Today In NHL History - Ron MacLean

On April 12th in 1960, celebrated sports broadcaster Ronald Joseph Corbett MacLean was born in Zweibrücken, West Germany. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of all things hockey and a quick wit, MacLean became the host of CBC's coveted Saturday night franchise Hockey Night In Canada. Raised in Red Deer, Alberta, MacLean spent eight years with CKRD before landing the HNIC Western anchor gig in 1986. Later that season he assumed the Toronto anchor role replacing Dave Hodge who was fired for flipping his pencil in protest of the network's decision to leave an overtime hockey game for the news. MacLean has been a fixture since.

In addition to his regular broadcasting duties MacLean hosts the Hotstove, co-anchors Coach's Corner with Don Cherry, and has participated in CBC's Olympic coverage since 1988, earning him eight Gemini awards, including Best Sports Broadcaster (1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001) and Best Sports Host/Interviewer (2004, 2006).

That's today in NHL history.