By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

The first of six straight weekends of live coverage of MHSAA winter sports championships begins this week on MHSAA.tv at the Upper Peninsula Swimming & Diving Finals at Marquette High School.

The Finals in diving will take place beginning at 2 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, coverage of the swimming events begins at 10 a.m.

Here’s the week-by-week NFHS Network coverage schedule of MHSAA winter Championships:

• Feb. 17-18 – Upper Peninsula Swimming & Diving Finals
• Feb. 24-25 – Team Dual Wrestling Quarterfinals-Semifinals-Finals
• March 2-4 – Individual Wrestling Finals
• March 3-4 – Girls Competitive Cheer Finals
• March 9-11 – Ice Hockey Semifinals-Finals
• March 11 – Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals
• March 14 – Girls Basketball Quarterfinals
• March 16-17 – Girls Basketball Semifinals
• March 21 – Boys Basketball Quarterfinals
• March 23-24 – Boys Basketball Semifinals

A $9.95 subscription on the NFHS Network is good for 30 days of viewing live coverage of MHSAA.tv and a variety of high school championships across the country.  All events are available for free, on-demand viewing three days after they have been played.

New to the schedule this year are plans to live stream all 32 Girls and Boys Basketball Quarterfinals in March, many of which will be produced by members of the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program.   

“The idea of streaming 16 games in a single day has been well-received the past few years during the Football Semifinals, and we think a lot of fans who follow high school basketball in general, but who would not be able to travel to a tournament center, will take advantage of this opportunity,” said John Johnson, MHSAA Communications Director.

With the winter regular season winding down, there’s plenty of School Broadcast Program-generated content coming in over the next seven days on MHSAA.tv including a number of events impacting conference races.

Hillman girls basketball can clinch an outright title in the North Star League Big Dipper division with a win at Rogers City on Thursday, and Birmingham Brother Rice can do the game with a win over Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League’s North division when those two teams meet on Friday.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of live video streams available and being produced by SBP members (all times Eastern Standard):

Tuesday, Feb. 14

• Freshman Boys Basketball – Sparta at Comstock Park, 4 p.m.
• JV Boys Basketball – Sparta at Comstock Park, 5:30 p.m.
• JV Girls Basketball – Millington at Otisville LakeVille, 5:25 p.m.
• JV Boys Basketball – Mio at Rogers City, 6 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Grand Ledge at East Lansing, 6 p.m. (On-Demand Only)
• Girls Basketball – Millington at Otisville LakeVille, 6:45 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Saginaw Heritage at Mt. Pleasant, 6:45 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Boyne City at Charlevoix, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Sparta at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at Cedar Springs, 7 p.m.
• Ice Hockey – Houghton at Calumet, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Mio at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Saginaw at Midland Dow, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – L’Anse at Calumet, 7:20 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Grand Ledge at East Lansing, 7:30 p.m. (On-Demand Only)

Wednesday, Feb. 15

• Girls Competitive Cheer – Comstock Park Invitational, 6:30 p.m.
• Ice Hockey – Hartland at Detroit Catholic Central, 7:10 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 16

• JV Girls Basketball – Frankenmuth at Otisville-LakeVille, 5:25 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Frankenmuth at Otisville-LakeVille, 6:45 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Hillman at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Iron River West Iron County at Calumet, 7:20 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Marquette at Negaunee, 7:30 p.m.
• Ice Hockey – Rochester at Lake Orion, 7:45 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 17

• Diving – Upper Peninsula Finals @ Marquette, 2:30 p.m.
• Freshman Basketball – Greenville at Comstock Park, 4 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central at Cedar Springs, 5:30 p.m.
• JV Boys Basketball – Greenville at Comstock Park, 5:30 p.m.
• Ice Hockey – Cadillac at Alpena, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Oxford at Lake Orion, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Greenville at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Traverse City West at Alpena, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central at Cedar Springs, 7 p.m.
• Ice Hockey – Birmingham Brother Rice at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 7:15 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 18

• Swimming – Upper Peninsula Finals @ Marquette, 10 a.m.
• Girls Competitive Cheer – Division 1 District @ Lake Orion, 10 a.m.
• Girls Competitive Cheer – Division 3 District @ Comstock Park, 10 a.m.
• Ice Hockey – Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood vs. TBA

Tuesday, Feb. 21

• Freshman Boys Basketball – Spring Lake at Comstock Park, 4 p.m.
• JV Boys Basketball – Spring Lake at Comstock Park, 5:30 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Lansing Eastern at East Lansing, 7 p.m. (On-Demand Only)
• Boys Basketball – Spring Lake at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – West Bloomfield at Lake Orion, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Flint Kearsley at Montrose, 7 p.m.

Be sure to check the Upcoming Events page at MHSAA.tv for schedule additions every day.

In its eighth year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. 

The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.  

All sporting events – Live or On-Demand – are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online. They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.

Fans also can access scores of games in-progress on the NFHS Network website via ScoreStream. Click on the Scores button in the upper right corner.

A weekly staple on the MHSAA.tv website and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube is back for another year with highlights of selected games last week produced by members of the Association’s School Broadcast Program.

This week’s highlights package includes matches from a Division 3 Individual Wrestling District at Montrose, a boys basketball game with Farmington Hills Harrison at Center Line and a girls basketball game pitting Kingsford at Marquette.

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.