Hockey Night in Canada

Hockey Night In Canada is the best hockey show on TV. It's better then NHL on FOX, (Although FOX is cool), and better than all the hockey games on ESPN, it's just too awesome, plus the theme music is the best. Just remember if you're in Canada on Saturday Nights, switch to CBC, and watch Hockey Night In Canada!

I began watching this regular Saturday night broadcast in the mid-1950's when we had our first television set. This was on the CBC English network. It was a black &white screen with a grainy picture, not the sharp colour broadcasts we view nowadays. I remember Bill Hewitt, Foster's son, doing the play by play commentary in Toronto on alternate weeks while Danny Gallivan handled the broadcasts in Montreal.

My dad and I would watch the Toronto games with great enthusiasm as we cheered for the Maple Leafs. For the Montreal games, we watched the far noisier Montreal fans who made those games seem like life or death struggles. If players like Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore or Maurice Richard scored the winning goal, the sirens and organ music would blare with boots, hats and just about anything else ending up on the ice surface.

How we looked forward to those games! In the 1960's, the broadcasts became flashier and racier. Times have changed but the excitement of this fast-paced sport has been our national obsession. From its low key production days to now, it has always been the top draw on Canadian television and a part of our shared history.

As a television producer myself, I know a fair bit about television, and how so many things could go wrong. The CBC has done an unbelievable job when it comes to sports coverage, and I believe that HNIC's coverage is by far superior to the american networks. I will give ESPN, and Fox credit though, they do a great job... the glowing puck was and I'm sure you already know a bad idea. Hey... CBC has been doing this since forever, it's no wonder their coverage is better.

I think just about every household and every family in Canada must have this show on their television sets every Saturday night, it seems that it must be about the most popular Canadian TV show in the history of the CBC network.

I had no idea how old it was either, apparently it started way back in 1952? Wow that's a long time to be broadcasting the same show on the same network.

In a way it is sad that it is moving to another network soon I just hope that they are able to keep the show just as good as it is and don't change too much.

Not a huge fan of Don Cherry though.

It began as an extension of CBC's Saturday night radio coverage of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadians. Just to show how different programming policies were then, CBC didn't broadcast games until the start of the second period. Many fans had never experienced a first period until HNIC came to be televised in 1952.

In Toronto, games were broadcast by the father & son duo of Foster and Bill Hewitt. By the late fifties, Foster let Bill take over the reins and returned to radio. In Montreal, the play-by-play was handled by veteran sportscaster Doug Smith, then a former English teacher named Danny Gallivan. The fifties and sixties went on to be HNIC's golden age, as Leafs and Canadians ruled Saturday night, emerging into two of the best clubs in hockey.

Tired of being subject to CBC's nightmarish budget woes, Hockey Night in Canada went independent, incorporating itself as the Canadian Sports Network. They remained a fixture on CBC, Canada's public network, but later took HNIC to the Canadian (CTV) and Independent (based at CHCH Hamilton) Television Networks. Intermission hosts came and went over the years: Wes McKnight, Ward Cornell, Jack Dennett, Dick Irvin Jr., Frank Selke Jr., Ted Darling, Dave Hodge, Mike Anscombe, Dave Reynolds and Brian MacFarlane worked among these ranks.

Expansion changed HNIC, as well as the rest of hockey. In 1970, the Vancouver Canucks entered the NHL, adding the broadcast team of Jim Robson, Ted Reynolds and Bill Goode Jr. to the television mix. By the 1980s, the show had added Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg to their territory. Former NHL "Coach-of-the-year" Don Cherry became a popular color commentator, while veteran broadcasters Don Wittman and John Wells entered the scene. Ron MacLean began his tenure as host, which would see Cherry and himself become key fixtures.

The fermenting 'beer war' between Quebec Nordiques and Montreal Canadians, who were owned by rivals Carling-O'Keefe Breweries and Molson Breweries respectively, did not allow Quebec into the HNIC family, but the provincial rivalry went on to become one of hockey's finest ever. When the Quebec and Winnipeg franchises left for U.S. sites, a new Ottawa franchise retained the six-city face of HNIC. New faces like Chris Cuthbert, Kelly Hrudey, Scott Oake, Scott Russell, Steve Armitage and Harry Neale arrived on the scene.

Molson Breweries was a longtime sponsor for TV's longest running sports program, but dropped affiliation by the mid-nineties, when rival Labatt paid the bills. When the NHL canceled the 2004-2005 season due to the CBA lockout, CBC replaced it with "Movie Night In Canada." Ron MacLean was retained as host.

The NHL labor dispute was settled before late summer 2005 and Hockey Night in Canada made its return to CBC the following October. I find it hard to fathom that the Hockey Hall Of Fame waited until 2007 to induct the great Bill Hewitt into the hall as a broadcaster. Well deserved, albeit long overdue.