As an American, I was introduced to Hockey Night in Canada at somewhat of a late age for a youngster.
I remember getting a video for Christmas in 1991. It was called Don Cherry's Rock'em Sock'em Hockey 2.
I will admit that at that time, I did not know who Don Cherry was. I was only eight years old and again, I was an American.
I remember that this video introduced me to all of these great goals, hits, saves, fights, and something called Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada.
I had no idea what Coach's Corner or Hockey Night in Canada was. I just figured it was something that Cherry did on the side and that making hockey highlight tapes was his full-time job. Again, I was only eight.
I learned about Hockey Night in Canada two years later after reading an article about it in The Hockey News. It was then that my love affair with the program began.
Once the Internet became a thing, I would use it to learn about Hockey Night in Canada's history, hosts, broadcasters, as well as anything else I could find about how the storied program. Simply put, I was hooked.
My obsession grew when the program started appearing on the NHL Network here in the U.S. That was the first time that I ever got to watch it live and for the first time, I felt like I was a part of Canadian culture.
It is also a program that makes one a student of the game. Whether it is through analysis, the former "Satellite Hot Stove", or the former Coach's Corner, I always managed to learn something new about the greatest sport in the world.
Hockey Night in Canada is everything I want in a hockey program. It has great broadcasters, hosts, games, highlights, and theme music, and it represents all that is good in hockey.
