NHL_Game_of_the_Week

<i>NHL Game of the Week</i>

NHL Game of the Week

American TV series or program


The National Hockey League Game of the Week is a branding used for regular season National Hockey League weekend games that are typically televised on a national broadcast network in the U.S.

Quick Facts NHL Game of the Week, Genre ...

The branding was previously used by NBC on Sunday afternoons, beginning at the weekend of the NFL Conference Championship games when it held NHL broadcast rights between the 2005–06 and 2020–21 seasons. During the 2016–17, NBC began to promote the Star Sunday brand on both the Game of the Week and its Sunday Night Hockey broadcasts on sister cable network NBCSN, focusing primarily on the NHL's star players. Star Sunday featured extensive pre-game, in-game and post-game coverage of each featured player. The first game under the new package featured the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings on January 22, 2017, with Ryan McDonagh and Dylan Larkin the featured players of their respective teams.[1]

Beginning with the 2021–22 season, ABC replaced NBC as the league's network broadcast partner.[2][3] Since then, ABC has typically aired one game per weekend, usually on Saturday afternoons, beginning in February. Due to the current arrangement of ABC's sports programming being produced and co-branded by ESPN, the broadcasts carry the NHL on ESPN production and branding.

History

Historically, there was game of the week broadcasts in the past but until NBC Sports took over broadcasting rights to the National Hockey League from ESPN and ABC they were never consistent.

NHL on NBC era

Starting in 2007–08, the most important games on primarily Sundays or Thursdays would be titled NHL on NBC Game of the Week which eventually got moved to only Sundays later that season.

Then as a part of the deal made between NBC and the NHL in 2011–12, the game of the week package would add the NHL Thanksgiving Showdown to its schedule and this would continue until the 2020-21 season. [4][5]

ESPN/ABC takes over

In March 2021, after nearly 20 years away, ESPN announced it had reacquired broadcasting rights to the NHL and as a part of that deal ABC would take over rights to air the game of the week package. [6][7][8][9]

ABC Hockey Saturday as is would be called would debut on November 26, 2021 with the Thanksgiving Showdown between the New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins. [10]

ABC’s game of the week coverage consists of mostly of either doubleheaders or tripleheaders from Saturday afternoon to night which usually begins at the last weeks of the season which starts with a 30-minute pregame show.[11]

Schedules

2000s

2006–07 season

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2007–08 season

Starting this season, NBC aired these Game of the Week games on a national basis, in addition to carrying the national broadcasts of the Winter Classic on New Year's Day and the Stanley Cup Playoffs during the Spring.

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2008–09 season

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2010s

2009–10 season

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2010–11 season

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2011–12 season

The Pittsburgh Penguins had an overall five network TV appearances during this season, making it the first NHL team in Pennsylvania and the first NHL team to have overall five network appearances in a regular season.

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2012–13 season

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2013–14 season

[12]

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2014–15 season

[13]

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2015–16 season

[14] NBC was supposed to air the Pittsburgh-Washington match-up on January 24, but however, the game was postponed due to hazardous weather, so the network instead selecting St. Louis-Chicago game as their match-up and it aired in the Primetime slot.

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2016–17 season

During the season, NBC's Star Sunday concept was added to the Game of the Week package.[15] The first game under the new brand took place on January 22, 2017, in a game between the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings.[1]

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(*) Designated as a Star Sunday game.

2017–18 season

During this season, the Philadelphia Flyers had an overall five network TV appearances, making it the final NHL team in Pennsylvania and the second NHL team to have overall five network appearances (the first was Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011–12 season).[16] NBC initially announced that no NHL games would be aired on the network during the 2018 Winter Olympics, however they changed course and added three Sunday afternoon games in February as a lead-in to the Winter Olympics, allowing Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk to stay home and call 3 NHL games.[17][18][19][20] NBC correctly switched the final minutes of the 2018 NHL Stadium Series to its sister network NBCSN (except for viewers in the Washington D.C. market) at 11 p.m. Eastern Time after play stoppage due to the power outage delay.[21] Star Sunday returned on March 11, 2018, both as part of the Game of the Week and Sunday Night Hockey package.

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(*) Designated as a Star Sunday game.

2018–19 season

[22] For the first time, NBC selected two regional games which to aired it in primetime on February 2, 2019. Star Sunday returned on February 3, 2019, both as part of the Game of the Week and Sunday Night Hockey package. This marked the first and only season of Star Sunday to have its presenting sponsor; AT&T was the first presenting sponsor and they branded themselves as Star Sunday presented by AT&T.

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(*) Designated as a Star Sunday game.

2020s

2019–20 season (NBC)

For this season only, Brian Boucher replaced Pierre McGuire on the lead broadcast team with Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk. McGuire would be reassigned to work with NBC's other broadcast teams. The Pittsburgh Penguins originally had six network television appearances during that season (for the first time since the 2011–12 season), however, due to the cancellation of their final two network TV appearances (the Washington-Pittsburgh match-up on March 22 and the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia match-up on March 29) because of the coronavirus pandemic, they reduced to four[23][24] as the games are postponed due to the pandemic, in which the rest of the regular season was paused indefinitely due to the pandemic.[25][26][27][28] All players and hockey staff were asked to self-quarantine in their home cities until further notice.[29][30][31][32] On May 26, 2020, Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, was announced that the rest of the regular season was cancelled.[33][34][35][36][37][38][39]

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2020–21 season (NBC)

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the 2020–21 NHL season has been delayed to January 13, 2021, and all teams would play a 56-game division-only schedule with the NHL temporarily realigning divisions to minimize travel as much as possible, with all seven Canadian teams playing one division due to COVID-19 cross-border travel restrictions imposed by the Government of Canada.

NBC Sports broadcast 16 NHL regular season games, which is the most ever NHL regular season games broadcast on NBC. The NHL on NBC schedule featured a number of rivalries, including the Capitals–Penguins rivalry, the Blackhawks–Red Wings rivalry, the Bruins-Rangers rivalry, and the Avalanche-Blues rivalry. Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals had five network television appearances this season, the third NHL team to have largest appearances during the regular season. The final NHL on NBC game was on May 8, 2021, with two games aired regionally, all but New York metro and Boston markets, who got the Penguins-Sabres game, got the Bruins-Rangers rivalry game, and the regional games were shared with the teams' respective broadcasters in their aforementioned markets.[40][41] It also marked as the final season for the games to aired on NBC after 16 years, as 10 games were regained by over-the-air ABC beginning next season.[42]

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2021–22 season (ABC)

This season, ABC took over as the national over-the-air broadcaster for the NHL as part of a seven-year multiplatform deal with ESPN. They kicked off their coverage with the Thanksgiving Showdown on November 26th. All games were simulcast on ESPN+, and featured a stats-based IceCast alternate broadcast, excluding the Thanksgiving Showdown.

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2022–23 season (ABC)

ABC lost the rights to the Thanksgiving Showdown to TNT, but gained the rights to the NHL Stadium Series in return. ABC also introduced doubleheaders on select Saturdays, as well as a tripleheader during the last Saturday of the season. Like last season, all games were simulcast on ESPN+, and featured a separate Star Watch, Puck Possesser, or All-12 alternate broadcast.

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2023-24 season (ABC)

ABC had four doubleheader weeks this season, as well as the Stadium Series, and two tripleheaders, one on the same day as the first game of the Stadium Series, the other on the last Saturday of the season. All games will once again be simulcast on ESPN+.

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Notes

  1. NBC selected Ryan McDonagh and Dylan Larkin as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  2. NBC selected Jeff Carter and Alexander Ovechkin as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  3. NBC selected Henrik Zetterberg and Devan Dubnyk as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  4. NBC selected David Pastrnak and Tyler Seguin as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  5. NBC selected Eric Staal and Duncan Keith as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  6. NBC selected Mikko Koivu as featured Star Sunday player for the game. No Red Wings player was selected; instead Joe Louis Arena was selected as the Red Wings' representative to mark the network's final game at the venue.
  7. NBC selected Patrice Bergeron and Brent Seabrook as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  8. NBC selected David Krejci and Patrick Kane as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  9. NBC selected Claude Giroux and Sidney Crosby as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  10. NBC selected Wayne Simmonds and Patrice Bergeron as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  11. NBC selected Alexander Ovechkin and Patrice Bergeron as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  12. NBC selected Vladimir Tarasenko and P. K. Subban as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  13. NBC selected Nicklas Backstrom and Mika Zibanejad as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  14. NBC selected Claude Giroux and T. J. Oshie as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  15. NBC selected Sean Couturier and Mika Zibanejad as featured Star Sunday players for the game.
  16. Game postponed after the first period due to weather concerns. Resumed at 12 A.M. on NBCSN.
  17. The Rangers were originally scheduled to be the Capitals' opponent, but that game was moved to March 20. As a result, the Capitals' home game against the Devils on March 7 was rescheduled to February 21, and due to the rescheduling of the Flyers–Bruins game at Lake Tahoe, this game was moved to the Game of the Week slot.
  18. The Rangers–Bruins game was televised in most markets, with MSG Network and NESN airing the game in the New York and Boston markets. The Sabres–Penguins game was televised exclusively in the New York and Boston markets, with MSG Western New York and AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh airing the game in the Buffalo and Pittsburgh markets.

References

  1. ""STAR SUNDAY" NHL GAME OF THE WEEK FEATURES RYAN MCDONAGH & DYLAN LARKIN – N.Y. RANGERS FACE DETROIT RED WINGS SUNDAY AT 12:30 P.M. ET ON NBC". NBC Sports Group. January 19, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  2. "NHL back on ESPN with 7-year multiplatform deal". ESPN. March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  3. Fang, Ken (April 19, 2011). "NBC/Versus To Air NHL Games For The Next Ten Years". Fangsbites.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
  4. Roth, Andy (April 20, 2011). "NBC/Versus to pay billion for NHL rights". WGR. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  5. "NHL back on ESPN with 7-year multiplatform deal". ESPN. March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  6. Lucia, Joe (September 16, 2021). "ESPN, Turner release NHL schedules for 2021-22 season, featuring 78 regular season games on cable and broadcast". Awful Announcing. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  7. "NBC SPORTS GROUP TO AIR 103 NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAMES IN 2013-14". NBC Sports Group. July 19, 2013. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  8. "NBC SPORTS GROUP TO AIR 103 NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAMES IN 2014-15". NBC Sports Group. July 22, 2014. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  9. "NBC SPORTS GROUP TO AIR 105 NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAMES IN 2015-16". NBC Sports Group. July 27, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  10. "NBC SPORTS GROUP SCHEDULED TO AIR NEARLY 100 NHL REGULAR SEASON GAMES IN 2017-18". NBC Sports Group. July 31, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  11. "NBC SPORTS ADDS THREE GAMES TO ITS 2017-18 NHL SCHEDULE". NBC Sports Group. January 1, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  12. "NBC OLYMPICS ANNOUNCES HOCKEY COMMENTARY TEAMS FOR PYEONGCHANG WINTER OLYMPICS". NBC Sports Pressbox. January 10, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  13. "NBC SPORTS PRESENTS THREE SUNDAY NHL MATINEE MATCHUPS DURING NEXT THREE WEEKENDS ON NBC". NBC Sports Pressbox. February 8, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  14. "NBC cuts away from NHL Stadium Series game for local news". Awful Announcing. March 3, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  15. "NBC SPORTS SCHEDULED TO AIR RECORD 109 GAMES DURING 2018-19 NHL REGULAR SEASON". NBC Sports Group. August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  16. "Report: Pierre McGuire removed from NBC's No. 1 NHL team in favor of Brian Boucher". Awful Announcing. September 4, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  17. "NBC SPORTS TO AIR 109 NHL GAMES DURING 2019-20 REGULAR SEASON". NBC Sports Group. August 6, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  18. "CORONAVIRUS IMPACT: SAN JOSE SHARKS TO PLAY 3 GAMES WITHOUT FANS IN MARCH". ABC7News.com. March 11, 2020. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  19. Chick, John (March 11, 2020). "Ohio to ban mass gatherings including sporting events". theScore. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  20. "NHL pauses regular season because of coronavirus". NHL.com. March 12, 2020. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  21. "NHL suspends season due to coronavirus". CNBC. July 31, 2020. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  22. "Senators player tests positive for COVID-19". NHL.com. March 17, 2020. Archived from the original on March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  23. "Ottawa Senators player is first NHLer to test positive for COVID-19". Sportsnet.ca. March 17, 2020. Archived from the original on March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  24. Elliott, Helene (March 28, 2020). "A second Colorado Avalanche player tests positive for COVID-19". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 4, 2020. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  25. Bell, Jarrett; Jeff, Zillgitt (April 4, 2020). "Donald Trump to sports commissioners: He's hopeful NFL starts on time". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Gannett. Archived from the original on April 5, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  26. Gulitti, Tom (May 26, 2020). "NHL plans to return with 24-team Stanley Cup Playoffs". NHL.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  27. Newton, Paul (May 19, 2020). "US-Canada border will remain closed to nonessential travel for at least another month". CNN.com. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  28. "NHLPA authorizes further negotiations on 24-team return to play format". Sportsnet. Toronto. May 22, 2020. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  29. Seravalli, Frank (May 22, 2020). "NHLPA agrees to more talks on League's 24-team Return to Play proposal". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  30. Zargham, Mohammad (May 22, 2020). "U.S. to exempt foreign athletes from coronavirus-related entry bans". The Globe and Mail. Reuters. Archived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  31. "U.S. opens border to foreign pro athletes". TSN.ca. May 23, 2020. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  32. Wyshynski, Greg (May 26, 2020). "NHL adopts 24-team playoff if season returns". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  33. "NBC SPORTS ANNOUNCES ITS EXCLUSIVE NHL SCHEDULE FOR 2020-21 REGULAR SEASON". NBC Sports Group. December 29, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  34. "ESPN Scores NHL Package With Stanley Cup on ABC". Broadcasting & Cable. March 10, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021.

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