Coming off the highest-rated season it its history with the club, NESN will televise 41 Boston Bruins hockey games during the 2013 campaign.
The regional sports network will begin its game coverage of the lockout-shortened season on Jan. 19 with the Bruins taking on original six competitor, the NewYork Rangers, from TD Garden at 7 p.m. NESN’s opening night coverage starts at 5:30 pm with Big Bad Bruins Live presented by DCU followed by a special one-hour edition of W.B. Mason Bruins Face-Off Live. It will conclude with ACE Ticket Bruins Overtime Live, the network’s post-game show.
NESN’s broadcast team will feature play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards and color analyst Andy Brickley for an eighth straight season, while Naoko Funayama is the rink-side reported for a fifth year. NESN’s pre and post-game shows and intermission coverage will be hosted by Dale Arnold, who will be joined by studio analysts Billy Jaffe, Gord Kluzak and Barry Pederson.
Home of the Bruins since 1984, the RSN last season averaged a 4.7 household rating in the Boston DMA, its best ever with the club, which was defending its Stanley Cup championship. NESN’s Nielsen fortunes were fueled by 23 of the network’s 25 top-rated Bruins regular season games, including the six highest.
The second highest average in NESN history was recorded the last time the NHL experienced a shortened season back in 1995, when NESN earned a 3.8 rating.
