Ottawa Senators

• Set to premiere in 2024, Chosen One: Alexandre Daigle highlights the Quebec-born teenage hockey phenom, positioned to be the saviour of the expansion Ottawa Senators.
• The documentary chronicles that journey as Alexandre Daigle, himself, reflects on life - both on and off the ice.
• We think the authentic and entertaining narratives in Chosen One: Alexandre Daigle and Saving Sakic will resonate with our hockey audience but most importantly, beyond.
• Chosen One: Alexandre Daigle and Saving Sakic are directed by Jay Nelson for NHL Productions.

• It’s been 30 years since a Canadian NHL team has won the Stanley Cup.
• It’s a familiar debate among many Canadian hockey fans: if one’s team is no longer in contention for the Stanley Cup, does their allegiance switch to any remaining Canadian team — even one they usually hate?

Hockey allegiance

• The sentiment to support a Canadian team, or more accurately any Canadian team, doesn’t appear to be a recent creation.
• Hewitt, Sporting Editor of the Toronto Daily Star noted in 1930: “Montréal’s Canadiens today returned the Stanley Cup to Canada, birthplace of hockey … the Stanley Cup is returned home after a two-year sojourn in the United States.” So while it might seem natural for Canadian fans to seek an oasis in a time of drought by rooting for any Canadian team, the question remains: Why do many Canadian hockey fans feel the urge to support teams they would ordinarily delight in rooting against?
• Perhaps the answer lies within the connection between Canadian national identity and the National Hockey League itself.

Hockey and nationhood

• While hockey is undoubtedly one of Canada’s national pastimes and passions, the NHL occupies an outsized presence in our collective cultural imagination.
• This unusual dynamic led author Ryan Edwardson to argue the following in his book Canadian Content: Culture and the Quest for Nationhood:
  “Canada provides a fascinating case study in which to explore how nationhood has been defined and pursued through culture.”
  “Canada provides a fascinating case study in which to explore how nationhood has been defined and pursued through culture.” While sport plays a role in many nations’ cultural identities, Canada’s symbolic identification with hockey culture, and chiefly the performance and reputation of our NHL representatives, leaves our sense of nationhood vulnerable.
• When our self-conception becomes too closely tied to the fate of our NHL teams, their performance is a direct reflection of our own national quality and character.

Americanization of hockey

• As the NHL has expanded beyond six, 12, 14, 16, 18, 22 and eventually 32 teams, a new encroachment emerged in the minds of some Canadian hockey fans: Americanization.
• Throughout the mid- to late-20th century, an influx of American popular culture into Canada caused genuine concern about hockey being subsumed by the voracious economic appetite of America after the Second World War.
• With aggressive and repeated American expansion, hockey itself has changed with it.

Canadian rivalries

• Regardless of this perceived American encroachment into hockey, there are still Canadian fans unwilling to let go of their rivalries — even if it means rooting for another Canadian team.
• Canadian national hockey includes many historical, geographic and even linguistic rivalries against other Canadian teams.
• The sentiment expressed by The Hockey Sweater’s main character is familiar to many segments of Canadian hockey fans as well.

• BET99 will partner with the NHL to launch their new Free-to-Play game called "NHL PrePlay", and fans in Canada can access it now at www.nhl.com/NHLPrePlay .
• Each game day during the NHL season, fans will be provided a set of predictive outcome-based questions.
• ", as well as queries using NHL Edge (Puck & Player Tracking) data, such as "Which of these players will have the hardest shot?"
• "This partnership is groundbreaking for Canadian hockey and sports fans," said Jared Beber, CEO of BET99.

• TORONTO, Dec. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -Canadian-based premium online sports betting and casino platform BET99 isexcited to announce that it has signed a licensing agreement with Genius Sports Limited ("Genius Sports") to distribute live video streams of NFL matches to their customers in Canada.
• "Offering live streaming of all NFL games through BET99 is a fantastic development for our Canadian players," said Jared Beber, CEO of BET99.
• "We're always looking for new opportunities to engage and entertain our customers, and this new agreement will allow BET99 players to connect in even more ways with integrated watch and bet functionality."
• Under the agreement, BET99 will now provide low-latency feeds for all regular and post-season NFL games to its customers in Canada, through its relationship with Genius Sports, the exclusive distributor of official NFL data and live video streams to sportsbooks.