"HBO 24/7" will return for a third season, this time to cover the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the lead up to the 2013 NHL Winter Classic to be held at Michigan Stadium on Jan. 1 next season. NHL COO John Collins confirmed the news Tuesday, saying that the third iteration of the series will feature a few changes.
"We're going to work a little more closely with HBO on production," Collins said. "We've been in partnership with them, but now that we have an original productions group here, we're going to work a little more closely with them on the production side."
The NHL will also partner with a Canadian network to take the series north of the border.
The series almost didn't get off the ground for a third season after HBO Sports management found itself in flux. Former president Ross Greenberg left the network to start up his own own production company providing similar reality programming to NBC Sports Network and the NHL Network. Thankfully, last year's 24/7 series covering the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers drew in enough viewers to greenlight another year of programming.
For more on the 2013 Winter Classic, check in with Red Wings blog Winging It In Motown, Maple Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets, SB Nation Detroit, and our SBNation.com StoryStream.