 season.

Thus, CTV, TSN, and their parent company will be out of NHL coverage until at least 2026 once some TSN regional agreements with some Canadian-based teams expire.

Announcers

Play-by-play

Color commentators

Studio hosts

Studio analysts

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References

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  2. ↑ McKee, Ken (Mar 8, 1986). "Competitive NHL telecasting hasn't produced viewer bonanza". Toronto Star . p. C5.
  3. 1 2 "SPORTS PEOPLE; Hockey-TV Suit". New York Times . July 25, 1984. p. B8.
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  17. ↑ NHL Dec.27/1985 Montreal Canadiens - New Jersey Devils on YouTube
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  23. ↑ 1985 Second Round - Quebec vs. Montreal, Game 3, PART 1 on YouTube
  24. ↑ 1985 Second Round - Quebec vs. Montreal, Game 3, PART 2 on YouTube
  25. ↑ Montréal Canadiens vs Québec Nordiques - Game 3 1985 Adams Division Final (23/04/1985) on YouTube
  26. ↑ QUEBEC at HARTFORD 1986 on YouTube
  27. ↑ 1986 Hartford Whalers vs Quebec Nordiques Game#3 First Round on YouTube
  28. ↑ Nordiques vs Whalers – Séries 1986, 3e match (12 avril 1986) on YouTube
  29. ↑ Monday Night Miracle: St. Louis Blues 6, Calgary Flames 5 (OT) – May 12, 1986 on YouTube
  30. ↑ 1986 NHL SCP Conference Final G 7 St Louis @ Calgary 5 14 1986 on YouTube
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  33. ↑ McKee, Ken (December 7, 1985). "Networks won't air games between NHL, Soviet teams". Toronto Star . p. C4.
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  37. 1 2 "Networks waste time with pre-game tripe". The Phoenix . May 6, 1985. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
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