IIHF World Junior Championship: Russian Machine 2020

Terry Jones: Edmonton picturesque in TSN's global presentation of world juniors It was a game you’d figure most people would draw their drapes on if it were played in their backyard.And it drew an average audience of 2.1 million people! Canada’s Boxing Day opener, that 16-2 eyesore win over the German team that had to play with 14 skaters due to nine players with positive coronavirus tests checking into the bubble, drew an astounding average audience. Because of the holidays, the TV “overnights” rating numbers weren’t available until just after Team Canada extended their all-time record against Switzerland to 25-0 with a 10-0 win Tuesday in a game you might figure to have the TV ratings of the Shaw Cable fireplace. Canada’s Connor Zary (9) can’t get the puck past Switzerland’s goalie Noah Patenaude (1) during the IIHF world junior hockey championships on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. Greg Southam / Postmedia PHOTO BY GREG SOUTHAM /Postmedia “Two million viewers for a game in today’s world is huge,” said Paul Graham, TSN’s vice-president and executive producer. “We have great expectations based on that number for the entire tournament. We know the ratings will be consistently good for Team Canada. Advertisement STORY CONTINUES BELOW This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content continued Several countries have future stars of NHL Canadian teams, like Ottawa draft pick Tim Stutzle with Germany. He has been amazing. And here in Edmonton they’ll be watching Sweden’s captain, Philip Broberg. “Our signal goes to 12 countries and Sweden, Finland, Russia and USA air every game. Our projections, even with the odd hours of the games in Europe, are now that the reach of this tournament will exceed 100 million viewers worldwide. The feedback from the nations taking the world feed has been super positive.” The job being done by Team TSN, led by Graham, game producer Chris Edwards and play-by-play man Gord Miller, all Edmonton born-and-raised talents, along with Bob McKenzie, James Duthie, Ray Ferraro, Craig Button, Edmonton’s Ryan Richaug and the entire behind-the-cameras team has been exceptional. “We have the best of the best when it comes to hockey crews and I would not hesitate to say our coverage here in the bubble is better than hockey at the Olympics,” said Graham. And Edmonton is the big benefactor. There were those who questioned the benefit of Edmonton, after the ballistic success of playing host to 81 NHL games in the Hub City bubble, going back to save the International Ice Hockey Federation world junior championships with a Hub City 2 event playing host to 32 more games here. Tuesday, the IIHF effectively announced now that they have all 10 teams safely in the Edmonton competition bubble, that they’ve conducted 8,167 tests on players, staff, game officials and the like, and have now joined the NHL in recording daily shutouts against COVID-19. Advertisement STORY CONTINUES BELOW This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content continued Tuesday, five of the nine German players who tested positive upon arrival were released from quarantine and have been allowed to rejoin the team. The city clearly is scoring another triumph here. And we’re not even to New Year’s Eve yet, and the quarter-final and medal-round games to follow. Graham, you should know, is playing a huge role in this, heading up not only TSN but the world feed for the IIHF, as well. But considering this edition is entirely a TV show being watched by everybody while self-isolating at home, gave Edmonton a great Christmas present by gift-wrapping the games. Perhaps you’ve noticed. Because he could, Graham — noting the effect of the “beauty shots” the people at Explore Edmonton provided the NHL for the Stanley Cup playoff games telecast out of here — believed it was possible to top that for the world junior telecasts to be shown throughout Europe and North America at the time of year that isn’t normally a beauty-shot season for the City of Champions & Championships. He put together a plan led by senior director Andy Bouvoukos and cameraman Darryl MacDonald to produce about two hours worth of drone shots of the city to open the telecasts and used to come in and out from intermissions and commercial breaks. They’re simply spectacular. They focus on Rogers Place alone in the afternoon sun and throughout the day and are highlighted by sunset shots with the brilliantly coloured sky reflecting off the silver-sided contours of the arena and the reflective sides and windows of the Stantec Tower and J.W. Marriott. There are night shots with the venue bathed in spotlights with the skyline and the glimmering lights of the city in the background as the drone moves around the building and downtown Edmonton. Advertisement STORY CONTINUES BELOW This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content continued There’s also morning to night skyline footage, much of it featuring the castle-like look of the Hotel Macdonald in the foreground. The night shots feature Christmas lights on the buildings and the changing colours of the Muttart Conservatory in the foreground, again from a variety of angles with dozens of drone trips past the new and already iconic Walterdale Bridge, both in daylight and lit up at night with the skyline in the background, as well. As outstanding a job as the NHL did for Edmonton for the Stanley Cup telecasts with all those hours of daylight and Edmonton’s magnificent river valley to work with, this tops it. Better phrased, it completes it. The combination of the two, for a total of 113 telecasts of games, is a two-season identity and image-changer. “We sent our European network partners the scenic for advance promotion and they were very visible in all our games,” said Graham. E-mail: tjones@postmedia.com