NHL on Fox was the branding used for the Fox network’s national broadcasts of NHL games. Fox reached a five-year rights deal with the league in September 1994, roughly a year after acquiring NFL broadcast rights. Coverage began on April 2, 1995, toward the end of that season’s lockout-shortened schedule. The deal ran through the 1998–99 season, when Fox’s NHL rights moved to ABC and ESPN.
The broadcasts were famous for the FoxTrax, also known as the “glow puck.” The puck was fitted with internal electronics that let viewers track its position and speed on screen. Fox also brought NHL coverage back to national over-the-air television after a decade without a full deal. The package aired regular-season games, the All-Star Game, and the Stanley Cup Finals each spring.
Mike Emrick and John Davidson served as the lead play-by-play and color commentary team for most of the package’s run. The duo called the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals together, the same year the New Jersey Devils won the title. Joe Micheletti worked as a reporter across Fox’s national game broadcasts. Active players such as Mike Modano and Jaromir Jagr occasionally appeared as guest analysts.
James Brown hosted Fox’s studio coverage for the first four seasons, working alongside studio analyst Dave Maloney. Suzy Kolber took over as studio host for the package’s fifth and final season, paired with analyst Terry Crisp. Emrick and Davidson later carried their partnership to NBC when that network acquired NHL broadcast rights in the mid-2000s.
