NHL on CTV

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

Regular season coverage

For the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons, CTV aired 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] 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 CBC, rival brewery Carling O'Keefe^[4] 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 the 14 U.S.-based NHL clubs^[4], who sought to break Molson's monopoly^[5] on NHL broadcasting in Canada. All of 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 Quebec City).

Following the 1985-86 season, CTV decided to pull the plug^[6][7] on the venture. Their limited access to Canadian-based teams^[8] (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.

Schedules

1984-85

Date	Teams
February 15	Edmonton-New York Rangers
February 22	St. Louis-Buffalo
March 1	Minnesota-Detroit
March 8	Philadelphia-Washington
March 15	Winnipeg-Quebec
March 22	Montreal-Washington
March 24	Quebec-Hartford
March 29	Edmonton-Hartford

1985-86

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

All-Star Game coverage

The 1985–86 Canadian coverage of the All-Star Game was to be provided by CTV. However, CTV had a prior commitment to carry a U.S. mini-series.^[10] As a result, TSN took over coverage of the game in Hartford.^[11][12]

Playoff coverage

In 1984–85, Dan Kelly and Ron Reusch called the Philadelphia-Quebec Wales Conference Final series. They also televised Games 3, 4 and 6 of the Montreal-Quebec Adams Division Final and Games 2 and 5 of the Philadelphia-New York Islanders Patrick Division Final.

In 1985–86, Kelly and Reusch called the Calgary-St.Louis Campbell Conference Final series. CTV's coverage was blacked out^[13] 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 (Montreal-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. On the call were Ed Whalen of the Flames and Curt Keilback of the Jets.

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.

Year	Round	Series	Games covered	Play-by-play	Colour commentator(s)
1985	Divisional finals	Philadelphia-New York Islanders	Games 2, 5	Dan Kelly	Ron Reusch
		Montreal-Quebec	Games 3, 4, 6	Dan Kelly	Ron Reusch
	Conference finals	Quebec-Philadelphia	Games 1–6	Dan Kelly	Ron Reusch
1986	Divisional semifinals	Quebec-Hartford	Game 3	Ron Reusch	Bobby Taylor
		Calgary-Winnipeg	Games 1–3	Ed Whalen	Curt Keilback
	Divisional finals	Washington-New York Rangers	Games 4–6	Dan Kelly	Ron Reusch
	Conference finals	Calgary-St. Louis	Games 1–7	Dan Kelly	Ron Reusch

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^[14] against the CBC. Eventually, MacLaren Advertising, in conjunction with Molson Breweries and Imperial Oil/Esso), who actually 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-Montreal 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 were 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.

Round	Series	Games covered	Play-by-play	Colour commentators(s)
Quarterfinals	Boston-Toronto	Games 1–5	Bill Hewitt	Bob Goldham (Games 1–2, 5) Brian McFarlane (Game 3–4)
	New York Rangers-Montreal	Games 1–6	Danny Gallivan	Dick Irvin, Jr.
	Minnesota-St. Louis	Game 7	Danny Gallivan	Dick Irvin, Jr.
Semifinals	Boston-St. Louis	Games 3–4	Danny Gallivan	Dick Irvin, Jr.
	Chicago-New York Rangers	Games 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. CKY in Winnipeg and ATV in Moncton, New Brunswick (CKCW) perhaps most notably, did not air that particular game.

In 1985, CBC televised Games 1 and 2 nationally while Games 3, 4 and 5 were televised in Edmonton only. CTV televised Games 3, 4 and 5 nationally while games were blacked out in Edmonton.

In 1986, CBC only televised Games 1 and 2 in Montreal and Calgary. CBC would go on to televise Games 3, 4 and 5 nationally. When CTV televised Games 1 and 2,^[15] both games were blacked out in Montreal and Calgary.

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.^[16] 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. However, the regular NHL on CTV on-air talent were still utilized.

CTV's later involvement with the NHL

CTV Sportsnet's coverage

Main article: NHL on CTV Sportsnet

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 which 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.

Announcers

Play-by-play

• Bill Hewitt - 1972 Stanley Cup Finals
• Dan Kelly^[17][18][19] - 1984–85-1985–86

Colour commentators

• Brian McFarlane - 1972 Stanley Cup Finals
• Ron Reusch - 1985-1986

Studio hosts

• Dave Hodge - 1972 Stanley Cup Finals
• Dan Matheson - 1984-1986

Studio analysts

• Brad Park^[20] - 1985 playoffs (after Detroit was eliminated). Park retired from playing in the summer of 1985 and joined the CTV crew as a studio analyst for the 1985–86 season. However, he was hired mid-season to replace Harry Neale as head coach of the Red Wings, forcing him to leave CTV. He once again re-joined the crew for the playoffs, which Detroit did not qualify for.
• Bobby Taylor

References

1. ^ "Old NHL on CTV schedules". http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.hockey/browse_thread/thread/29c1336503212bcf#. 
2. ^ McKee, Ken (Mar 8, 1986). "Competitive NHL telecasting hasn't produced viewer bonanza". Toronto Star: p. C5. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "SPORTS PEOPLE; Hockey-TV Suit". New York Times. July 25, 1984. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/25/sports/sports-people-hockey-tv-suit.html?&pagewanted=print. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Warren, Kelly (September 25, 1984). "Great hockey/beer war takes to the ice in Chicago". Chicago Tribune: p. B1. 
5. ^ McKee, Ken (Oct 2, 1985). "Ziegler, Molson's meet over TV rights". Toronto Star: p. F2. 
6. ^ McKee, Ken (September 12, 1986). "Marketing mystery: Argos off TV 38 days". Toronto Star: p. F8. 
7. ^ McKee, Ken (April 19, 1986). "CTV won't renew NHL contract". Toronto Star: p. D8. 
8. ^ McKee, Ken (April 16, 1986). "CTV's hockey games on thin ice Network reportedly unhappy with NHL's Friday night schedule". Toronto Star: p. E5. 
9. ^ Bawden, Jim (January 5, 1986). "Linden plays wizard in Blacke's Magic". Toronto Star: p. E8. 
10. ^ Bostrom, Don (February 2, 1986). "NHL ALL-STARS SKATE AROUND JOAN - BARELY PRO HOCKEY". Allentown Morning Call: p. C8. 
11. ^ "Bid to televise all-star game in Canada fails". Toronto Star: p. C4. January 21, 1986. 
12. ^ McKee, Ken (February 1, 1986). "All-star game an American production". Toronto Star: p. C7. 
13. ^ McKee, Ken (November 7, 1985). "All-U.S. match CTV's challenge to Leaf broadcast". Toronto Star: p. C3. 
14. ^ "Strike Forces CBS to Change Hockey Feature". Los Angeles Times: p. F12. February 21, 1972. 
15. ^ McKee, Ken (May 16, 1986). "Networks split TV coverage of Stanley Cup". Toronto Star: p. D4. 
16. ^ McKee, Ken (December 7, 1985). "Networks won't air games between NHL, Soviet teams". Toronto Star: p. C4. 
17. ^ McAdam, Sean (September 13, 1985). "TV/Radio ESPN announces schedule for start of hockey season". Providence Journal-Bulletin: p. B02. 
18. ^ Taaffe, William (March 11, 1985). "Hockey's Lord Of The Rinks". Sports Illustrated. http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=A+man+of+many+mikes%2C+Dan+Kelly+broadcasts+145+games+for+-+03.11.85+-+SI+Vault&expire=&urlID=413311527&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsportsillustrated.cnn.com%2Fvault%2Farticle%2Fmagazine%2FMAG1119217%2Findex.htm&partnerID=289881. 
19. ^ Craig, Jack (September 20, 1985). "TIME FOR THE NEWS?". Boston Globe: p. 32. 
20. ^ Rosa, Francis (January 5, 1986). "NOTHING DYNAMIC IN DYNAMO GAME". Boston Globe: p. 80. 

External links

• CTV.ca | CTV Sports
• NHL on CTV - Google Search (timeline)
  • 1984-85
  • 1985-86
  • 1986-87