Hockey Night in Canada

There are many reasons why, at 37 years old, I am still single. Perhaps it is because I am too picky. Perhaps because I am not willing to put up with the probing and BS of dating.

Or perhaps, it's because I'd much rather spend a Saturday night watching Hockey Night In Canada than going out trolling for women who aren't watching Hockey Night In Canada themselves. This is a classic catch-22: I can't meet new women because I'm watching great play-by-play from Bob Cole and Harry Neal, as well as expert commentary on Satellite Hotstove, and of course, the tandem of show host Ron MacLean and studio commentator Don Cherry, who's first period intermission segment "Coaches Corner" is the best 5 minutes of the week; and if I were to go out and seek out women when I would much rather be home watching Hockey Night In Canada, the women out there obviously don't like hockey, or else they'd be at home watching Hockey Night In Canada, and who would want to be involved with a woman that doesn't like hockey? So, unless the people at the CBC website can come up with a dating service designed for men and women in North America who's first requirement is to be Hockey Night In Canada viewers, I'm afraid I will continue to be single...

In all seriousness, not having hockey was awful last year. Hey NHL and NHLPA, don't do it ever again. God bless hockey.

This is a tradition in Canada.

It is much better than anything that ESPN or Fox has. We got Ron McLean and Don Cherry to ramble on at the intermission. This show's theme song is pretty much the other national anthem in Canada and it has been a tradition for over fifty years.

I've never even seen a complete show and I can tell you that this is the best hockey show ever. I wish I had a satellite just so I could watch this show on Saturday Nights. Every Canadian hockey fan watches "Hockey Night in Canada" and every American Hockey fan only wishes "NHL Tonight" could compare. There is no comparison to what our neighbors to the north have.

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.