The National Lacrosse League today announced that is has reached a two-year deal with Molstar Sports and Entertainment, Molson Breweries and Sportsnet to provide Canadian national television coverage.

The deal includes twenty-five regular season games in the coming season, including the first-ever home games of the Calgary Roughnecks, Montreal Express and Vancouver Ravens. The 26 February All Star Game and the entire five-game postseason are also slated for coverage.

"We are excited to have such a strong broadcast partner in Canada," NLL commissioner Jim Jennings said. "Sportsnet has done a great job in carrying the Toronto Rock broadcasts over the past couple of seasons, and we are pleased to welcome them as the carrier of our national package in Canada."

The schedule announced today is identical to the one which the Outsider's Guide reported last weekend.

The television deal is the third made by the league this offseason, following a two-year agreement with CNN/Sports Illustrated for American television coverage and one with HDNet for high-definition coverage.

"Jim Jennings has a vision to make the NLL the fifth major sports league in North America and the way to do that is to take steps like we're taking today," said Vancouver Ravens co-owner and governor Tom Mayenknecht.

"There is no better way to introduce a new product than through television."

The price paid for the television rights was not disclosed, although Jennings called it "substantial."

That the league is even making money from broadcasts is a major improvement from 1999, when the NLL entered Toronto, Canada's largest city. Back then, the Rock paid Molstar $25,000 (Canadian) per game to get regional coverage on what was then known as CTV Sportnet.

"The new package is the harvest of the seeds that were sown," says Ottawa Rebel general manager John Mouradian, who held the same position with the Rock three years ago. "Molstar was a partner with us from the get-go and they were very supportive.

"To even give us the opportunity at that point, knowing we would have to pay for the production ourselves, was big for us."

The Rock, as expected, has the most appearances on Sportsnet, with thirteen. Vancouver is scheduled for ten showings, Calgary seven, Montreal six, and Ottawa five. Of the eight American teams, six will appear on Sportsnet; only Albany and Columbus are omitted from the schedule.

Of the twenty-five regular season games, only two will air from the United States -- Toronto's trips to Washington (5 January) and Buffalo (2 March) -- and four will parallel coverage from CNN/Sports Illustrated, NLL's American television partner.

Today's announcement was originally scheduled for Wednesday, 12 September, but was postponed following the terrorist attacks of the previous day in New York City.

The following is the Sportsnet schedule for the 2001-2002 season (all times Eastern):

Sat 17 Nov    Vancouver at Toronto, 3:30 PM
Sun 18 Nov    Vancouver at Ottawa, 3:30 PM
Sat 24 Nov    Montreal at Calgary, 3:30 PM
Fri 30 Nov    Calgary at Montreal, 7:30 PM
Sat  1 Dec    Toronto at Vancouver, 3:30 PM
Sun  9 Dec    Philadelphia at Vancouver, 8:00 PM
Fri 14 Dec    Ottawa at Toronto, 7:30 PM
Sun 23 Dec    New Jersey at Vancouver, 8:00 PM
Sat  5 Jan    Toronto at Washington, 8:00 PM
Sat 12 Jan    Toronto at Calgary, 3:30 PM
Sat 19 Jan    Washington at Vancouver, 3:30 PM
Fri 25 Jan    Ottawa at Montreal, 7:30 PM
Sat 26 Jan    Rochester at Toronto, 3:30 PM
Sun  3 Feb    Montreal at Toronto, 12:30 PM
Sat  9 Feb    Ottawa at Calgary, 3:30 PM
Sun 10 Feb    Washington at Toronto, 12:30 PM
Sat 16 Feb    Toronto at Ottawa, 7:30 PM
Sat 16 Feb    New York at Vancouver, 10:30 PM
Sat 23 Feb    Calgary at Toronto, 3:30 PM
Sat 23 Feb    Montreal at Vancouver, 8:00 PM
Tue 26 Feb    NLL All-Star Game, Time TBA
Sat  2 Mar    Toronto at Buffalo, 3:30 PM
Fri  8 Mar    Toronto at Montreal, Time TBA
Sat 16 Mar    Calgary at Vancouver, Time TBA 
Fri 22 Mar    Philadelphia at Toronto, Time TBA
Sat 23 Mar    Vancouver at Calgary, Time TBA
 29-31 Mar    NLL Quarterfinals (2)
  5- 7 Apr    NLL Semifinals (2)
 12-15 Apr    NLL Championship Game