Jan. 18 is going to be a glorious Saturday for hockey fans, as the CBC plans a full day of hockey programming involving Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada.

Under the thematic umbrella of community, the CBC begins broadcasting  at noon with Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada: Celebrating the Game, live from the Winter Festival in Lloydminster, AB, with Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean at an outdoor rink built specifically for Hockey Day.

Seven Canadian NHL teams will hit the ice, commencing with two games at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) featuring the New York Rangers visiting the Ottawa Senators for Ontario and Eastern Canada viewers , while those in Manitoba and to the West will see the Winnipeg Jets host the Edmonton Oilers.

Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada: Celebrating the Game will offer more features as well as live look-ins from the Winter Festival in Lloydminster and communities across Canada, expanding on a celebration that began four days earlier in Regina’s CBC headquarters with the arrival in the Saskatchewan capital of the Stanley Cup.

CBC Edmonton will host a similar event in Churchill Square on the morning of Wednesday Jan. 15 before the Stanley Cup travels to Scotiabank branches in Camrose, AB and Vermillion, AB during the day on the way to Lloydminster.

The arrival of the Stanley Cup signifies the official start of the Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada celebrations in Lloydminster with a series of events in and around the community in the days leading up to Saturday, Jan. 18. Activities taking place include on-ice clinics for youth hockey players and visits to local schools with NHL alumni Bryan Trottier, Clark, McDonald, McSorley, Napier and Tucker as well as members of CBC’S Hockey Night in Canada broadcast team.

The CBC News Network team will also get in on the action broadcasting live and filing reports from Lloydminster  detailing  hockey-related events that are taking place in the community. In addition, Hanomansing will have a feature report about Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada in the Jan. 17 edition of The National.

This also may be the last big CBC Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada celebration, as last week the NHL sealed a $5.2 billion agreement with Rogers Communciations securing all national rights to NHL games for 12 years, beginning with next year’s 2014-2015 season.

Although the CBC will retain some future coverage in the agreement, it remains to be seen if this event will be one of them.

From Playback Daily