(CHICAGO) – Fox Sports Net – the television home of the Chicago Blackhawks – is the place to catch one of last season's most improved National Hockey League teams with 39, live regular season Blackhawk games, plus four pre-season match-ups during the upcoming 2002-03 season.
FSN viewers can get the very first look at The Sporting News "NHL Coach of the Year" Brian Sutter's Blackhawk roster, featuring newly-acquired veteran standout Theo Fleury, along with Eric Daze, Alex Zhamnov, Jocelyn Thibault and newcomer Sergei Berezin, when they travel to take on the Dallas Stars in a pre-season match-up on Tuesday, September 24 at 7:30 PM on FSN+. Fox Sports Net will also carry three additional pre-season contests, including a match-up against the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, September 29 at 7:00 PM live from the United Center, along with road visits to St. Louis on Friday, October 4 at 7:00 PM and Detroit on Saturday, October 5 at 6:30 PM.
This year's regular season campaign on Fox Sports Net gets underway with the season opener on Thursday, October 10 at 6:00 PM when the Blackhawks face-off against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Other key road match-ups this season include big divisional battles against Detroit (Nov. 5 & Jan. 13) and St. Louis (Jan. 2 & Jan. 18), plus, road contests against the Stanley Cup runner-up Carolina Hurricanes (Oct. 26) and their Western Conference rival, the Colorado Avalanche (Nov. 25).
This season's schedule also features two regular season home games from the United Center on Wednesday night, January 15 vs. Detroit and Sunday night, April 4 vs. St. Louis.
This season also marks the return of longtime Blackhawk announcing favorite Dale Tallon, as he rejoins veteran play-by-play announcer Pat Foley after serving as the Blackhawks Director of Player Personnel for the past four seasons. Known for his keen insight, descriptive style and sense of humor, Tallon's return marks the 17th season that he and Foley will be behind the microphone for Blackhawk games on Fox Sports Net.
Blackhawks PRE, featuring the studio tandem of Eric Goodman and former Blackhawk star center Troy Murray, will air a half-hour prior to every game telecast on FSN. Goodman and Murray will also host period intermissions and Blackhawks POST, which will immediately follow all FSN game telecasts.
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"Brian Sutter led last year's Blackhawk team to higher level and we're looking forward to even more excitement this year," said James J. Corno, Fox Sports Net Chicago's Senior Vice President/General Manager. "We're also thrilled to have Dale Tallon coming back to rejoin Pat Foley for what we feel is one of the best announcing duos in all of sports."
More highlights from this season's Blackhawks schedule on Fox Sports Net include 15 "late start" games (various mountain and west coast start times beginning at 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM or 9:30 PM), two games against last year's scoring champion Jarome Iginla and the Calgary Flames (Nov. 23 & Feb. 6), New York visits to face the Islanders (Dec. 10) and Rangers (Dec. 11), a pair of games against Western Conference challenger San Jose (Dec. 28 & Mar. 17), plus – a battle against NHL legend Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins (Jan. 25).
One pre-season and two regular season games are currently scheduled to be telecast on Fox Sports Net Plus (see attached schedule). Fox Sports Net Plus (FSN+) telecasts are provided to Fox Sports Net affiliates and distributed to viewers when two live events are scheduled simultaneously. Through a cooperative agreement with CLTV, inner market cable operators are given the opportunity to place FSN+ games on CLTV. Cable operators who do not carry CLTV will place FSN+ telecasts on a to-be-determined channel.
Fox Sports Net Chicago reaches more than 3.7 million households in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. Fox Sports Net Chicago is managed by Rainbow Sports Networks, a division of Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. Fox Sports Net Chicago's programming includes Chicago Blackhawks hockey, Chicago Bulls basketball, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs baseball, along with select NASCAR and PGA Tour coverage.
A leader in sports, news and entertainment programming, Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) and NBC. Rainbow owns and manages AMC, WE: WOMEN'S ENTERTAINMENT, Bravo, IFC (The Independent Film Channel), muchmusic usa, Mag Rack, Rainbow Sports Networks, News 12 Networks, and MetroChannels as well as the Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation and Rainbow Network Communications. Rainbow is a fifty-percent partner in Fox Sports Net and has a strategic partnership with MGM (NYSE:MGM), which owns a 20% stake in four of Rainbow's national networks: AMC, WE: Women's Entertainment, Bravo and IFC.
2002-2003 Chicago Blackhawks Schedule
PRE-SEASON
| Tue, Sept. 24
| @ Dallas
| 7:30 pm
| FSN+
| Sun, Sept. 29
| vs. Detroit
| 7:00 pm
| Fri, Oct. 4
| @ St. Louis
| 7:00 pm
| Sat, Oct. 5
| @ Detroit
| 6:30 pm
| REGULAR SEASON
| Thu, Oct. 10
| @ Columbus
| 6:00 pm
| Sat, Oct. 26
| @ Carolina
| 6:00 pm
| Sat, Nov. 2
| @ New Jersey
| 12:00 pm
| Tue, Nov. 5
| @ Detroit
| 6:30 pm
| Sat, Nov. 9
| @ Tampa Bay
| 6:30 pm
| Mon, Nov. 11
| @ Florida
| 6:30 pm
| Tue, Nov. 19
| @ Edmonton
| 8:00 pm
| FSN+
| Wed, Nov. 20
| @ Vancouver
| 9:00 pm
| Sat, Nov. 23
| @ Calgary
| 8:00 pm
| Mon, Nov. 25
| @ Colorado
| 8:00 pm
| Thu, Nov. 28
| @ Phoenix
| 8:00 pm
| Sat, Nov. 30
| @ Los Angeles
| 9:30 pm
| Sun, Dec. 1
| @ Anaheim
| 7:00 pm
| Tue, Dec. 10
| @ NY Islanders
| 6:00 pm
| Wed, Dec. 11
| @ NY Rangers
| 7:00 pm
| Fri, Dec. 13
| @ Buffalo
| 6:00 pm
| Sat, Dec. 28
| @ San Jose
| 9:30 pm
| Mon, Dec. 30
| @ Los Angeles
| 9:30 pm
| Thu, Jan. 2
| @ St. Louis
| 7:00 pm
| Sat, Jan. 4
| @ Nashville
| 7:00 pm
| Thu, Jan. 9
| @ Dallas
| 7:30 pm
| Mon, Jan. 13
| @ Detroit
| 6:30 pm
| Wed, Jan. 15
| vs. Detroit
| 7:30 pm
| Sat, Jan. 18
| @ St. Louis
| 7:00 pm
| Mon, Jan. 20
| @ Columbus
| 6:00 pm
| Sat, Jan. 25
| @ Pittsburgh
| 2:00 pm
| Sun, Jan. 26
| @ Montreal
| 1:00 pm
| FSN+
| Wed, Feb. 5
| @ Minnesota
| 7:00 pm
| Thu, Feb. 6
| @ Calgary
| 8:00 pm
| Sat, Feb. 8
| @ Edmonton
| 9:00 pm
| Mon, Feb. 10
| @ Vancouver
| 9:00 pm
| Sat, Feb. 15
| @ Columbus
| 6:00 pm
| Sat, Mar. 1
| @ Nashville
| 1:00 pm
| Wed, Mar. 5
| @ Dallas
| 8:00 pm
| Wed, Mar. 12
| @ Anaheim
| 9:30 pm
| Fri, Mar. 14
| @ Phoenix
| 8:00 pm
| Mon, Mar. 17
| @ San Jose
| 9:30 pm
| Fri, Mar. 28
| @ Minnesota
| 7:00 pm
| Fri, April 4
| vs. St. Louis
| 7:30 pm
| | ||||||
– Four pre-season, 39 regular season telecasts on this season's schedule
– Schedule subject to change
– All Times are Central Time
– All Games are preceded by a half-hour edition of Blackhawks PRE
– All Games are followed by a 30-minute or 15-minute edition of Blackhawks POST
PLEASE NOTE: FSN+ telecasts may be found on CLTV or call 1-877-655-PLUS for channel number