Tuning in the game will be different

Leafs TV grabs share of coverage Announcers play musical chairs

You’ll notice a few changes when you sit down to watch the first week of the NHL season. The first, of course, is that there actually is an NHL season, which will mean fewer classic ( read old) hockey games on television and less poker. The second is that there’s a new player on the NHL television scene: Leafs TV. The team- owned digital channel will be a must- have this year for those who insist on watching every game the Toronto Maple Leafs play. It will have 13 exclusive broadcasts this season starting Oct. 14. The remaining 32 games of the Leafs regional package, available only in southern Ontario, will be shared by TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.

Fans will also notice a few familiar faces in unfamiliar places.

Chris Cuthbert, who was second banana to Bob Cole at CBC, will now be sharing the load at TSN with Gord Miller. Cuthbert jumped to TSN after being let go during the NHL labour dispute. Glenn Healy, who left the CBC prior to the NHL lockout, will now appear as an analyst on TSN’s national broadcasts. Taking Cuthbert’s place at Hockey Night In Canada

is Jim Hughson, who was last seen calling Vancouver Canucks games on Rogers Sportsnet. Of course, Hughson’s debut on the public network depends on whether or not the CBC’s labour dispute ends before the Hockey Night In Canada

season opens with the Canadiens and Leafs playing Saturday.

If not, hockey fans will likely get what CFL viewers have watched since the CBC locked out its workers in August: a game without announcers. And that includes Don Cherry, who is a union member.

Regardless of the labour situation, fans in southern Ontario will get a heavy diet of Leaf games on CBC: 27 in all. TSN will offer a 71- game national schedule, 27 of them in high definition and 10 involving the Leafs. The cable channel opens its schedule Wednesday with a pretty attractive doubleheader: Ottawa in Toronto at 8 p. m., followed by Wayne Gretzky’s coaching debut as Phoenix takes on Vancouver at 10: 30 p. m.