Why 'After Hours' is off the air following 'Hockey Night in Canada' shakeup
Rogers Saturday Night Hockey debuted on Sportsnet over the weekend.
While nobody seems to love the name, in many ways the show replacing Hockey Night in Canada looked and felt the same. Ron MacLean was hosting, with Kevin Bieksa, Elliotte Friedman, and newcomer Colby Armstrong joining him on the panel.
The usual play-by-play broadcasters called the all-Canadian matchups featured in the Saturday-night doubleheader, starting with the Toronto Maple Leafs taking on the Ottawa Senators, followed by Vancouver Canucks hosting the Calgary Flames. The Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens also had games available to watch. It was a hockey night, in Canada, despite the name change.
But when the games finished, something was missing.
Connor McDavid joined Scott Oake and Kelly Hrudey on After Hours last season. (Sportsnet)
After Hours wasn’t featured following the broadcast, ending a 26-year run of the popular post-game feature.
Instead, Rogers Saturday Night Hockey was followed by Sportsnet Central.
After Hours was a popular Saturday-night staple, bookending a night of NHL hockey with sitdown interviews. Scott Oake retired last spring, so the show would have needed a new host.
It also would have needed a new name. Just like Hockey Night in Canada, the After Hours trademark is owned by CBC, given that it predated Sportsnet’s involvement.
But losing Oake, rather than losing the name, was the reason why Sportsnet axed the show, Offside was told. Indeed, it would have been difficult to recreate the show without him.
Sportsnet and CBC didn’t renew their sublicensing agreement for this season, which signalled the end of Hockey Night in Canada as we knew it. While Sportsnet owns the NHL broadcast rights in Canada, CBC owns the Hockey Night in Canada brand and is planning to air PWHL games using it going forward.
Hockey Night in Canada debuted first on radio in 1931 and then on television in 1952. In 2014, Sportsnet took over production of the show, but it continued to air on CBC until the end of last season.