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

CTV's involvement with the NHL began in the 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 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 which 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.
In the and seasons, the NHL returned to CTV, with regular season games on Friday nights as well as partial coverage of the playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals.
CTV/Carling O'Keefe initially signed a contract well into the 1984-85 season. As a result, they wanted to cram as many games as possible 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 and the Canadian Football League.
While Molson continued to present Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights on the CBC, rival brewery Carling O'Keefe 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 and all 14 U.S.-based NHL clubs, who sought to break Molson's monopoly 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.
After the 1985–86 season, CTV decided to pull the plug on the venture. Their limited access to Canadian-based teams translated into poor ratings. For the next two years, Carling O'Keefe retained their rights, and syndicated playoff telecasts on a chain of local stations 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

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

1985–86

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

All-Star Game coverage

The Canadian coverage of the All-Star Game was to be provided by CTV. However, CTV had a prior commitment to carry the third and final episode of Sins, a U.S. miniseries. As a result, TSN took over coverage of the game in Hartford.

Playoff coverage

In, Dan Kelly and Ron Reusch, and Brad Park, or Bobby Taylor 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, Kelly, Reusch, and Brad Park, or Bobby Taylor called the Calgary-St.Louis Campbell Conference Final series. CTV's coverage was blacked out in Calgary, where CBC provided coverage. For the Calgary Flames-Winnipeg Jets first-round series in, CBC, who initially had the rights to the series, ultimately passed as they were already maxed out with three other series. The rights to the Calgary-Winnipeg series were eventually sold to the CTV affiliates in Calgary and Winnipeg as well as Carling O'Keefe.
CBC and Molson Brewery used a loophole in that games involving Canadian based teams in the playoffs could be televised locally by CBC.
YearRoundSeriesGames coveredPlay-by-playColour commentator
1985Divisional finalsPhiladelphia-New York IslandersGames 2, 5Dan KellyRon Reusch
1985Divisional finalsMontréal-QuébecGames 3, 4, 6Dan KellyRon Reusch
1985Conference finalsQuebec-PhiladelphiaGames 1–6Dan KellyRon Reusch
1986Divisional semifinalsQuebec-HartfordGame 3Dan KellyRon Reusch and Brad Park
1986Divisional semifinalsCalgary-WinnipegGames 1–3Russ Peake
Curt Keilback 		Doug Smith
Rod Black
1986Divisional finalsWashington-New York RangersGames 1–6Dan KellyRon Reusch
1986Conference finalsCalgary-St. LouisGames 1–7Dan KellyRon Reusch and Bobby Taylor

Stanley Cup Finals coverage

In, Hockey Night in Canada moved all playoff coverage from CBC to CTV to avoid conflict with the lengthy NABET strike 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 decided to give the playoff telecast rights to CTV. Initially, it was on a game by game basis in the quarterfinals, and then the full semifinals and Stanley Cup Finals. Because CTV did not have 100% penetration in Canada at this time, they asked CBC 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 that carried Games, 1, 4, or 6.
RoundSeriesGames coveredPlay-by-playColour commentators
QuarterfinalsBoston-TorontoGames 1–5Bill HewittBob Goldham
Brian McFarlane
QuarterfinalsNew York Rangers-MontrealGames 1–6Danny GallivanDick Irvin Jr.
QuarterfinalsMinnesota-St. LouisGame 7Danny GallivanDick Irvin Jr.
SemifinalsBoston-St. LouisGames 3–4Danny GallivanDick Irvin Jr.
SemifinalsChicago-New York RangersGames 2–4Bill HewittBob Goldham

In 1974, some CTV affiliates picked up the American feed from NBC of Game 4 of the Montreal-New York Rangers playoff series.
In, 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. Dan Kelly, Ron Reusch, and Brad Park called the games on CTV.
In, 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, 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. Although CTV aired the game, 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

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. CTV sold its interest in Sportsnet in 2001, after it had acquired TSN.

''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, 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.
The CBC's deal with the NHL was set to expire after the 2013-2014 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, Vancouver Island, 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 2014-2015 season and extending through the 2025-2026 season. While Rogers will sublease Saturday night and playoff games to CBC, thereby keeping that network's iconic Hockey Night In Canada in place until at least the 2017-2018 season. However, Rogers will take over production of games.
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