The Blackhawks’ game Sunday won’t be the only Stanley Cup playoff contest receiving network coverage.
While the Hawks’ Norris Division contest will be seen in the Midwest (including WLS-Ch. 7) as well as the St. Petersburg-Sarasota, Fla., area, ABC will telecast two other games on a regional basis-the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins’ opener at noon to the East Coast and the Los Angeles Kings-Calgary Flames contest at 2 p.m. to the West Coast.
The announcers for the Hawks’ game are expected to be Mike Emrick, who was play-by-play man for CBS’ Winter Olympics hockey coverage, ESPN analyst Jim Schoenfeld and ESPN studio host Tom Mees, who will serve as a sideline reporter.
Al (“Miracle on Ice”) Michaels will call the Kings-Flames contest with John Davidson, while Gary Thorne, Bill Clement and Al Morganti handle the Penguins’ game.
While Game 2 of the Hawks series is slated for pay-per-view HawkVision, ESPN on Wednesday announced its first Stanley Cup playoff telecast will be the Penguins’ game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“We’ll see what happens after that,” said an ESPN official, pointing out the cable network’s four-nights-a-week commitments to baseball. “You’re going to see a lot of baseball-hockey double-headers. It’s going to be a wild run.”
