SNEAK PEEK: New TSN Doc Examines Hockey’s Role in Bridging Conflicted Communities in the Middle East

TSN travels to northern Israel’s Canada-Israel Hockey School to examine whether hockey can be used as an instrument of peace in the TSN original documentary NEUTRAL ZONE. The 30-minute documentarypremieres in prime time on Tuesday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET on TSN and wraps up a night of NHL specials on the network (see below for details).

NEUTRAL ZONE is hosted by Sports Illustrated journalist and TSN THE REPORTERS WITH DAVE HODGE reporter Michael Farber, and is directed by Canadian Screen Award-winning TSN Senior Feature Producer Josh Shiaman.

NEUTRAL ZONE explores the relationships forged at the Canada-Israel Hockey School, which houses Israel’s only Olympic-sized rink. The school’s young hockey players hail from the mostly Arab area of the Golan Heights and the predominantly Jewish town of Metula – communities located in a region with strained relations and fortified borders. With the region sitting at the nexus of current world events amid rising geopolitical tensions, NEUTRAL ZONE examines whether teaching Arab and Jewish children how to play hockey together can help promote tolerance on and off the ice.

TSN airs a slate of NHL specials leading up to the premiere of NEUTRAL ZONE on Tuesday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET, with BOB MCKENZIE’S NHL DRAFT RANKING kicking off the night at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by NHL MOCK DRAFT SPECIAL at 8 p.m. ET, and the NHL DRAFT RETROSPECTIVE: 2003 at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The broadcast schedule for NEUTRAL ZONE is as follows:

• Tuesday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET on TSN
• Sunday, June 30 at 11:30 a.m. ET on TSN2
• Sunday, June 30 at 1:30 a.m. ET on TSN
• Wednesday, July 3 at 5:30 p.m. ET on TSN2