WILLIAM HOUSTON

The Hockey Night In Canada gang is staying home this season.

A new CBC studio, which was used on Saturday for the telecast of the Anaheim Ducks-Los Angeles Kings game from London, will serve as the show's base during the regular season.

Hockey Night will be on-site in Ottawa on Thursday for the Toronto Maple Leafs-Ottawa Senators telecast, but it will be in based in Toronto for the remainder of the season.

In the past, host Ron MacLean and commentator Don Cherry worked out of the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and occasionally made visits to arenas in other Canadian NHL cities.
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Scott Moore, the head of CBC Sports, called the Saturday telecast at the new studio a "soft launch."

"[The studio] will be our home starting next Saturday [Oct. 6]," he said.

Other Hockey Night segments in addition to Cherry's Coach's Corner, such as the Satellite Hot Stove and the new pre-game spots, also will be based in the new studio, which is at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto.

The move should simplify production, eliminate logistical problems and, in theory, improve the quality of the show.

The studio, which was first used in the 2007 playoffs, has a strong, high-impact look, and will give the on-air personalities more room in which to work.

While sitting at the desk in the more confined ACC quarters, Cherry would occasionally push away the arm of MacLean, who seemed to encroach on his territory.

This shouldn't be an issue now, although on Saturday, MacLean, who was at the anchor desk with analysts Cassie Campbell and Craig Simpson, leaned over and had his hand in front of Campbell's face during a discussion.

By keeping the studio show in Toronto, Hockey Night will lose the promotional element of MacLean and Cherry visiting other Canadian NHL cities.