Sept. 28, 2004
CSTV: College Sports Television (www.collegesports.com) drops the puck on CSTV Friday Night Hockey, the only national hockey package at any level this fall, on Friday, October 8 (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) when a pair of 2004 NCAA tournament teams – North Dakota and Maine – face off. CSTV Friday Night Hockey will feature more games, more teams and more conferences, across more media platforms, than the network’s inaugural hockey package last season, and will be promoted through CSTV’s multi-media “TGI Hockey!” promotional campaign.
“I have countless fond memories of my playing days at Boston University,” said Mike Eruzione, captain of the gold medal-winning 1980 “Miracle on Ice” U.S. Olympic Hockey team and currently a CSTV hockey analyst. “College hockey possesses a tremendous level of passion and electricity that isn’t found on any other level of play. The traditions and rivalries unique to the college game remain very special to me.”
The 2004-05 edition of CSTV Friday Night Hockey features 13 teams that competed in the 16-team NCAA Men’s Championship last season, including champion Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College, Notre Dame and Ohio State, as well as Michigan, Michigan State, Harvard, Wisconsin, Minnesota and New Hampshire. All six NCAA Division I men’s hockey conferences are represented on the 2004-05 CSTV Friday Night Hockey schedule, which numbers 33 games, up from 30 last year.
Eric Frede and Steve Schlanger will rotate calling the action on CSTV Friday Night Hockey, while Billy Jaffe will provide analysis of the men’s games and Ellen Weinberg will handle the women’s telecasts.
“TGI Hockey!”
Just as Fridays have always denoted the end of the work week, Fridays now also mean CSTV Friday Night Hockey, which will be promoted through CSTV’s new “TGI Hockey!” promotional campaign. “TGI Hockey” will play off of and utilize the title song from the hit 1978 motion picture “Thank God It’s Friday.” The multi-media campaign will include on-air spots, online banners on CSTV’s CollegeSports.com and hockey Web sites, CSTV Friday Night Hockey schedules, flyers and t-shirts distributed at hockey games and other college events, and affiliate promotions.
College Sports TV will also feature extensive college hockey coverage within its studio shows such as The 1 College Sports Show, with analysis from the likes of Mike Eruzione, Adam Wodon and Dave Starman. The 1 College Sports Show, originating from the CSTV Fieldhouse in New York, will precede and follow each CSTV Friday Night Hockey telecast, bringing fans the latest news, scores, analysis and highlights from throughout college hockey.
Men’s and women’s college hockey will also be covered on a daily basis on CollegeSports.com, the number one online source for college sports news, information, analysis and highlights. CSTV analysts will contribute commentary on the site on a regular basis, and CollegeSports.com will cover more than 700 hockey games through its exclusive GameTracker Live scores and statistics feature and will also broadcast live audio of more than 300 games.
In addition, CSTV will offer live hockey games on SIRIUS College Sports Radio, the first radio network dedicated to college sports, and several CSTV Friday Night Hockey telecasts will be available in high definition on INHD, cable’s most widely distributed all high-definition network.
CSTV Friday Night Hockey Highlights
- Rivalries such as Michigan-Michigan State, Boston College-Boston University, Yale-Harvard, Army-Air Force, Michigan-Notre Dame and Boston University-New Hampshire
- A special Saturday edition (October 23) featuring St. Cloud State at Denver at which Denver will raise its 2003 NCAA Championship banner to the rafters
- The NCAA Women’s Frozen Four for the second consecutive year
- The CHA and ECAC men’s championships will receive live coverage on CSTV
- Minnesota at Boston University on January 2, the final hockey game played at Boston U.’s legendary Walter Brown Arena
- Minnesota at Boston University on January 3, the first hockey game played at Boston U.’s new on-campus Agganis Arena
- For the second straight season, live telecasts of the Everblades Classic from Florida, featuring Cornell, Boston College, Maine and Saint Cloud State
“There has never been a better college hockey schedule on television, and this year’s CSTV Friday Night Hockey package builds upon the tremendous momentum generated by our coverage last year,” said Tim Pernetti, senior vice president, CSTV. “As the only national network televising hockey this fall, CSTV is committed to delivering unsurpassed game coverage, news and information, and original programming featuring the best teams and student-athletes from throughout the world of college hockey.”
The 2004-05 CSTV Friday Night Hockey Schedule (all times ET)
| Fri., Oct. 8 | North Dakota @ Maine | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct.15 | New Hampshire @ Michigan | 8:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 23 | St. Cloud State @ Denver | 9:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct.29 | North Dakota @ Boston College | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov.5 | Boston Univ. @ New Hampshire | 8:00 p.m. |
| @ Verizon Wireless Center, Manchester, NH | ||
| Fri., Nov.12 | Yale @ Harvard | 8:00 p.m. |
| Thu., Nov.18 | Michigan @ Michigan State | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov.26 | Michigan @ Minnesota | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Dec.3 | Boston College @ Boston University | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri, Dec.10 | Michigan St. @ Notre Dame | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Dec.17 | Denver @ Minnesota-Duluth | 8:00 p.m. |
| Tue., Dec.28 | Everblades Classic | |
| Cornell vs. Boston College | 4:00 p.m. | |
| Maine vs. Saint Cloud State | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Wed., Dec.29 | Everblades Classic | |
| Championship Game | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Sun., Jan.2 | Minnesota @ Boston University | 7:00 p.m. |
| (Last Game @ Walter Brown Arena) | ||
| Mon., Jan.3 | Minnesota @ Boston University | 7:00 p.m. |
| (First Game @ Agganis Arena) | ||
| Fri., Jan. 7 | Ferris State at Ohio State | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Jan.14 | Army @ Air Force | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Jan. 21 | Wisconsin @ Notre Dame | 8:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Jan. 22 | Michigan @ Ohio State | 7:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Jan. 28 | Clarkson @ Cornell | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Feb.4 | Maine @ New Hampshire | 8:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Feb. 5 | Royal Military College @ Army | 7:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Feb. 11 | Ohio State @ Wisconsin (Women) | 8:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Feb. 12 | Brown @ RPI | 7:00 p.m. |
| Big Red Freakout | ||
| Fri., Feb.18 | Michigan vs. Notre Dame | 8:00 p.m. |
| @ War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, IN | ||
| Fri., Feb. 25 | Alaska-Fairbanks @ Nebraska-Omaha | 8:00 p.m. |
| Fri., Mar. 4 | Colorado College @ Denver | 9:00 p.m. |
| Sun., Mar.13 | CHA Championship | 8:00 p.m. |
| Sat., Mar.19 | ECAC Championship | 8:00 p.m. |
CSTV is a multi-media company that consists of the first-ever 24-hour college sports television network, College Sports TV; the leading college sports online network, CollegeSports.com; and the first ever 24-hour college sports radio network, SIRIUS College Sports Radio. Through its numerous platforms, CSTV provides more live college sports games, events, news, information, analysis and broadband content, and reaches more college sports fans, than any other company.
College Sports TV, voted the #1 emerging cable network in the 2003 Beta research study, televises regular season and championship event coverage from over 35 men’s and women’s sports across every major collegiate athletic conference as well as many select NCAA Championships. CSTV and the Mountain West Conference recently announced a fully integrated multi-media partnership, beginning in Fall 2006 that will deliver more games to more people in more homes across more sports than any other Conference partnership. College Sports TV currently has agreements with the top three national distributors – Comcast, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable, among others.
CollegeSports.com, the most-trafficked college sports Web site, and its network of nearly 160 official athletic sites are the number one online source for college sports broadband content, news, information, scores and analysis. SIRIUS College Sports Radio will broadcast a comprehensive package of college football and basketball games from teams in the Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac 10, and SEC conferences, as well as from Notre Dame.
CSTV was co-founded by President and CEO Brian Bedol, Chairman Steve Greenberg and Executive Vice President Chris Bevilacqua. Bedol and Greenberg co-founded Classic Sports Network, which they sold to ESPN. It is now ESPN Classic. Bevilacqua is a former senior executive with Nike Inc., where he headed the company’s successful foray into the college market.