The day after Thanksgiving is steeped in tradition. There’s Black Friday shopping, calling in ‘sick’ for work and purchasing a day-old pumpkin pie with the sole intention of eating it by yourself in the dark.
What? Pumpkin pie is delicious.
This year, though, there’s a new tradition. One hockey fans will be stoked about.
On Friday, November 25, at 1 p.m. ET -- the day after Thanksgiving -- NBC will commence its NHL broadcast coverage with an Original Six tilt pitting the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins against the 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings.
It’s called the 2011 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown, and here’s the promo:
The Thanksgiving Showdown isn’t all Discover and the NHL are teaming up on. As mentioned earlier on PHT, the two are combining forces to enter a float into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Sounds...lavish.
The Thanksgiving Showdown is huge for hockey fans as it represents one of the earliest-ever starts to NBC’s NHL coverage.
It’s also the first of many key broadcast dates:
Jan. 2: The 2012 Bridgestone Winter Classic from Philadelphia.
Jan. 14: NBC’s “Game of the Week” debuts -- Chicago vs. Detroit.
Jan. 27-29: NHL All-Star Weekend from Ottawa.
Feb. 19: Hockey Day in America (Pittsburgh at Buffalo, San Jose at Detroit, St. Louis at Chicago, Boston at Minnesota.)
NBC and NBC Sports Network will also show 10 games in the final seven days of the regular season, including a triple-header on Saturday, April 7. Following that, of course, are the Stanley Cup playoffs.