Members of the TSN crew have arrived in Whitehorse and are getting set for Saturday's broadcast as part of a six-hour tribute to Canadian hockey.

Canada's Game: Hockey Lives Here will air from noon to 6 p.m. Eastern Saturday, and will feature hockey-themed programming from nine different locations across the country, including the Yukon's capital city.

Rick Chisholm, the vice-president of programming for TSN, said when the sports station found out CBC wouldn't be doing their traditional Hockey Day In Canada broadcast this year, they jumped on it quickly.

'Above all years, we thought this was the biggest year to do it, because the NHL is on the outs,' said Chisholm in an interview this week. 'We've always thought CBC had a really good idea. Too often in this country, hockey in the media is NHL, NHL, NHL. So when CBC couldn't do it, we said let's do it.

'As we're getting closer to the day, we're convinced it's the right decision. Hockey has a huge impact on this country, in every community.'

TSN is working in conjunction with the Aboriginal People's Television Network and Northern Native Broadcasting to produce the segments from Whitehorse, which will be hosted by Ryan Rishaug, TSN's Edmonton correspondent. Rishaug arrived in town Thursday evening and said he was excited for the chance to see the north.

'We're not just going to major spots for this,' explained Rishaug. 'We want to come to the places where the heart of the game is beating, but not in such a high profile way. We just want to show this game is alive and well, coast to coast, and give everyone a glimpse of something beyond the Stanley Cup playoffs.'

Hockey has been a part of Rishaug's life since he was four years old� he played major junior hockey for the Kamloops Blazers until he attended college. He said he was disappointed when he heard CBC wasn't doing Hockey Day in Canada, but was thrilled when he got the phone call telling him he would be part of TSN's version, especially at a time when the game needs to be celebrated at it's roots.

'Not the NHL, not the owners, not the NHLPA, just the game of hockey,' he stated.

The reporter said he really doesn't expect Whitehorse hockey to be any different at the grassroots level than Kamloops was, or Sherwood Park outside Edmonton, where he grew up. He said no matter where you go in this country, hockey 'is what it is.'

The schedule for the Whitehorse segments includes interviews with both Mayor Ernie Bourassa and Piers McDonald, president of the Canada Winter Games Host Society, at Shipyards Park in the morning.

Bourassa will be talking about what hockey means to Whitehorse and how important the sport here is. When asked if he's looking forward to his television moment, the mayor said 'absolutely.

'It's excellent. Any kind of exposure we can get for the city is great, especially leading into the Canada Games.'

After the Shipyards segments, the crew will move to a spot on the Yukon River, across from Wal-Mart, where they will set up shop in front of local kids engaging in a shinny game. During that time, a piece on the Dawson City Nuggets will be featured, as well as a piece on the native hockey tournament and some tape on the Yukon Quest. Members of the public are encouraged to bring their skates and come down to the taping.

If they have time, TSN will also visit the Takhini Arena, where Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association house league games will be ongoing.

'We're hoping in a short period of time, to get a sense of what hockey is all about here,' said Rishaug. 'If we achieve our objective, we'll make people think of hockey in a different way again, and remind people that the game exists at different levels.'

Rishaug said TSN's broadcast will be different from CBC's because first of all, there will be no NHL element. CBC revolved their day around three all-Canadian NHL matchups.

'For us, we're trying to sell the game at a grassroots level. We're going to put a TSN spin on things. We do things differently than they do, and we have different people.

'To make people in Newfoundland care about hockey in Whitehorse is a big challenge and I'm looking forward to it.'

Hockey Lives Here will be anchored by TSN's hockey telecast team, including Pierre McGuire, Gord Miller, Bob McKenzie, James Duthie, Dave Hodge, Gino Reda, Dave Randorf, Glenn Healy and Brian Burke.

The telecast will also feature interviews from the 46th annual Quebec International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament and the World Pond Hockey Championships in Plaster Rock, N.B. And TSN's Darren Dutchyshen will head home to Porcupine Plain, Sask., with a special friend in tow the Stanley Cup.