While 45TV carries all the championship round games of the 2023 Minnesota State High School Boys Hockey Tournament this week, HSGN goes back 40 years to what the author of this blog coined "The Golden Age of State Tourney Coverage." From 1983 to 1991, WCCO-TV had the rights to carry the prestigious event and it was a great undertaking by the CBS station.
In 1982, WCCO-TV outbid KSTP-TV to carry the state hockey tournament for the next three years. It would be the first time the station aired the tournament and the third in this market. The first was WTCN (now KARE) when they were an independent station. But in 1979, the station became an NBC affiliate, KSTP switched from NBC to ABC and KMSP would be an independent before becoming a Fox owned station.
Who would call the play-by-play for WCCO's tournament coverage? It would not be Al Shaver, who did such an excellent job on every game during KSTP's run but he was employed by KSTP=AM, the North Stars flagship radio station so he was out. Who would be in? Station honchos brought in outside talent starting with Canadian sportscaster Don Chevrier. He only lasted one season and would be replaced by another broadcaster from north of the border Chris Cuthbert. Another voice who would be hired was Wisconsin Badgers hockey broadcaster Paul Braun, a Bird Island, MN native. Other play-by-play voices over the station's nine year run were Doug McLeod and Ted Robinson. Their on air sidekicks in the booth would be the veteran Lou Nanne, who began his career as a state tournament analyst in 1964 and still at it, handing Class AA games this year. Also pitching in were former Gopher hockey coach Herb Brooks and WCCO radio afternoon drive personality Steve Cannon.
In the studio, Mark Rosen and Ralph Jon Fritz anchored the coverage while news and sports personnel such as Tony Parker, Tom Hanneman and Jim Gately also contributed. It also took dozens of people behind the scenes to bring viewers the sights and sounds of all the action at the St. Paul Civic Center.
All of those elements added up to a great production that looked and sound more like a network broadcast. Around 1986, the addition of electronic still photos made the production even better.
As for what went wrong, you can count on one hand the number of things with WCCO's state tournament coverage. One was occasionally missing goals because they aired commercials. The other was fans of the CBS prime time soaps Knots Landing, Dallas and Falcon Crest. They were delayed to late night time periods due to hockey coverage. Fans of the soaps would have to pour coffee to keep them awake after the games or set their VCR's to watch them later. This was before streaming, folks.
What made WCCO's coverage also stand out were the between periods and games features. For fans expecting the station to bring in stars from CBS' shows such as Charlene Tilton from Dallas or Tom Selleck from Magnum PI like KSTP did with Howard Cosell and Cheryl Tiegs, it wouldn't happen.
One memorable game that stood out from that era was the 1985 quarterfinal game between Bloomington Jefferson and Minnetonka. The score was tied at three at the end of regulation time. So the game went into overtime and another and another. Nobody scored the game winning goal. So what happened? The game was suspended until 9 AM the next day in order for the Bemidji-Burnsville game to begin. Fans of the long running game show The Price is Right did not flood WCCO with complaints because the game would end on Brock Rendell's goal 2:21 into the fourth overtime to give Jefferson the victory.
There's were many other outstanding games throughout WCCO's nine year run. But it 1992, the state tournament became a two class affair and the station didn't want to preempt a fourth night of network programming so they lost the rights to KMSP, who aired the tournament as well as boys and girls basketball and The Prep Bowl football finals. But for nine years, viewers were treated to what would be "The Golden Age of State Tourney Coverage."
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