Labor of Love: Despite Inability to Host Games, Fox Sports North Keeps Hockey Day Minnesota' Tradition Alive
05/03/2021
Friday, March 5, 2021 - 2:52 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
For 15 years, Fox Sports North has cemented Hockey Day Minnesota as a sports television tradition in the State of Hockey.
In years past, the event has taken high school and college hockey games and showcased them outdoors for a day-long celebration of the sport, all leading up to an evening tilt featuring the Twin Cities' home NHL franchise, the Minnesota Wild. This year, with the in inability to host the event safely in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minneapolis-based regional sports network which is now owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group did not want to let the event go by unmarked. So, they set up shop at a local outdoor skating rink [the John Rose Oval, just north of Minneapolis-St. Paul in Roseville] with a remote studio show anchoring a day's worth of classic games, interviews, and high-end features.
Minneapolis-based Fox Sports North hosted its annual Hockey Day Minnesota on Saturday. While live games couldn't occur due to COVID-19 restrictions, the network produced a live studio show anchored by hosts Mark Parrish and Marney Gellner from an outdoor rink just north of the Twin Cities.
We had to find a way to make this happen, said Mike Dimond, SVP and GM, Fox Sports North. We didn't want to take a hiatus. It was a labor of love and was a work in progress throughout, but there was complete unity in wanting to make sure that we had a Hockey Day this year.
According to Fox Sports North senior producer John Stroh, the storytelling challenge for the crew was making the event feel special despite the lack of live games. The network aired classic games, even bringing back former players many of which are now parents and coaches themselves in Zoom interviews. The show also brought in local hockey personalities to the live set for interviews tying the event to the present day. Minnesota Wild player Matt Dumba actually hosted a camp at the set that was showcased at the top of the show. Fittingly enough, he scored the game-winning goal for the Wild later that night with just .3 seconds remaining in regulation.
As for the logistics, a talented team headed up by Fox Sports North director, operations Bob Rohde made easy work of the event. He noted this show was naturally much simpler operational to execute versus the massive rink and live game set up that the RSN will bring to a host city each year. However, it certainly wasn't without its logistical challenges: most of them COVID-safety related.
The show was handled out of a mobile facility built by Rush Media that worked perfectly for both the size of the show and safety reasons. The truck features six customizable workspaces that are separated by hard walls. It offered flexibility while making it easy to maintain social distancing for the crew in the truck.
Fourteen years of fun on ice!
We love @HockeyDayMN and there s more fun to come for #HDM2021 driven by @PolarisInc #ThinkOutside pic.twitter.com/ns3hvA0jXH
FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) February 27, 2021
The show featured standard hard/manned studio cameras, though a jib proved very valuable for scenics while also serving as the primary stage camera. In addition, there was a camera operator on skates with a MOVI grabbing some unique angles of kids playing on the ice behind the main set.
We site surveyed and met with the people who run The Oval a couple of times, says Rohde, who noted that the city of Roseville dedicated a 10gig network to assist the show. Those people were great and this thing fell together pretty easily.
As in years past, Fox Sports North used an ARCTEK satellite unit to transmit from the venue and, since facility power was used to support the chillers that kept the outdoor rink's ice frozen on an unseasonably warm day for the area, the show brought in its own Ziegler Power Systems generator (by CAT Entertainment Services) to power the television facilities. Zixi IP was deployed to connect the truck to the network's Minneapolis offices, granting direct access to the edit suites located there.
The broadcast also paid tribute to Fox Sports North coordinating producer Trevor Fleck. It was announced over the summer that Fleck had been diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. He underwent surgery earlier this year and is currently battling through rounds of chemotherapy. Fleck has played a role in the production of each of the previous 14 editions of Hockey Day Minnesota and has worked at Fox Sports North for two decades.
.@HockeyDayMN has been such an incredible day over the years thanks to our good friend and @fsnorth coordinating producer, Trevor Fleck.
We want to send him and his family the best this #HDM2021 as he battles cancer. pic.twitter.com/5FXug4us3P
FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) February 27, 2021
The 15th edition of Hockey Day Minnesota was originally scheduled to take place in Mankato back in January. Dimond said the network plans to pick up those plans and return to Mankato for the event's full reincarnation in 2022.
LINK: | https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/03/05/labor-of-love-despite-inability... |
See more stories from svg |
North America Stories
18/04/2024
2024 NAB Show Attendance Topped 61,000
LAS VEGAS The National Association of Broadcasters is reporting that more than 61,000 people attended the 2024 NAB Show, where artificial intelligence and the c...
18/04/2024
Krisha Marcano Announced as Dean of Theater for Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Krisha Marcano Announced as Dean of Theater for Boston Conservatory at Berklee The theater educator, choreographer, and performer will join Boston Conservator...
18/04/2024
Dyn Media and NEP Germany pioneer new frontier in remote...
In August 2023, Dyn Media launched as a new broadcaster in European sports, aimed at giving sports beyond football the exposure and viewership they deserve. The...
18/04/2024
Hitomi partners with ES Broadcast Hire for US rentals
Hitomi Broadcast, market leader in audio/video alignment and latency tools based in the UK, has signed a partnership deal with global broadcast rental specialis...
18/04/2024
Vislink's DragonFly V - The Company's Smallest-Ever Transmitter Debuted at NAB 2024
Vislink's DragonFly V - The Company's Smallest-Ever Transmitter Debuted ...
18/04/2024
MediaSilo to Offer Camera to Cloud with Atomos
MediaSilo to Offer Camera to Cloud with Atomos Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments Integration between MediaSilo and Atomos Cloud Studio unlocking ...
18/04/2024
MultiDyne Updates its SilverBULLET Series to Serve More Fiber-Optic Links
MultiDyne Updates its SilverBULLET Series to Serve More Fiber-Optic Links Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions intro...
18/04/2024
Cinedeck Partners with Paramount to Revolutionize Content Delivery Process
Cinedeck Partners with Paramount to Revolutionize Content Delivery Process Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments Cinedeck, a pioneer in integrated de...
18/04/2024
Unreal for video adding rocks and foliage
Unreal for video adding rocks and foliage Graham Quince April 17, 2024 0 Comments Welcome to my series on learning Unreal Engine for After Effects u...
18/04/2024
Best Budget Beginner-Friendly 4k Drone
Best Budget Beginner-Friendly 4k Drone Sean Alami April 17, 2024 0 Comments Potensic Atom 4k 3 axis Gimbal Drone, ideal drone for beginners. Some con...
18/04/2024
Race or Just Have Fun at Rocky Mount Mills for a Good Cause, Not Your Run of the Mill 5K
Rocky Mount Mills will be overflowing with runners, families and friends, all fo...
18/04/2024
Berklee's Yoon-Ji Lee Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
Berklee's Yoon-Ji Lee Receives Guggenheim Fellowship Lee, an assistant professor of composition, creates music based on unconventional and nonlinear struc...
18/04/2024
Ben Sherwood, Former ABC President, Named CEO at The Daily Beast
Ben Sherwood, former president of Disney ABC Television Group, has been named CEO and publisher at The Daily Beast. Joanna Coles, former chief content officer a...
18/04/2024
Up to No Good: No Rest for the Wicked' Early Access Launches on GeForce NOW
It's time to get a little wicked. Members can now stream No Rest for the Wicked from the cloud. It leads six new games joining the GeForce NOW library of m...
18/04/2024
NVIDIA Honors Partners of the Year in Europe, Middle East, Africa
NVIDIA today recognized 18 partners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for their achievements and commitment to driving AI adoption. The recipients were hon...
17/04/2024
Sundance Institute Launches RFI and RFP Process to Explore Host Locations for the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and Beyond
Opening today, the exploration is aimed at selecting a location that will preser...
17/04/2024
Strengthening Australian Industry Capability Through Sovereign Sustainment Support
L3Harris Communications Australia Field Service support continues to grow with a...
17/04/2024
L3Harris Team Aligns 10 Mirrors for NASA's Roman Telescope
An optical technician lays on a diving board suspended between NASAs Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes primary and secondary mirrors. The photo is a projected ...
17/04/2024
Graham Media Selects Bitmovin Playback
DENVER Video streaming infrastructure provider Bitmovin has announced that the Graham Media Group has selected Bitmovin Playback to enhance its viewer experienc...
17/04/2024
Survey: LGBTQIA+ TV Visibility Drives Viewership Among Young Americans
LGBTQIA+ representation in TV content boosts viewership among young (18-34) Americans, according to a new report from Horowitz Research....
17/04/2024
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Workflows
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Wo...
17/04/2024
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG and Broadcast Production
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG a...
17/04/2024
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND videos
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND vid...
17/04/2024
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia Pilon, who has served as Berklee Valencia's interim executive director since March 2023, has a...
17/04/2024
CBS Cuts Off Billy Joel Concert Telecast (Updated)
CBS will re-air Sundays Billy Joel concert telecast this Friday (April 19) after several CBS-affiliated stations abruptly cut part of Sundays telecast of the si...
17/04/2024
Jacqueline Matter Named Co-Host on WTTG's Good Day DC'
Jacqueline Matter has been named co-host of Good Day DC at WTTG Washington. Effective immediately, she co-anchors the 4 a.m. newscast with Stephen Graddick, rep...
17/04/2024
TV Usage Takes March Dip While College Hoops Help Cable
Television usage took its usual March dip, dropping 3% from February, according to Nielsen,...
17/04/2024
BET, Tyler Perry Extend Content Agreement Through 2028
BET Media Group, part of Paramount Global, said it and Tyler Perry had reached an agreement extending their content production deal through 2028....
17/04/2024
Warner Bros. Discovery Names David Porter Head of Ad Research
Warner Bros. Discovery said it named David Porter head of ad sales research, data and insights....
17/04/2024
Lionsgate Signs Exec VP Lee Hollin To Long-Term Deal
Lionsgate said it signed a new multi-year employment deal with Lee Hollin, its executive VP, television and head of current programming for Lionsgate Television...
17/04/2024
Jessica Rosenworcel Speaks at the Paley Museum April 16
Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel sits for an interview at the Paley Museum in New York April 16 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Moderated by Nick T...
17/04/2024
Travis Kelce To Host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?' on Prime Video
Travis Kelce will host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a spinoff of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, that will stream on Prime Video....
17/04/2024
Amy Alvarez Named News Director at Telemundo's KULX Salt Lake City
Amy Alvarez has been named news director at KULX Salt Lake City, the Telemundo station in the market. She comes from KVDA San Antonio, another Telemundo outlet,...
17/04/2024
Frndly Launches Channel Store, Adding 4 Subscription Services to Lineup
Frndly TV, the low-priced, family-friendly streaming service, said it launched a channel store where users can sign up for subscription streaming services....
17/04/2024
TV Tech Announces Winners of Best of Show Awards at 2024 NAB Show
TV Tech has announced its Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show, April 14-17 in Las Vegas. The awards are judged by a panel of industry experts on the crite...
17/04/2024
Riedel Enhances Interstellar Technologies Space Launch Wi...
Riedel Communications today announced its collaboration with Interstellar Technologies, a pioneering space transportation company based in Hokkaido, Japan, to o...
17/04/2024
Riedels Simplylive Production Suite Empowers Lafayette Co...
Riedel Communications announced that Lafayette College, a liberal arts college in eastern Pennsylvania and one of 10 core members in the Patriot League, is usin...
17/04/2024
Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic Upgrade Video...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic, part of the Deutsche Telekom (DT) Group, have extende...
17/04/2024
OpenDrives Recognized on the 2024 CRN Storage 100 List
OpenDrives, Inc., the global provider of software-defined media workflow solutions and data management capabilities, is honored to announce its inclusion in the...
17/04/2024
Goldbach to Leverage Operatives new converged advertising...
Operative is pleased to announce a new and expanded partnership with Goldbach Media, one of the leading media sales organizations in Switzerland. This partnersh...
17/04/2024
Roberts Communications Network Selects Appear X Platform...
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, and Roberts Communications Network (Roberts), the leading worldwide video distribution and wagering dat...
17/04/2024
Mobilelinks Chooses Appear for UHD Upgrade of DSNG Trucks
Appear enables Mobilelinks to meet updated technical requirements. Appear, the global leader in live production technology, has been selected by Mobilelinks to...
17/04/2024
Appear and Skyline Communications Strengthen Partnership...
The expanded solution offers enhanced visibility and automation of production and distribution workflows for live event contribution applications Appear, the g...
17/04/2024
In a major step in its growth strategy Econocom launches...
Econocom, a sustainable digital enterprise and pioneer of the circular economy in Europe, today announced the launch of an ambitious campaign as part of the rol...
17/04/2024
Newsmax Extends Relationship with 24i to Rapidly Launch P...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that its 24i Video Cloud for OTT service providers is powering the new Newsmax+ subscription service, ...
17/04/2024
AIMS Welcomes Kakadu Software and 7thSense as New Members
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced its newest members: Kakadu Software provider of the world's leading JPEG 2000 development toolk...
17/04/2024
Amagi Integrates Intertrust ExpressPlay DRM for Deliverin...
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV, and Intertrust, the leading digital rights management (DRM) provider, to...
17/04/2024
Amagi Announces Collaboration with Argoid AI to Drive AI-...
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV, today announced a collaboration with Argoid AI, a specialist in AI-power...
17/04/2024
Triveni Digital Awarded Patent for Secure Television Dist...
Triveni Digital today announced that the company has been awarded Patent Number US 11,924,260 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for pioneering Secure Tel...
17/04/2024
Chyron Partners With GALSNGEAR to Host Student Production...
Chyron today announced that it will partner with #GALSNGEAR , a movement to bring parity to women in media and entertainment, at the 2024 NAB Show to host the o...