The NHL on CBS
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The NHL on CBS was professional ice hockey's first official incarnation of the sport's Game of the Week in the United States. It came at just about the time when the NHL's Original Six franchises were to be joined by the league's first expansion class of 1967.
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[edit] In relation to the 1967 NHL Expansion
- For more details on this topic, see 1967 NHL Expansion.
Although, the San Francisco Bay Area was not considered a particularly good hockey market, the terms of a new television agreement with CBS called for two of the expansion teams to be located in California. Hence, the California Golden Seals and Los Angeles Kings joining the National Hockey League at the behest of CBS.
[edit] Coverage
For six seasons, from 1967 through 1972, CBS aired a game each week between mid-January until early-mid May in each of those seasons, mainly on a Sunday afternoon, including playoffs.
In 1971, CBS was not scheduled to broadcast Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, but showed the prime time contest between the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Black Hawks almost as a public service.
- See also: 1966-67 NHL season, 1967-68 NHL season, 1968-69 NHL season, 1969-70 NHL season, 1970-71 NHL season, and 1971-72 NHL season
[edit] Commentators
Commentators for CBS included Dan Kelly, Stu Nahan, Jim Gordon and Bill Mazer.
[edit] Memorable moments
Perhaps, the most memorable moment came on Mother's Day of 1970 (May 10), when Bobby Orr's winning goal in overtime of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals gave his Boston Bruins their first Stanley Cup Championship since 1941, as they swept the St. Louis Blues at the old Boston Garden. Immediately upon scoring, Orr caught his skate in the defenseman's stick and was sent flying onto the ice. The "flight" was captured by a news photographer and is one of the iconic images in the history of sports.
[edit] 1980 Stanley Cup Finals
After the NHL left CBS in 1972, the network would only air one other NHL game. That would take place on Saturday, May 24, 1980, with Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Islanders. The game was won in overtime by the host Islanders, who captured their first of their four consecutive Stanley Cups.
By that time, Dan Kelly was joined by former NHL on NBC commentator, Tim Ryan. Dan Kelly did play-by-play for the first and third periods as well as overtime. Meanwhile, Tim Ryan only did play-by-play for the second period.
However, that turned out to be the last NHL game (to this date) to be televised on CBS. It was also the last NHL game on American network television for nearly ten years.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by NBC |
NHL network broadcast partner in the United States 1967 - 1972 |
Succeeded by NBC |
| Preceded by NHL Network |
NHL network broadcast partner in the United States (with Hughes) 1980 |
Succeeded by USA |
