CHL Announces Extensive Coverage of Wednesday’s 2011 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game
Rogers Sportsnet to broadcast pre-game show, NHL Network U.S to Air the Game, CHL to provide free online audio feed
Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League today announced a number of opportunities for fans to enjoy the 2011 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in addition to the live broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS Wednesday night from Air Canada Centre.
Rogers Sportsnet’s coverage begins 30 minutes before puck-drop at 6:30 pm Eastern with a pre-game show featuring Hockeycentral analyst Doug MacLean and host Daren Millard in addition to the live broadcast on the Rogers Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific channels at 7:00 pm Eastern. Watch in-depth analysis on many future NHL stars that will showcase their talents before hundreds of NHL scouts in attendance. At 7:00 pm Eastern the broadcast team of play-by-play man Peter Loubardias, analyst Sam Cosentino, and host Rob Faulds will provide all the action live from Air Canada Centre.
Hockey fans in the United States will get a glimpse at many of the players who will be selected early on in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft when NHL Network U.S.™ broadcasts the 2011 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on tape delay on Thursday, January 20, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
In addition, CHL is providing a free online audio feed available to fans everywhere who can listen to the game at the following address http://www.mediaontap.com/sports/hockey/CHL/index.php.
22 of the top-ranked 30 skaters will participate in the game including eight of the top 10. Among them are No. 2-ranked C Sean Couturier of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, No. 3 C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Red Deer Rebels and No. 4 C Jonathan Huberdeau of the Saint John Sea Dogs.
There are five U.S.-trained players that have been selected to play in the game — Brandon Saad of the Saginaw Spirit from Gibsonia, PA, the eighth-ranked North American skater; Shane Prince, Ottawa 67s (ranked 35th from Rochester, NY); Colin Jacobs, Seattle Thunderbirds (ranked 40th from Coppell, TX), Vincent Trochek, Saginaw Spirit (ranked 42nd from Pittsburgh, PA) and Shane McColgan, Kelowna Rockets (ranked 102nd from Torrance, CA).
The game also features players from nine countries outside of North America. No. 2 goalie Christopher Gibson (Finland), No. 8 goalie David Honzik (Czech Republic), No. 24 Tomas Jurco (Slovakia), No. 20 Nicklas Jensen (Denmark), No. 34 Rickard Rakell (Sweden), No. 74 Tobias Rieder (Germany), No. 17 Vladislav Namestnikov (Russia), No. 6 Sven Baertschi (Switzerland), No. 39 Xavier Ouellet (France).
The 2010 event was held in Windsor, ON, and featured all 17 CHL players that were selected in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. That list included current NHL players Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins, Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Cam Fowler of the Anaheim Ducks, Alexander Burmistrov of the Atlanta Thrashers and Taylor Hall of the Edmonton Oilers, who earned Player of the Game honors before being chosen first overall in June. In addition to Hall, eight other NHL stars have participated in the Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game before being selected first overall — including Chris Phillips, Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Marc-Andre Fleury, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares.
Full coverage of the 2011 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game is available at www.homehardwaretopprospectsgame.com with complete 2011 NHL Entry Draft coverage found on www.nhl.com.