Thursday, November 17, 2016

NCAA Hockey Returns to TSN

Regular-season schedule features 33 teams in 37 games.

NCAA Hockey Returns to TSN

The excitement of NCAA hockey returns to TSN for a third year in a row, with Canadian viewers treated to 37 regular-season games in 2016-17. TSN and College Hockey Inc. unveiled the network’s regular-season schedule on Monday, which features coverage of Frozen Fenway, the Beanpot tournament and this weekend’s Friendship Four from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

“We are excited that TSN will once again be making so many NCAA games available to hockey fans in Canada,” said College Hockey Inc. Executive Director Mike Snee. “Close to 30% of all NCAA hockey players are Canadian, including three NHL first-round draft picks in 2016. Our partnership with TSN allows these young players to be more closely followed in their hometowns and shows what makes playing for your school a unique and special experience.”

“TSN’s significant coverage of NCAA hockey is great news for the hockey fan in Canada,” said Craig Button, TSN’s Director of Scouting and a former NHL general manager. “The games are intense and the players are very skilled, with many of them headed to the NHL in the near future. NCAA hockey is highly entertaining and fun to watch.”

The first televised games on TSN’s 2016-17 NCAA hockey schedule are Friday from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where Massachusetts, Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence and Vermont will compete in the Friendship Four. Friday’s games are set for 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET and will be available on TSN2 and TSN GO.

Other highlights of TSN’s 2016-17 regular-season schedule include:

  • Scheduled appearances from more than half (33) of all schools in Division I, including each of the last nine NCAA champions
  • Coverage of at least 15 of the 16 teams that reached last year’s NCAA Tournament
  • Games featuring each of the top 10 teams in the current USCHO.com poll and 16 of the top 20
  • Two outdoor games from Boston’s Fenway Park
  • Boston’s historic Beanpot tournament between Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern at TD Garden
  • Intense rivalry games including Boston College vs. Boston University, Denver vs. Colorado College, and Quinnipiac vs. Yale
  • Draft picks of all 30 NHL teams
  • Twelve first-round draft picks, including two of Canadian teams (Boston College’s Colin White, Ottawa, and North Dakota’s Brock Boeser, Vancouver)

TSN’s schedule showcases teams from all six NCAA Division I conferences and many of the nearly 200 NHL draft picks currently playing at the NCAA level. Nearly 30% of all NCAA hockey players are Canadian.

Three Canadian players taken in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft are featured in the schedule, including Nashville Predators draft pick Dante Fabbro of Boston University, whose team will appear at least three times.

“I’ve only been at Boston University for a few months but I can already see why playing NCAA hockey makes such a lasting impression on players who have done it,” said Fabbro, a native of New Westminster, B.C., who played for the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. “It will be great that my friends and family back home will be able to see what it’s like and watch me play.”

TSN’s expanded coverage of NCAA hockey is available for live streaming and on-demand viewing to TSN subscribers through TSN GO. Seven games this season have already been made available on TSN GO.