NBC Sports Begins Tradition with NHL Thanksgiving Showdown on Friday

A new tradition will begin this year when NBC Sports drops the puck on its NHL coverage earlier than ever with the inaugural 2011 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown on Friday at 1 p.m. ET between the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings.

This will mark the earliest NHL regular-season broadcast on network television in more than 20 years and the only time these two teams will meet during the regular season. The Friday-after-Thanksgiving matinee is a local Bruins tradition that began in 1990.

“The NHL and NBC have a great partnership and we are always looking for new events to help showcase this sport,” said Sam Flood, executive producer for NBC Sports and Versus. “As a Boston native, I’m excited to take what has turned into a great local tradition – a Bruins game on the Friday after Thanksgiving – and introduce it to national audience by airing it on NBC, and simultaneously starting our broadcast coverage earlier than ever.”

In an effort to provide an even better viewing experience for fans, the inaugural NHL Thanksgiving Showdown will feature a microphone on one of the referees (Kelly Sutherland) to capture on-ice audio for the first time in a regular-season game on NBC.

The team of Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick (play-by-play), Eddie Olczyk (analyst) and Pierre McGuire (‘Inside the Glass’ analyst) will call the action in Boston. NBC will surround its game coverage with pre-game, intermission and post-game reports live from the arena with studio host Liam McHugh and analyst Mike Milbury.