NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Fox broadcaster Mike
Emrick will hold a news conference today to announce MasterCard's
"Greatest Moments in NHL Hockey" promotion. The program will be
implemented in several phases, with officials and historians
nominating great moments for each NHL club, media representatives
selecting the top moment; and then one moment selected from the
top 26 (NHL)....The NHL and MasterCard took out a full-page ad in
this morning's USA TODAY to announce the weekend's events and
promote the new NHL MasterCard series featuring team-logo cards
for each club (USA TODAY, 1/19)....Nike unveiled a new hockey ad
and hosted a media reception with Sergei Fedorov, Cam Neely,
Scott Stevens and Brian Leetch and members of the Celebrity All-
Star team last night in Boston (Nike). In this morning's BOSTON
GLOBE, David Halbfinger writes that Nike's NHL involvement has
given the league "credibility," as well as giving Nike a presence
in both the on-ice and in-line skating markets (BOSTON GLOBE,
1/19)....Fleer/Skybox will sponsor the NHL Card Flipping
Tournament on Saturday at Boston's World Trade Center (Fleer).