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
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...
28/05/2026
The crack of the bat, the pop of the glove, and the cheer of the crowd: those are three prime examples of the glorious sounds fans hear on televised baseball ga...
28/05/2026
Every year, March Madness captivates the entire sports world. Nonstop action, un...
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 
