October 11, 1952: For the 1st time, a National Hockey League game is shown on television.
It is broadcast in French on CBFT, Channel 2 in Montreal. The producer and announcer is René Lecavalier, who would continue broadcasting for the Canadiens until 1985.
The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum. Elmer Lach scores for Les Habitantes at 4:39 of the 2nd period. Alex Delvecchio ties it 5 minutes later. With 3:53 left in regulation, Billy Reay scores on a power play to win it for the home team.
The Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup that season. Reay later coached the Chicago Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1971 and 1973, losing both times -- to the Canadiens.
On November 1, 1952, Hockey Night In Canada would debut nationally on CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster Foster Hewitt, who had made the 1st hockey broadcast on radio in 1923, making the transition to TV. He was already known for introducing the phrase, "He shoots, he scores!" Lecavalier, on the French version of HNIC, La Soirée du hockey, would introduce the French version of Hewitt's phrase: "Il lance, et compte!"
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As all HNIC nights are, October 11, 1952 was a Saturday. There was 1 other NHL game played that day: The Black Hawks beat the Maple Leafs, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens.
The baseball season had ended 4 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2 at Ebbets Field, in Game 7 of the World Series. The NFL played its games the next day. And the NBA season was about to start. But there were college football games played:
* Number 1-ranked Wisconsin lost to Ohio State, 23-14 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
* Number 2 Michigan State capitalized by beating Texas A&M, 48-6 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.
* The University of Pittsburgh beat Number 8 Notre Dame, 22-19 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* Alabama beat Virginia Tech, 33-0 at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa -- later renamed Bryant-Denny Stadium.
* Penn State beat West Virginia, 35-21 at the old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia.
* Army beat Dartmouth, 37-7 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.
Among New York City teams:
* NYU lost to Holy Cross, 35-0 at Triborough Stadium in Manhattan -- later renamed Downing Stadium.
* Columbia lost to Yale, 35-28 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.
* Fordham did not play that week.
Among New Jersey teams:
* Rutgers lost to Colgate, 13-7 at Colgate Athletic Field in Hamilton, New York -- later renamed Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium.
* Princeton lost to Penn, 13-7 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.