February 11, 2021

APTN has carefully weighed the possibility of producing NHL games in Plains Cree again this year. Unfortunately, given the challenges of COVID protocols around logistics and travel, we’ve made the decision to stay on the bench this season.

The health and safety of everyone involved in this production is of the utmost importance and was the guiding principle in arriving at this outcome.

This was a difficult decision to make. The games we were able to pull off the last two years – thanks to the wonderful support of Rogers and Sportsnet – were a huge achievement for APTN, and our audiences responded with immense pride. We hope we’ll be able to partner with them again next season to safely produce more hockey games in Plains Cree.

Broadcasting NHL games in Plains Cree has been an incredible addition to APTN’s Indigenous language programming. We look forward to hearing more cries of “kociw osihew, pihtokwahew!” [he shoots, he scores!] across the country after this intermission.