The Punjabi-language broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada is coming to an end after 18 years on the air, a decision that members of the South Asian hockey community say will be felt by generations of fans.
Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi will not return when the NHL season resumes this fall.
OMNI TV announced the decision on social media Friday, saying the show had brought the South Asian community closer to hockey and created a unique space for Punjabi-speaking fans.
The show aired Saturday nights, providing NHL game coverage and features from around the league in Punjabi.
For Harpreet Pandher, who spent the past 12 years as an analyst on the broadcast, the program was about more than translating hockey into another language.
“I think it was big for the Punjabi community,” Pandher said. “Punjabis are in Canada. They’ve been here for over 100 years. They love the game of hockey. They love their culture. So just to combine the two together, I think it was immensely great.”
Pandher said the broadcast also gave families an opportunity to share the game across generations.
“It was a way for three generations to sit in the living room and watch the games together,” he said.
Dampy Brar, president and founder of South Asian Hockey, said the broadcast provided representation at a time when there were few South Asian voices in hockey coverage.
“When we saw that Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi started, it was a good feeling that there’s a network that we can now rely on when it comes to hockey and the information,” Brar said.
Brar said the show also helped showcase South Asian players and connect families with the sport.
“They were a big influence in our game and it really connected our South Asian families to the game of hockey, which we all grew to love,” he said.
He pointed to the importance of seeing South Asian athletes featured on the broadcast, including his own recognition after winning the Willie O’Ree Memorial Award.
Pandher said he saw the impact of the program extend beyond television, including at the minor hockey level.
“Definitely, I saw a big uptick in hockey and the minor associations,” he said.
The response from viewers was also something Pandher said he and the rest of the broadcast team will remember.
“It was very humbling and it was just nice to know that people appreciated our work and they’re watching hockey and they joined hockey, which is Canada’s game,” he said.
The program’s influence also extended beyond hockey, Pandher said, with South Asian-language broadcasts later appearing around other Canadian sports.
“Through that, we saw a lot of our talent and other talent as well branch out to doing these other sports like Whitecaps, the CFL, they have the Edmonton Oilers, the B.C. Lions,” he said. “These initiatives are all born out of Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi.”
The program also had a strong connection to Calgary.
Pandher said the show was based in Calgary for a period between its early years and the national expansion of Rogers’ NHL broadcast rights.
“Calgary was right there. Calgary is one of the big supporters of Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi,” he said, noting the city’s large Punjabi community and the involvement of the Calgary Flames in South Asian-themed events.
“I feel for those who were hardcore fans,” he added. “Saturday night is a pastime and they probably looked forward to getting together in their living rooms and watching Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi.”
Rogers Sports & Media, which owns OMNI, said the decision to end the Punjabi-language NHL broadcasts was made because “audience levels aren’t strong enough to sustain the production long-term.”
“We know these broadcasts have meant a lot to many Punjabi-speaking hockey fans,” the company said in a statement. “We’re grateful to the on-air team, production staff and viewers who supported the show over the years.”
The cancellation comes after a June announcement that Hockey Night in Canada will no longer air on CBC this fall following the expiration of a sublicensing agreement between the public broadcaster and Rogers, which holds the NHL’s Canadian broadcast rights.
Pandher said he was disappointed when the team learned the Punjabi broadcast would be ending.
“It was disappointing, but at the same time we kind of had an inkling that something was coming down the pipes with all the changes that were happening within the last month and a half.”
While the broadcast is ending, Brar said its impact is unlikely to disappear.
“Most of the impact is going to stay for years and years,” he said. “That impact is going to stay with the families. It’s not going to go away anytime soon.”
“Good things must come to an end. But for myself, it was a good 12 years and for the show 18 solid years,” Pandher said.
With files from CTV’s Mark Villani and The Canadian Press.
