Archive for the ‘Junior Hockey’ Category
IIHF Championnat du Monde Junior 2012 à RDS
Le championnat du Monde junior de l’IIHF commence le lendemain de Noël, à Calgary et à Edmonton. RDS présentera 14 matchs du championnat en direct, aux antennes de RDS et RDS2. Michel Y. Lacroix, Gaston Therrien, Stéphane Leroux et Norman Flynn vont fournir la description et l’analyse de ces matches.
Voici le calendrier des matches en direct à RDS et RDS2 (heure de l’Est):
Lundi 26/12, 15:30 – Canada c. Finlande – RDS
Mercredi 28/12, 15:30 – Finlande c. Étais-Unis – RDS
Mercredi 28/12, 20:00 – Rep. Tchèque c. Canada – RDS
Jeudi 29/12, 20:00 – Canada c. Danemark – RDS2
Vendredi 30/12, 15:30 – Rep. Tchèque c. Étais-Unis – RDS
Samedi 31/12, 20:00 – Étais-Unis c. Canada – RDS2
Lundi 2/1, 17:00 – Quarts de Finale #1 – RDS
Lundi 2/1, 21:00 – Quarts de Finale #2 – RDS
Mardi 3/1, 17:00 – Demi-Finale #1 – RDS
Mardi 3/1, 21:00 – Demi-Finale #2 – RDS
Jeudi 5/1, 15:30 – Match pour 3e place – RDS
Jeudi 5/1, 20:00 – Match de Championnat – RDS
2012 World Junior Hockey Championships on TSN
Once again this year TSN and TSN2 will provide complete coverage of the World Junior Hockey Championships beginning on Boxing Day. TSN and TSN2 will combine to show 23 games at this year’s World Juniors in Calgary and Edmonton. Here is some of TSN’s press release with details.
‘Tis the season for holiday traditions and TSN rolls out a doozy, as Canada’s Sports Leader heads to Edmonton and Calgary to deliver live coverage of the 2012 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. With multi-platform coverage on TSN, TSN2, TSN.ca, TSN Mobile TV and TSN Radio, hockey fans from coast to coast can cheer on Team Canada every step of the way when it goes for gold at the World Juniors.
In total, TSN will produce 26 games with exclusive live coverage of every Team Canada round-robin game, the quarter-final and semifinal match-ups, and the Bronze and Gold medal games. TSN’s 26-game schedule also includes live coverage of three Team Canada pre-competition games and 13 round-robin games not involving Team Canada. Prior to every Team Canada tournament game, TSN broadcasts a 30-minute pre-game show.
TSN’s coverage of the 2012 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP features James Duthie live on location in Edmonton and Calgary to host pre- and post-game shows – as well as intermissions – alongside Hockey Insider and leading junior hockey expert Bob McKenzie.
TSN game analyst Ray Ferraro makes his World Juniors debut this year calling all Team Canada games with play-by-play commentator Gord Miller. This marks the 11th consecutive year that Miller is in the broadcast booth for the event. Joining Miller and Ferraro is reporter Farhan Lalji, who is rinkside for Team Canada games.
Also featured in the booth are play-by-play commentator Dave Randorf and game analyst Craig Button, who call the action for other round-robin match-ups. New TSN recruit and former St. Louis Blues’ head coach Davis Payne, a native of Port Alberni, BC, provides analysis for these games from the TSN studio.
For American readers, Puck the Media has information of coverage in the United States on NHL Network.
Continue after the break for the complete TSN and TSN2 schedule.
2012 World Juniors on TSN Preview Show & By the Numbers
I have a couple TSN press releases to start off this Wednesday. Later today I’ll have full information on TSN’s coverage of the 2012 World Juniors, as well as coverage of the World Juniors on radio in Canada. For now here is TSN’s press release with information on their preview show on Christmas Eve, as well as TSN’s “By the Numbers” for their World Juniors coverage.
With only two sleeps to go until the puck drops on this year’s World Juniors, TSN sets the table for the tournament with the 2012 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW SHOW on Christmas Eve, Saturday, Dec. 24, at 7 p.m. ET on TSN. The show also airs live on TSN Mobile TV and is available on-demand at TSN.ca.
James Duthie hosts the 60-minute preview show alongside Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie from the TSN Studio. They will be breaking down Team Canada position by position with the help of play-by-play commentator Gord Miller and game analyst Ray Ferraro, who are calling all of Canada’s games at the World Juniors.
The 2012 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW SHOW also features Miller sitting down with Team Canada head coach Don Hay, McKenzie counting down his top five non-Canadian players to watch in the tournament, the three most dramatic moments from the 30-year history of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, and the tragic story of the two members of the 2011 gold medal-winning Russian junior team who died in the Lokomotiv plane crash in September.
Sportsnet Introduces CHL Friday Night Hockey
Sportsnet has announced that they will broadcast a new package of Canadian Hockey League games for the 2011-12 season with Friday Night Hockey. Sportsnet will show 1-2 CHL games every Friday night beginning on November 11. Every regular season game every game is available in high-definition on Sportsnet for the first time. RJ Broadhead and Sam Cosentino will call CHL games on Sportsnet, while Rob Faulds will host the coverage. Here is the schedule up until Christmas. Sportsnet will announce their schedule from January through March in the coming weeks.
Friday 11/11, 7:00pm – Barrie Colts @ St. Michael’s Majors – SN Ontario, Pacific & One
Friday 11/18, 7:00pm – Val d’Or Forseurs @ Gatineau Olympiques – SN East, Ontario, Pacific & One
Friday 11/25, 11:00pm – Medicine Hat Tigers @ Edmonton Oil Kings – SN One
Friday 12/2, 7:00pm – Windsor Spitfires @ Ottawa 67′s – SN East, Ontario, Pacific & One
Friday 12/9, 10:00pm – Portland Winterhawks @ Vancouver Giants – SN West, Pacific & One
Friday 12/16, 7:00pm – Guelph Storm @ London Knights – SN Ontario, Pacific & One
Friday 12/16, 10:00pm – Regina Pats @ Calgary Hitmen – SN West, Pacific & One
Canadian Schedule For World Juniors Released
Might as well mark these on your calendars because they will certainly be on TSN. The schedule for the 2012 World Juniors was released today. (all times ET)
Monday 12/26, 3:30pm – Canada vs. Finland
Wednesday 12/28, 8:00pm – Canada vs. Czech Republic
Thursday 12/29, 8:00pm – Canada vs. Denmark
Saturday 12/31, 8:00pm – Canada vs. United States*
Monday 1/2, 5:00pm – Quarterfinal #1
Monday 1/2, 9:00pm – Quarterfinal #2
Tuesday 1/3, 5:00pm – Semifinal #1
Tuesday 1/3, 9:00pm – Semifinal #2
Thursday 1/5, 3:30pm – 3rd Place Game
Thursday 1/5, 8:00pm – Championship Game
*Canada-United States will head-to-head with Jets-Maple Leafs on CBC. Very brave of TSN to go that way. I was expecting a late afternoon game.
Some other games I could see on TSN/TSN2 include
Monday 12/26, 8:00pm – United States vs. Denmark (TSN2)
Wednesday 12/28, 3:30pm – Finland vs. United States
Wednesday 12/28, 5:30pm – Switzerland vs. Sweden (TSN2)
Friday 12/30, 3:30pm – Czech Republic vs. United States
Saturday 12/31, 4:00pm – Finland vs. Czech Republic
Saturday 12/31, 10:00pm – Sweden vs. Russia (TSN2)
More World Juniors Ratings
According to BBM Canada overnight data a total of 4.06 million viewers watched Monday night’s semi final at the World Junior Hockey Championships on TSN. An additional 507, 000 watched on RDS. It is the fourth highest rated program ever on TSN. Some other numbers for World Juniors recently include
Semifinal: Canada vs. USA – 4.06 million
Semifinal: Russia vs. Sweden – 1.25 million
Quarterfinal: Canada vs. Switzerland – 2.7 million on TSN & 395, 000 on RDS
This bring’s TSN’s average audience for Canadian games to 2.78 million. The average including the final last year was 3.1 million (note: Canada didn’t play a quarterfinal last year). It would be reasonable to expect an audience of around 5 million for tonight’s game if it is close. Last year’s final drew a record 5.3 million viewers.
Coverage of the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship concludes tonight with the Championship game between the two most successful teams in the tournament’s history, Canada and Russia. TSN’s coverage begins at 7:00pm ET with a 30 minute pregame show with James Duthie and Bob McKenzie. Puck drop is shortly after 7:30pm ET with Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire calling the action. For any readers in the US, coverage will be simulcast on NHL Network.
HNIC Distribution
This distribution for this Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada 7:00pm ET games is:
Boston Bruins @ Montreal Canadians: National (except Ottawa)
Tampa Bay Lightning @ Ottawa Senators: Ottawa
More World Juniors Ratings
According to BBM Overnight data, 2.9 million viewers watched Canada-Sweden on TSN on Friday afternoon. I know it was New Year’s Eve and some may have had it off, but that number matches the Boxing Day game vs. Russia, which still makes it impressive. The audience peaked at 4.5 million during the shootout. The number is down from the 3.3 million who watched Canada-USA in 2009.
The average audience for the preliminary round is 2.5 million viewers, down just slightly from 2.53 million last year. However, last year’s tournament had more primetime games, so this year’s number is still impressive.
Numbers for the quarter final against Switzerland and the semi final against USA will be available tomorrow. I expect both of those games to be up from last year’s numbers for the same games. Canada didn’t play in a quarter last year, and audiences for a game against the Americans are always high.
TSN also announced that they will carry the first NHL All Star Draft on Friday January 28 at 7:30pm ET. James Duthie will host the coverage with analysts Bob McKenzie, Pierre McGuire, Keith Jones and Darren Dreger.
World Junior Ratings
I can’t say that the World Junior Hockey Championship ratings for TSN are surprising, but since people want to know them I’ll post anyway.
Canada-Russia: 2.94 million
Canada-Czech Republic: 2.2 million
Canada-Norway: 1.88 million
The numbers for yesterday’s thriller between Sweden and Canada won’t be known for another couple of days, but it should easily break the 3 million mark. I would expect that the quarter final vs. Switzerland on Sunday and the semi final and final, should Canada continue to win, will all exceed the 3 million mark too.
The first 3 games of this tournament averaged 2.34 million viewers, compared with 2.27 for the same games last year, so there isn’t much of an increase.
New TSN Scorebugs
Like I expected, the scorebar that TSN was testing out during the Spengler Cup coverage on Monday and Tuesday is now being used for the World Juniors too. I expect it to be rolled out for things like the NHL in the near future (maybe as early as tonight) too. Here is a screen cap of both the new hockey scorebar and the new curling scorebar, which are part of TSN’s new graphics and animation package.
And here is the scorebar that CTV used for Olympic hockey in February, which is similar to the new TSN graphics.
Anything I Thought of Over Christmas
Okay, so I’m back from my self-imposed Christmas break. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. A lot has happened over the past few days. The Hawaii Bowl between Hawaii and Tulsa provided us with some of the most exciting football all year (or at least the 2nd half did, I didn’t see the first half), the NBA played 5 games on Christmas Day (of which I only saw part of one), Sunday Night Football was snowed out in Philly and, of course, the World Junior Hockey Championships began in Buffalo.
I’ll start with some NFL news. As you probably know Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Vikings was postponed because of concerns for fans safety when traveling to and from the game. At first it seemed like a bad idea, but by midnight ET the roads in Philly were shutdown to non-essential traffic, so by evening it proved to be the right decision. Now it was moved to Tuesday because ESPN has exclusivity on the Monday night timeslot, so if NBC wanted to air it, it had to be moved to Tuesday. This also gives the City of Philadelphia some time for snow removal as the storm wasn’t expected to finish until this evening.
The game will now air on TSN2 and NBC tomorrow night at 8:00pm ET. TSN2′s originally scheduled NHL game between the Bruins and Lightning has been pushed from the network’s schedule. It is unclear if it will be available on Centre Ice. Some people are probably wondering why TSN decided to air an encore of Canada-Russia instead of live coverage of Finland-USA last night to replace Sunday Night Football. The best reason that I can think of is that TSN still wanted to air Football Night in America (from 7-8:30pm ET), and they wanted to keep the Finland-USA game on TSN2, where it was originally scheduled, to avoid confusion. This also allowed TSN2 to have the only major sports event on TV last night, which probably meant big ratings for them.
The NFL and NBC have also announced that the final Sunday Night Football game of the season next Sunday will be the win-and-your-in game between the Rams and Seahawks. Whoever wins will win the NFC West and get the 4th NFC seed in the playoffs. CBS’s headline games are Buffalo-NY Jets & Cincinnati-Baltimore at 1pm and Tennessee-Indianapolis & Jacksonville-Houston at 4:15pm. Fox has a more mouthwatering slate that includes Tampa Bay-New Orleans at 1pm and NY Giants-Washington, Dallas-Philadelphia & Chicago-Green Bay at 4:15pm.
I mentioned last week that it looked like TSN would debut a new graphics and animation package for the World Juniors. Well it appears I was half right. The new animation package did debut, with a new “wipe” for replays and a new opening sequence for the broadcast. However, the graphics were the same as before. However, anyone who watched Canada-Spartak Moscow from the Spengler Cup today would have noticed that TSN did have a new scorebar for this game. It kind of looked like a hybrid between the current TSN scorebar and the one that CTV used for the 2010 Olympic hockey coverage. I like it because it doesn’t stretch all the way across the screen. I’m not sure if they plan to use it for all broadcasts, but I would assume this isn’t a one-time thing for only the Spengler Cup. Also it resembles the new Curling on TSN scorebar, which you can see below.
I have to give Rogers Sportsnet a thumbs up for switching over to Newcastle United-Manchester City yesterday when their originally scheduled Premier League match between Blackpool and Liverpool was postponed. The Newcastle-Manchester City game was a better mathcup, but I understand that Liverpool bring in the big ratings. I wouldn’t be surprised if Manchester City are to the 2010s what Chelsea were to the 2000s though. Chelsea gained lots of fans in North America by spending lots of money and are now supported by as many, if not more in North America than the like or Arsenal and Liverpool. I could easily see Manchester City doing this over the next ten years. Speaking of Blackpool, they have now had to postpone three home games because their pitch doesn’t meet Premier League regulations as far as under-surface heating goes. If they don’t get relagated expect this to be a big issue in the offseason.
Finally, it is a busy week for many of the NHL on TSN personalities. Analyst Mike Johnson is juggling doing the World Juniors in Buffalo and Canadiens games for TSN. Last night Pierre McGuire covered for him in Buffalo so he could do the Habs game on Long Island. Because of the big snowstorm that has hit the northeastern United States, including New York City, Johnson is now unable to travel to Buffalo to do tomorrow night’s Sweden-Russia game. It will be interesting to see if he is able to make it upstate in time for the game tomorrow night. Also, McGuire will do World Junior games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon for TSN before heading to Pittsburgh to work the Winter Classic for NBC. The travel this year isn’t as bad as last year for him, when he had to do a New Year’s Eve night game in Saskatoon before heading to Boston for the Winter Classic the next morning.
World Juniors & Spengler Cup on TSN this Holiday Season
It’s almost Christmas, and that means one of the biggest Christmas traditions in Canada is just days away. Of course I’m talking about the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, which will be in Buffalo this year. Once again TSN and TSN2 will provide live, HD coverage of all of Canada’s games, as well as the playoff round and select other round robin games. The official tournament doesn’t start until Boxing Day, but Canada has pre-tournament warm-up games all of next week. James Duthie will host coverage live from Buffalo alongside analyst/insider Bob McKenzie. Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire will call coverage of all of Canada’s games, plus all the playoff round; Ryan Rishaug will report rinkside for these games. Dave Randorf and Mike Johnson will call the games that don’t involve Canada during the round robin. John Lu and Katherine Dolan will also be in Buffalo to file reports for SportsCentre and That’s Hockey.
What excites me the most is that TSN will introduce their new graphics package for this tournament. There will also be a new system that Pierre McGuire will use to breakdown plays. TSN’s current graphics are great, in fact they are probably my favourite of any US or Canadian network for sports, but they have used the same package for a while now, so it will be interesting to see what the re-vamp looks like.
A special tournament preview show will air on Christmas Day at 7pm ET on TSN and will be repeated throughout the next day on TSN and TSN2. It will include a Gord Miller interview with Canadian head coach Dave Cameron. There will also be a half hour pregame show before every Canada game and the final.
Now here is the complete 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships on TSN & TSN2 schedule:
Pre-competition
Monday 12/20, 7:00pm – Canada vs. Switzlerand – TSN2
Tuesday 12/21, 7:30pm – Canada vs. Sweden – TSN
Thursday 12/23, 7:30pm – Canada vs. Finland – TSN2
Tournament
Sunday 12/26, 4:00pm – Russia vs. Canada – TSN
Sunday 12/26, 8:00pm – Finland vs. United States – TSN2
Tuesday 12/28, 4:00pm – Canada vs. Czech Republic – TSN
Tuesday 12/28, 7:00pm – Sweden vs. Russia – TSN
Wednesday 12/29, 7:30pm – Canada vs. Norway – TSN
Thursday 12/30, 3:00pm – Sweden vs. Czech Republic – TSN
Thursday 12/30, 7:00pm – Germany vs. United States – TSN
Friday 12/31, 4:00pm – Canada vs. Sweden – TSN
Friday 12/31, 8:00pm – United States vs. Switzerland – TSN2
Sunday 1/2, 3:30pm – Quarter Final #1 – TSN
Sunday 1/2, 7:30pm – Quarter Final #2 – TSN
Monday 1/3, 3:30pm – Semi Final #1 – TSN
Monday 1/3, 7:30pm – Semi Final #2 – TSN
Wednesday 1/5, 3:30pm – 3rd Place Game – TSN
Wednesday 1/5, 7:30pm – Championship Game – TSN
Also, for those wondering, yes a World Juniors quarter final will bump week #17 Sunday Night Football to TSN2. The reason for this is because a world junior semi final on TSN2 between the US and Switzerland beat Sunday Night Football on TSN head to head last year.
Spengler Cup
The Spengler Cup is also coming to TSN this year. This annual Christymastime tournament from Davos, Switzerland is one of the most prestigious hockey tournaments in the World. TSN takes over coverage from Sportsnet; however, coverage won’t be that much different as Paul Romanuk and Doug Honneger are back to call the action again this year from Davos. Vic Rauter will host TSN’s coverage from Toronto.
The teams competing in this year’s tournament are the Canadian National team (who will be coached by Mark Messier), the host HC Davos and Geneva-Servette HC of the Swiss National League, HC Spartak Moscow and SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, and HC Sparta Prague of the Czech Extraliga.
Here is the 2010 Spengler Cup on TSN & TSN2 Schedule:
Monday 12/27, 2:00pm – Canada vs. TBA – TSN
Tuesday 12/28, 5:00pm – Canada vs. TBA – TSN2 (tape delay)
Wednesday 12/29, 8:55am – Quarter Final #1 – TSN2
Wednesday 12/29, 2:00pm – Quarter Final #2 – TSN2
Thursday 12/30, 8:55am – Semi Final #1 – TSN2
Thursday 12/30, 2:00pm – Semi Final #2 – TSN2
Friday 12/31, 5:55am – Championship Game – TSN
2011 World Junior Hockey Championship on TSN
TSN has announced their broadcast schedule for the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championship, which will take place after Christmas in Buffalo, New York. The Americans are the defending champions.
Monday 12/20, 7:00pm – Canada vs. Switzerland (exhibition) – TSN2
Tuesday 12/21, 7:30pm – Canada vs. Sweden (exhibition) – TSN
Thursday 12/23, 7:30pm – Canada vs. Finland (exhibition) – TSN2
Sunday 12/26, 4:00pm – Russia vs. Canada – TSN
Sunday 12/26, 8:00pm – Finland vs. United States – TSN2
Tuesday 12/28, 4:00pm – Canada vs. Czech Republic – TSN
Tuesday 12/28, 8:00pm – Sweden vs. Russia – TSN
Wednesday 12/29, 7:30pm – Norway vs. Canada – TSN
Thursday 12/30, 3:00pm – Sweden vs. Czech Republic – TSN
Thursday 12/30, 7:00pm – Germany vs. United States – TSN
Friday 12/31, 4:00pm – Canada vs. Sweden – TSN
Friday 12/31, 8:00pm – United States vs. Switzerland – TSN
Sunday 1/2, 3:30pm – Quarter Final #1 – TSN
Sunday 1/2, 7:30pm – Quarter Final #2 – TSN (this conflicts with SNF, but it is possible SNF moves to TSN2)
Monday 1/3, 3:30pm – Semi Final #1 – TSN
Monday 1/3, 7:30pm – Semi Final #2 – TSN
Wednesday 1/5, 3:30pm – 3rd Place Game – TSN
Wednesday 1/5, 7:30pm – Championship Game – TSN
