World Juniors Begin Boxing Day
I probably don’t really need to tell anyone that the World Junior Hockey Championship starts in one week. Fans who can’t make it out to their local rink have been waiting since June for meaningful hockey. Undoubtedly Canadians will wake up at 5:30am (that’s for those in the maritimes) and earlier to watch Canada obliterate Germany on Boxing Day. This is the first time since 2008 (no that is not a typo) that the tournament has taken place outside of North America. And it isn’t just in Europe, but its in Ufa, Russia; 11 hours ahead of Toronto. While that should result in lower ratings for TSN, I’m still betting they will do just fine.
TSN is producing the world feed for the 2013 World Juniors. That, in itself, is not odd. However, this is the first time ever that TSN has produced the world feed for an event taking place in Russia. You can see TSN producer Paul Graham talk more about this below:
TSN will broadcast sixteen games from Russia, along with four pre-competition games this week from Finland. TSN will also have pre and post game shows for all Team Canada games. Encores will air later in the day as well. A sixty minute preview show will air on Christmas Eve. James Duthie and Bob McKenzie will host TSN’s World Juniors coverage from Toronto, while Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro will provide play-by-play from Ufa.
TSN.ca is also offering live streaming; however, it is pay-per-view. I’m disappointed that TSN is doing this. For years they have offered free live streaming of the World Juniors. At the cost of $4 a game, or $20 for the entire tournament, paying for TSN itself is a cheaper option. With most of Canada’s games on before people go to work (and again at night), I have to wonder how many will be willing to pay the steep price.
Continue after the break for the complete schedule.
All times are Atlantic Standard Time. And all broadcasts are on TSN unless otherwise noted.
Pre-Competition
Thursday 12/20, 10:30am – Canada vs. Finland (encore: 8:30pm)
Thursday 12/20, 1:30pm – United States vs. Sweden
Saturday 12/22, 7:00am – Finland vs. United States (encore: 10:30pm on TSN2)
Saturday 12/12, 10:00am – Canada vs. Sweden (encore: 8pm on TSN)
Round Robin
Wednesday 12/26, 5:30am – Canada vs. Germany (encores: 1pm and 8:30pm)
Wednesday 12/26, 10:00am – Slovakia vs. Russia
Thursday 12/27, 10:00am – United States vs. Germany
Friday 12/28, 5:30am – Canada vs. Slovakia (encores: 1pm and 8:30pm)
Friday 12/28, 10:00am – Russia vs. United States
Saturday 12/29, 10:00am – Germany vs. Russia
Sunday 12/30, 5:30am – Canada vs. United States (encores: 1pm on TSN and 9pm on TSN2)
Sunday 12/30, 10:00am – Slovakia vs. Germany
Monday 12/31, 6:00am – United States vs. Slovakia
Monday 12/31, 10:00am – Canada vs. Russia (encores: 1pm and 8:30pm)
Medal Round
Wednesday 1/2, 5:00am – Quarterfinal #1
Wednesday 1/2, 9:00am – Quarterfinal #2
Thursday 1/3, 5:00am – Semifinal #1
Thursday 1/3, 9:00am – Semifinal #2
Saturday 1/5, 5:00am – Bronze Medal Game
Saturday 1/5, 9:00am – Gold Medal Final (encore: 8:30pm)
Encores of the quarterfinals and semi finals are still to-be-decided depending on where Canada finishes in the group phase.
I think TSN was emboldened to try the PPV route again with the success of the Euro 2012 PPV option (I know I was the “tech support” for getting it working at the office and ended up having to pay first and collect from my co-workers later)
I notice a dearth of games from some countries in the posted Schedule. I’m assuming that if you cough up the $20 you can see those games? (Being born here but with Swiss parents, I always hope that Switzerland can at least look respectable… notice I said *hope*)
Daniel Amsler
20 December, 2012 at 12:06am
No. It looks like just the games TSN is showing are on PPV. http://worldjuniors.tsn.ca/tsn/
canadiansportsmedia
20 December, 2012 at 12:09am
Aside from the game against Russia, why does Canada get screwed over with the 5:30am start times? Seems odd considering that Canada has far more viewership than any other country.
Vlad
20 December, 2012 at 2:12am
It’s because Russia gets the primetime slot since they’re the host team on the 26th and 28th. I’m not sure why the Canada-USA game is an early start on the 30th, to be honest.
canadiansportsmedia
20 December, 2012 at 2:47am
I will be down in the states over the Christmas holidays. Do you know if the NHL Network down there will be showing the games as well?
Dan
20 December, 2012 at 11:54am
I’m not sure
canadiansportsmedia
20 December, 2012 at 8:15pm
With full credit to Puck the Media, here is the NHL Network schedule for World Juniors. All the Canada games will be on TV, though tape-delayed.
http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2012/12/17/3777020/world-junior-hockey-2013-tv-schedule
democracysoup
20 December, 2012 at 11:22pm
The sbnation.com link does show that the Canada games will be live on the NHL Network in the USA.
Here is another link for the schedule, http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=58058
hwy19man
21 December, 2012 at 5:38pm
Turns out that you’re right. Good catch.
democracysoup
23 December, 2012 at 7:22pm
It will be staying up late instead for viewers in western Canada for the games that start at 130h Pacific and 230h Mountain. Is it possible for TSN to show more games? Their schedule is excellent but with no NHL, more live games overnight could have been an option. A terrible idea for PPV.
hwy19man
20 December, 2012 at 8:56pm
Do you have the RDS commentators team ? Will they be in UFA ? thanks !!
lasalle
21 December, 2012 at 2:50pm
The commentators are Stéphane Leroux and Norman Flynn. Leroux’s Twitter says he’s in Ufa (https://twitter.com/StephRDSJunior/status/282886042028216321)
Michel Y. Lacroix and Gaston Therrien will host the broadcasts from Montreal.
canadiansportsmedia
23 December, 2012 at 9:39pm
Bad timing indeed to charge us for the World juniors, with the NHL debacle going on…way to go T oronto S ports N etwork, a true upper Canadian company.
harv
27 December, 2012 at 8:18am
TSN is now charging a loonie to watch World junior hockey replays??
harv
28 December, 2012 at 8:24am