Your Saturday Announcing Schedule and Open Thread

12:00 PM, Chicago vs. Florida
National TV: NHL Network (US), TSN2

3:00 PM, St. Louis vs. Detroit
National TV: CBC, NHL Network (US)
Play by Play: Mark Lee
Color: Cassie Campbell

7:00 PM, Toronto vs. Washington
National TV: CBC (HD), NHL Network (US)
Play by Play: Jim Hughson
Color: Craig Simpson
Reporter: Elliotte Friedman

7:00 PM, Montreal vs. Buffalo
National TV: CBC
Play by Play: Bob Cole
Color: Greg Millen
Reporter: Bruce Rainnie

7:00 PM, Ottawa vs. NY Rangers
National TV: CBC
Play by Play: Dean Brown
Color: Gary Galley

10:00 PM, Calgary vs. Edmonton
National TV: CBC (HD), NHL Network (US)
Play by Play: Mark Lee
Color: Kevin Weekes
Reporter: Scott Oake

VERSUS Official Statement on the Ratings

New York, N.Y. (October 2, 2009)-VERSUS, the exclusive cable television home of the NHL, dropped the puck on its fifth year of coverage with the most-watched NHL opening night in network history with a total of 832,781 viewers tuning in for the Bruins/Capitals and Avalanche/Sharks games.

Locally, VERSUS was one of the top-rated cable networks in all four markets (Boston, Washington, D.C., Denver and San Jose).

“Despite DirecTV shutting out millions of hockey fans from seeing last night’s games, VERSUS still garnered its best NHL regular season opening night ever,” said Jamie Davis, President of VERSUS.  “The momentum of this network has not slowed down at all and we’re doing everything we can to reach an agreement with DirecTV to ensure that hockey fans won’t continue to miss the terrific match-ups we have on our schedule all season long.”

VERSUS’ coverage returns on Monday, October 5, at 7 p.m. ET with a cross-Hudson River battle between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers and then again on Tuesday, October 6, at 7 p.m. ET when the Washington Capitals head to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers.