HNIC Round 3 Plans

The Vancouver Canucks are Canada’s remaining hope to bring the Stanley Cup north of the border and CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA is ready to cover all of the action with Round Three of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Coverage begins on Saturday, May 14 with Hockey Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT followed by Game One of the Boston (#3) vs. Tampa Bay (#5) Eastern Conference Final series. CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA will also carry Games Five, Six and Seven of the series if necessary. Bob Cole will call the Eastern Conference Final best-of-seven matchup alongside analyst Garry Galley and Mike Milbury, while Scott Oake reports from ice level.

The Western Conference Final gets underway on Sunday, May 15, with Hockey Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT, followed by the Vancouver Canucks facing off against either the San Jose Sharks or the Detroit Red Wings. Play-by-play man Jim Hughson and analyst Craig Simpson will call the series with Glenn Healy between the benches and Elliotte Friedman reporting from rinkside.

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Red Wings/Sharks Game 5 Draws 1.6 Million for VERSUS

From Sports Media Watch:

Game 5 of the Red Wings/Sharks series earned 1.627 million viewers on Versus Sunday night, the second-largest audience of the series, behind only Game 2 (2.251M, NBC). Friday’s Game 4 earned 944,000 viewers.

FS Detroit Hits a New Record For Game 6

Jack Edwards Signs Multi-Year Extension with NESN

BOSTON, MA – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, announced today that Bruins play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards has agreed to a multi-year contract extension with the network. Edwards has teamed up with Bruins color analyst Andy Brickley in the NESN booth since 2005 and is also a regular contributor to NESN’s popular weekly hockey debate and discussion program called The Instigators with Mike Milbury.

“For the past six years, Jack has been an energetic and important part of NESN’s Bruins hockey coverage,” said Sean McGrail, NESN President and CEO. “We are very happy to extend his contract, and look forward to his passionate presence in the broadcast booth for years to come.”

Dan Patrick Will Host Games 5-7 of the Stanley Cup Final on NBC

So it appears this will be an annual thing. Dan Patrick, NBC’s biggest name as far as hosts go, will return to the NHL to present Games 5-7 (if necessary) of the Stanley Cup Final, according to NBC’s press site. The dates will probably change since the current set up has a week-long break between any Game 7 of the Western Conference Final (May 28th) and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final (June 4th) but the current dates of the games are set for June 12, June 15 and June 17.

Last year Patrick hosted Games 5 and 6 of the Final with a professional touch, despite not being maybe the most hardcore hockey qualified man to do it. He also dealt with that bizarre thing where Jeremy Roenick cried after the end of Game 6. Roenick will not be on NBC this time around, so that appears not to be a worry for Patrick. He’ll be joined by Mike Milbury and Keith Jones in the studio. Liam McHugh will host Games 1 & 2. Bill Patrick, one would expect, will host Games 3 & 4 for VERSUS.