
Fox Sports North Delivers Its 14th Hockey Day Minnesota In Its Own Backyard A full day of production in Minneapolis included five games, three of them at an outdoor rink By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 - 2:57 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
What if I told you that Fox Sports North's annual outdoor production marvel, Hockey Day Minnesota - in Minneapolis this year, the 14th year as a marquee event on the RSN's calendar - was nearly 50 degrees warmer than it was a year ago, and yet it was still nearly buried in snow with wind gusts pushing temps well below freezing?
Camera operator Michael Novak works a slash position along the glass during the first game of the 14th-annual Hockey Day Minnesota. Photo: IATSE Local 745
That's just part of the charm of broadcasting live outdoor hockey, and, in a place like Minnesota, it's a fact that production and operations crews here actually take a unique pride in.
We look forward to this every year, says Bob Rohde, director, operations, Fox Sports North, which is based in Minneapolis. We work on it bit by bit throughout the year. And, as much as we complain about the weather, we really get fired up by it and rally around it. It's a strange kind of bragging rights.
All in all, Fox Sports North broadcast 16 hours of continuous hockey programming on Saturday, comprising five live games, three of which were held outside at Parade Stadium. (A men's college hockey game was played indoors at St. Cloud State.) The day was capped by a Minnesota Wild-Dallas Stars matchup at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
The outdoor live game productions featured a complement of 20 cameras, including a pair of RF cameras - one a standard handheld, the other on a FREEFLY M VI Pro handheld gimbal carried on the playing surface by camera operator Tim Evanson on skates.
MOVI Camera Operator Tim Evanson on his skates for Hockey Day Minnesota at the Sculpture Garden in the @CityMinneapolis @freeflysystems @MNAFLCIO @AFLCIO @IATSE @mnwild @Jacob_Frey @MSHSL @WCHA_WHockey @sportsvideo #HDM #UnionMade pic.twitter.com/wFBKT2KGuu
IATSE Local 745 (@iatse745) January 19, 2020
There was also a live drone, which, fortunately was able to get off the ground despite some wind issues throughout the day. It's a critical tool for a show that relies heavily on unique, stunning visuals.
From that standpoint, this location is awesome, says Rhode. Having the skyline of the city is absolutely perfect.
Inside the main game truck (provided by Mobile TV Group), director Matt Gangl (center) called the shots of the first game of the day with producer John Stroh (left) and technical director Steve Collins.
Operationally, the full day pushed the local production community to the limit. The show was handled by 47 crew members supplied by the IATSE Local 745 union, in addition to many full-time Fox Sports North production and operations personnel and on-air talent.
Fox Sports North had six production trucks from Mobile TV Group in the Twin Cities on Saturday: its two primary units were at the Hockey Day festivities, and extra mobile resources were brought in to work the Wild game in St. Paul and the Timberwolves game (yes, the Timberwolves also played on Saturday) at Target Center in Minneapolis. Rodhe gave credit to MTVG EICs Bill Poore and Dan Murrie for their work in pulling it all off. In addition, local provider ARCTEK Satellite Production supported the efforts with satellite uplink.
In regards to the weather, temperatures did sit at a relatively comfortable 20F or so, with the sun peeking out on occasion. Setup for the Saturday broadcast window was nearly jeopardized by a steady snowfall the afternoon prior, but setup had already occurred.
When given the choice between the extreme cold of Bemidji a year ago (where temperature at puck drop of the first game was -27F) or snow, Rhode would vote for the cold any day.
I'm looking forward to the strike, he laughs, joking that he'll be finding cables at the venue lying around in the spring. A lot of our cables are frozen in. But, to be honest, the setup actually went pretty smoothly. Prior to the snow, we had everything set, and it was really just the faxing that took a long time.
Shoutout to our incredible #HDM2020 crew! pic.twitter.com/ttYgvNUwHD
FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) January 19, 2020
In addition to having its home offices just a few blocks away, one of the biggest advantages to Fox Sports North's having the event in a major city like Minneapolis as opposed to the more remote locations where this event has been held (towns like Baudette Bay on the Canadian border, Hermantown on the eastern edge of the state, or Moorhead on the far western edge) was the ability to execute a solid backup plan.
The operations team had an extra production truck, supplied by Token Creek, parked, powered, heated, and ready to go at the nearby Parade Ice Garden in case the event was forced inside by an extreme dump of snow. Fortunately, the call was made on Friday afternoon that the snow falling would not be difficult for crews of the organizing committee to clear, and the show was able to go on outside. That kind of backup plan was one that Fox Sports North hasn't had before this event.
North America Stories
18/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
18/06/2026
PTZOptics has unveiled new Visual Reasoning demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 (Boo...
18/06/2026
IBC2026 will take place at the RAI Amsterdam from September 11-14, bringing toge...
18/06/2026
InfoComm 2026 held its first-ever Media Day on June 17, providing journalists an...
18/06/2026
FOR-A America has announced a Trade Agreements Act (TAA)-compliant LED display solution combining Alfalite's Litepix LED displays and Brompton Technology...
18/06/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level have one major thing in common: the intensity and attention to detail ramps up dur...
18/06/2026
The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and TMRW Sports have an...
18/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has unveiled Io Xpand, a Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion ...
18/06/2026
ESPN has announced its coverage plans for the 30th anniversary of the WNBA's...
18/06/2026
FOX Sports' Big Noon Kickoff will broadcast live from Wembley Stadium in Lon...
18/06/2026
InfoComm 2026 opened on Wednesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, bringing t...
18/06/2026
As media companies look to deliver more live, VOD, and snackable sports content ...
18/06/2026
Top L-R: Take Me Home, The Lake
Bottom L-R: TheyDream, Union County
Free Summer Screening Series Announced
Screenings for the Local Utah Community at...
18/06/2026
The average daily TV screen time in May was 3 hours and 36 minutes, marking a clear decrease of 15 minutes compared to April. This trend proved to be much stron...
18/06/2026
Integration embeds Gracenote content intelligence, including contextual segments...
18/06/2026
AJA Video Systems unveiled Io Xpand, a high-performance Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion chassis for AJA KONA and Corvid video and audio I/O cards. As dema...
18/06/2026
New NVRT-driven workflow enables on-demand traffic mirroring and guided troubleshooting for AV teams, integrators, and support organizations ahead of InfoComm 2...
18/06/2026
At InfoComm 2026, Mavis announced a major update to Mavis Studio, its live production app for the iPad, with new features designed to make professional AV produ...
18/06/2026
Transaction Positions Harmonic as a Pure-Play Broadband Company
Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband solutions, today a...
18/06/2026
ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR have announced a strategic partnership that establishes verified interoperability between NETGEAR Switches and key technologies fr...
18/06/2026
IBC2026 is set to bring the global media, entertainment and technology community together at the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September, enabling industry players f...
18/06/2026
Pliant Technologies is proud to introduce CrewCom Flex , the world's first frameless matrix intercom system and the only complete matrix IP-based intercom s...
18/06/2026
The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) has announced that a new cohort of members has joined the strategic initiative: ActionStreamer, Antigravity, Creative Artists Agen...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisci...
18/06/2026
Play favorite titles from popular game libraries, keep progress synced and jump ...
18/06/2026
The digital era gave the advertising and marketing industry speed; the AI era is giving it autonomous operations.
For companies building next-generation techn...
17/06/2026
EVS has announced it has received the EcoVadis Gold Medal for sustainability performance, ranking among the top 5% of companies globally in the Technology/Mid-S...
17/06/2026
Chyron has released Weather 2.4, an update to its weather suite for broadcasters and meteorologists. The release focuses on enhancements to the DataFlow module,...
17/06/2026
VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, has announced the launch of Best Bets TV, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The 24/7 channel is currently avail...
17/06/2026
DAZN's Team Whistle and Snap Inc. have announced a creator program centered ...
17/06/2026
LiveU is providing video transmission technology for broadcasters, production companies, and public safety agencies across North America's busy Summer of So...
17/06/2026
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has announced that Laurens Grant and Jacob Ullman have joined its Board of Directors. Chief of Staf...
17/06/2026
Akta, the AI-First SaaS video platform for modern broadcast and streaming operations, today announced that its video platform is now generally available on Orac...
17/06/2026
This recent graduate from Houston found inspiration in technical directing and now eyes a future career in sports production...
17/06/2026
Audio-Technica (booth C7959) arrives at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas with a slate ...
17/06/2026
SNS has published a guide addressing growing demand for AI-powered video indexing, transcription, facial recognition, and searchable metadata across media libra...
17/06/2026
Providius has announced Providius Direct, a workflow for investigating network i...
17/06/2026
NEP Group has announced the commercial availability of NEP Platform, a software ...
17/06/2026
A new white paper examining Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) and Reliable Interne...
17/06/2026
New research from subscription bundling platform Bango finds that younger sports fans are increasingly consuming sport through highlights, clips, and social med...
17/06/2026
SMPTE has announced that its complete Standards catalog is now freely available to the global media technology community, including all published SMPTE Standard...
17/06/2026
Harmonic has completed the sale of its Video Business to MediaKind for $145 mill...
17/06/2026
Omaha Productions will produce the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vega...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...