Chris Cuthbert will receive the 2026 Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame, placing the Brampton native among the year’s Media Award recipients. The honor goes to a broadcaster with outstanding contributions to hockey, and Cuthbert’s name now joins that list after more than 40 years behind the microphone.
The awards will be presented at the Hockey Hall of Fame NHL Media Awards Luncheon in Toronto on Nov. 9. Chris Cuthbert and Gunnar Nordstrom are the two 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame Media Award recipients, with the Hall also set to display their plaques in the Esso Great Hall alongside past recipients.
Chris Cuthbert's long broadcast run
Cuthbert joined CBC Sports in 1984 and went on to call hockey games for more than 40 years. His career has included work with CBC Hockey Night in Canada, TSN, and Rogers Sportsnet, a span that covers six Winter Olympic Games and four Canada Cup tournaments.
His record in Canadian television also stretches beyond play-by-play. Cuthbert has won three Gemini Awards and two Canadian Screen Awards, giving the award an established résumé of national recognition before this latest honor.
Gunnar Nordstrom joins the class
Nordstrom will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism. Eric Duhatschek said Nordstrom has been “the most influential hockey writer in Sweden for almost half a century and has earned the respect of generations of players and readers alike in that time,” and added, “There can be no worthier choice for the first Elmer Ferguson winner outside of North America than Gunnar Nordstrom.”
The 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Weekend begins Nov. 7, and this year’s inductees will be announced June 22. For Cuthbert, the Nov. 9 luncheon turns a four-decade broadcast career into a Hall of Fame media honor, with his plaque headed for the Esso Great Hall.
