30Jun
The NHL Awards and Draft were in the same week this year, making it easier for those coming from the east and north to Las Vegas for the Awards and Los Angeles for the Entry Draft. It was a bit of a crazy week for everyone, but definitely exciting.
This year’s show seemed a bit more polished than last year’s even if some of Jay Mohr’s jokes didn’t go over well with everyone. I heard a couple people complain that the NHL was trying to be too funny at the Awards, but I think we all need to remember that they’re trying to appeal to the masses and it’s hard to please everyone. Who knows. Maybe it’s possible that someone will flip by the NHL Network or Versus at the right time, see Jay Mohr, and watch because they think he’s funny. I suppose stranger things have happened, though many people who are huge hockey fans don’t watch the NHL Awards, so I’d say it’s pretty unlikely.
Most of the awards this year were about as predictable as last year. I think that until Datsyuk retires they should just print his name on the Frank J. Selke Trophy at the start of the season. He’s won it three years in a row now and doesn’t seem to be letting up any on the defensive aspect of his game. It was a bit surprising that this year he only won by 33 points and only received one more vote for 1st place than Ryan Kesler of Vancouver. Perhaps he’s getting close to being dethroned as the Selke winner.
Though I expected Henrik Sedin to win the Hart and he did, I think if you take the Hart trophy as they say it should be (“the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team”) that Ovechkin should have won it. Since Henrik’s twin Daniel Sedin was only .02 points per game behind Henrik, I’m not sure Henrik was as important to his team as Alex Ovechkin was to his – especially when you take into consideration the fact that Roberto Luongo is the goalie behind the Sedin twins. Clearly, the 46 people who voted for Henrik Sedin for the Hart 1st place disagree with me, but it’s something to consider.
I had never attended the NHL Entry Draft (or any other league’s draft, for that matter), so I didn’t really know what to expect having just seen the draft on TV. It’s definitely different to watch the draft from the back of the floor of the arena where everything is happening and be able to duck out to interview those drafted right away. The excitement of the draft doesn’t seem to come across well enough on a TV even in HD.
Not too surprisingly, Versus disappointed me yet again. I’m glad I attended this year’s draft live, since otherwise I would have watched it in standard definition. The first round of the draft was shown in standard definition on Versus HD for some reason. Someone messed up the feeds, I guess, since the NHL Network re-aired the TSN feed (same thing Versus was showing) in HD on NHL Network HD. Thankfully, I thought to check this out and got to watch the parts of the draft I wanted to see in HD. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the way Versus makes their decisions. If they can get the HD feed, I don’t see why they would choose not to use it. I’m sure there was some complicated reason behind it, but the NHL Network aired rounds 2-7 live in HD from TSN, so Versus should have been able to do the same with the first round.
As usual, there were some surprises with players dropping farther than anyone predicted (like Fowler, Gormley, & Etem), but teams always have their reasons for who they choose to draft and most GMs are understandably pretty tight lipped on the matter.
I missed it when I watched the broadcast, but I did hear TSN correct their previous statement during the second day of the draft… My dad pointed out when I talked to him that TSN had said there were eleven US players selected in the first round of the draft, breaking the record previously set. I re-counted the US players at that point and still came up with ten (the same number the NHL had mentioned in their press release immediately handed to us after the round ended). I told him that they probably got confused, since one of the non-US born players did come from a US hockey amateur club. From TSN’s discussion the second day, that seemed to be the confusion. I was pretty shocked that TSN would get anything so black and white wrong, since they’ve been covering the draft forever, but I know that draft day is pretty nuts and I’m sure they just looked in the wrong column when they were tallying the American players.
As always, there is debate about what team did best in this year’s draft and (also as always) the truth of the matter is that there is no way to tell how well a team did until years down the line. Look at the steal the Kings got in Lucky Luc Robitaille, selected 171st overall in the 9th round. Though I wasn’t a hockey fan yet in 1984, I can’t imagine anyone on TSN or anywhere else predicting that the Kings did a great job with that pick.
Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Daniel Sedin, HD, Henrik Sedin, Hockey, Jay Mohr, Kings, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Luc Robitaille, NHL, NHL Awards, NHL Entry Draft, NHL Netork, Pavel Datsyuk, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler, Staples Center, TSN, USA, Versus
27May
I was 100% right for the winners of the last round, but was drastically off for the number of games it would take each team. I thought the Blackhawks (who swept the Sharks) would need 6 games to eliminate the Sharks. I thought the Flyers/Habs series would go to 7 after the road the Flyers and Canadiens had taken to get to that point, but the Flyers (who shut out the Canadiens in 3/5 of their games) figured out how to effectively shut down the Habs and eliminated them in 5 games.
In spite of the fact that the Flyers were ranked 7th in the east and tied in points to the Canadiens as the team with the lowest points to make it to the playoffs and the Blackhawks were only third in the NHL (2nd in the west), I think this year’s Finals will be very interesting. It was hard for me to pick a team to win this one. Though I’m picking the Blackhawks, a lot of this series might depend on which team ends up having the hottest goalie and Michael Leighton of the Flyers, ranked 1st in playoff goaltending save percentage among goalies that have played more than one game and having the most shutouts of the playoffs (3, all in the last round against the Canadiens) is definitely the hottest goalie coming into the Finals. I think the Blackhawks’ scoring will make enough of a difference to neutralize the Flyers’ momentum coming into the Finals.
My prediction is… Blackhawks in 6. The Flyers may have the hottest goalie, but Antti Niemi is still doing very well in goal. The Blackhawks also have the number one scorer in the playoffs (by points and by points per game) and two in the top 10 in points per game. The Flyers’ top scorer is 11th in points per game. The Flyers have the top penalty takers remaining in the competition and with a 22.6% success rate, the Blackhawks have the best power play left (ranked 5th out of the 16 teams in the playoffs). The Flyers (87%) and Blackhawks (86.6%) both have great penalty kills (ranked 2nd & 3rd overall in the playoffs) and defenses, so the Finals this year should be very intense.
The Flyers haven’t been to the Finals since they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 (the first year of Detroit’s last back-to-back Stanley Cup wins). The Blackhawks lost to the Penguins in 1992 (in their second year of their only back-to-back Stanley Cup wins).
No matter which team wins this year’s Finals, it will be a team that hasn’t won the Cup in quite a while. It will also definitely go to a team who lost the last five times they were in the Finals. Philadelphia last won the Stanley Cup in 1975 – they won back-to-back Cups in 74 & 75. Chicago, who last won the Cup in 1961 is actually the team in the NHL with the longest period without winning the Cup. It’s been almost 40 years and I think it’s time. The Blackhawks and Flyers have each been in the Finals five times since their last wins 49 & 35 years ago.
Both teams have a lot of drive and both have good stories about not having won the Stanley Cup in a long time. Versus and NBC must be thrilled. This year’s Finals includes two teams that have been around for a long time. The Blackhawks are one of the original six teams of the NHL and the Flyers are part of the next six. Both teams have fans all over the country, so this year’s Finals should do well in the United States.
Tags: Antti Niemi, Blackhawks, Canadiens, Flyers, Hockey, Michael Leighton, NBC, NHL, original six, penalties, penalty kill, Penguins, power play, Red Wings, Sharks, Stanley Cup, Stanley Cup Finals, Versus
22May
The Canadiens have been down 3-1 in a series heading to their opponent’s arena twice already this post-season. One of the teams they were down 3-1 to had even shut them out at home (the Penguins did it in game 3 last round). The question is how long can their luck hold out? I’m sure the Habs will come on strong Monday night in Philadelphia, but I can’t see them coming back from being down 3-1 a third time. Not against this Flyers team. The Canadiens have only scored a goal in one out of their three games against the Flyers. They won that game 5-1 and definitely had a commanding lead, but they need to score enough to win every game for the rest of the series if they’re going to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. They’ve been outscored 14-5 by the Flyers in the series and I think the Flyers are going to end the Canadiens’ streak of series comebacks after being down 3 games to 1.
Until 8:22 in the third period of game three of this series, it seemed like no team would be able to score away from home. The Flyers shut out the Canadiens in their first two games and the Habs were leading 4-0 until Philadelphia scored over eight minutes into the third period. Clearly, the Flyers were not happy with losing game 3 and determined to come away with a different result today. They want to advance to the finals in front of their home crowd and will surely be able to find the necessary energy to face the Canadiens. Will they be the first team to stop the Canadiens from advancing in spite of being down 3-1 in a series? From what I’ve seen, I’d definitely bet on the Flyers ending the Canadiens’ comeback streak. I’m sure all hockey fans will be watching Versus to see what happens Monday night!
Tags: Canadiens, Flyers, Hockey, NHL, playoffs, Versus
14May
I only got 50% of the teams moving on to the conference finals correct and I was wasn’t exactly right on either of them. I predicted that the Flyers would beat the Bruins in 6 (not 7) and that the Blackhawks would need 7 (not 6) games to eliminate the Canucks. I thought the Penguins would beat the Canadiens, not be the second team to be eliminated in 7 games by the very determined Montreal team. I’m sure it’s got to be hard for a team that just won the Cup to be as motivated as a team that hasn’t won it since 1993, but that series is still one of the most surprising of the playoffs for me so far. I also thought the Red Wings would beat the Sharks. Instead, the Sharks became the first team to advance, beating the Red Wings in just 5 games. The Sharks have broken through the glass ceiling that’s been in place since the NHL lockout. The last time the Sharks made it to the conference finals was in 2004. The Sharks have never gotten past the Conference Finals into the Stanley Cup Finals. Will this be the year they make it there? I don’t think so, but time will tell. They’re bound to make it eventually.
Normally, the conference finals are a pretty perfect round for hockey lovers. There’s a hockey game every day, but that still leaves time for other things in your life and all the games are nationally televised. I understand having the first two hockey games in the conference finals on the same day. Sunday is a weekend day and the day that NBC has a playoff game. So, there is a game on NBC and a game on Versus. However, having two games for the second day of games in this round is really silly when playoff games could last a lot longer than a typical hockey game, since there is no shootout. Though the games are set three hours apart (7pm and 10pm Eastern), there could be overlap. If there is, fans outside of Chicago and San Jose may not be able to get the full second game of the day. Some television providers may have alternate channels for Versus set up so you can get all of both games, but in order to find out if that will happen and what channel to watch, one must be watching the games live. Those of us who live on the west coast and work 8-5 jobs can’t do that to start and may not be able to get home in time to catch up to live fast enough without missing the beginning of the game. (Besides, some of us prefer not to watch commercials and don’t watch games live until later in the playoffs.) It would be nice if Versus would announce their backup plans for all providers early so those of us who really care and can’t or won’t turn in to the games live have the opportunity to record the extra channel just in case it’s necessary. Thankfully, they didn’t schedule any games at the same time (or a half hour apart) and as of game 3 of this round, things get straightened out and there is a game per day. I’m sure that the schedules of the arenas had something to do with the way this round starts, but it’s still a shame that they couldn’t work things out. Here’s hoping that the eastern conference game 2 doesn’t go into overtime for too long…
Here are my Conference Final predictions.
Eastern Conference
Flyers vs. Canadiens
Flyers in 7 – This was a very difficult choice for me. Both the Flyers and the Canadiens have the momentum coming into this round. The Flyers won 4 games in a row to do something no hockey team had done in years and beat the Bruins after being down 3-0 in the series to start. The Canadiens won their last three games in a row to come back from being down 3-1 to the Penguins. Clearly, both teams are determined to win and have taken out teams ranked higher than them twice. The Flyers and Canadiens were ranked 7th & 8th in the eastern conference. They’re the teams in the 2010 playoffs tied with the least points of any team that made the playoffs this season. They’re both ranked below Anaheim (who finished 11th in the west) overall. This series should be very exciting no matter who makes it to the Stanley Cup Finals from the East. The part of this equation that may sway things the other way is Halak. He’s been the best goaltender of the playoffs with a save percentage of .933 and is definitely the main reason Canadiens have made it this far, in spite of Cammalleri’s offensive performance. This is definitely the series I’m looking forward to watching more than I have any other series of the 2010 playoffs.
Western Conference
Sharks vs. Blackhawks
Blackhawks in 6 – In contrast to the teams left in the east (the lowest ranked teams in the east and NHL to make the playoffs), San Jose and Chicago are the two highest ranked teams in the western conference (though the 2nd and 3rd ranked in the NHL). I thought Chicago’s goaltending wasn’t strong enough to get them this far when the playoffs started and didn’t see San Jose getting past the first round, let alone the second. Both teams have their weaknesses, but I think the Blackhawks will beat the Sharks. It should be a great series, but the Hawks have the advantage of not being over-rested, the top scorer in the playoffs by points and points/game (Jonathan Toews), the goaltender with the better save percentage (though not by much), the better power play, and the best penalty killing left in the playoffs (the Bruins had a better pk than the Hawks).
Tags: Blackhawks, Bruins, Canadiens, Canucks, Flyers, Hockey, Jaroslav Halak, Jonathan Toews, Michael Cammalleri, NBC, NHL, Penguins, playoffs, Red Wings, Sharks, Stanley Cup Finals, Versus
14Apr
I almost never predict that one team will sweep another team in the playoffs. I suppose I should stick to that from now on if they’re all going to work out the way the Penguins/Senators series did for the first game. The Senators clearly aren’t getting swept by the Penguins. I still think the Pens will bounce back and win the series, but they’re obviously not going to do it in 4 games. If they look the way they did in game one, the Penguins could get swept. They had their moments, but the game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.
I know NBC couldn’t possibly give up Minute to Win It (which I’d never heard of before I decided to see what was on tonight), Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit (a show I’ve actually seen), & “To Be Announced” (that’s still what my DVR has listed for tonight, though it looks like a second episode of Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit or another Law & Order). However, having all the NHL playoff games on only one channel (Versus, of course) in this round is very frustrating for someone who can’t get NHL Center Ice any more. The trade-off (not having to deal with the horrible Cox Cable any more) was well worth it, but I couldn’t watch tonight’s Flyers/Devils game and that was very disappointing for someone who missed fewer than 2 full games the last two playoff years. Four playoff games in a day and only three on TV in the United States is disappointing, but it could be worse. Last year, only two of the first four games were on Versus in the US. All of the games are, of course, televised in Canada and if it were the Los Angeles games that were being skipped by National TV, I’d be fine. Sadly, I won’t get to see ANY of the Devils/Flyers series (I can’t count the in-game updates and NHL on the Fly as watching the game). I really can’t imagine how the network deemed that series completely unworthy of national television. Of course, I guess it’s almost worse to say that the entire Penguins/Senators series is worth except for game 7 if it happens. I still don’t think that series will go to 7 games, but what if it does? If that series goes to 7 games and the only game of the series not televised nationally in the United States is the most important game of the series, Gary Bettman and Versus should be completely ashamed of themselves. Just as much as when NBC and Bettman chose horse racing pre-show coverage over the overtime ending of a playoff hockey game.
I thought it was great to see Muhammad Ali in Phoenix for the Coyotes/Red Wings game. Perhaps he can take some of the credit for the Coyotes being the only home team to win game 1 in the first day of the 2010 NHL playoffs. Then again, perhaps it’s the Coyotes’ reaction to a completely full building. I’ve never seen the Glendale Arena so full. In talking to the players when they were here for one of the Kings’ last games, I found out that their building has been a lot more full recently and that they’ve enjoyed seeing so the building get more crowded as they continued to do well. I’m sure it’ll stay that way through the playoffs. Hopefully, the attendance burst will carry over to the 2010-11 season for the Coyotes, too. The Glendale Arena isn’t that far from downtown Phoenix. Hopefully, those living in Phoenix will figure that out during the playoffs and keep going back. The Glendale Arena is beautiful. It’d be nice to see it full more often.
Due to the way the games were scheduled on Versus, I saw under 8 minutes of the Sharks/Avalanche game. It seemed like that game was going to go into overtime. I was thinking how fortunate it was for the NHL and Versus that the last game of the day would be the only game to go into overtime. No sooner had I thought that than I got to the Avalanche goal with just 49.3 seconds left in regulation. Stewart banked it off of Rob Blake’s skate and won the game for the Avalanche. Oddly enough, this was the only series that started out the way I would have guessed. It’s definitely going to be an interesting playoff season!
Tags: Avalanche, Center Ice, Chris Stewart, Coyotes, Devils, Flyers, Gary Bettman, Glendale Arena, Hockey, Kings, Muhammad Ali, NBC, NHL, Penguins, playoffs, Red Wings, Rob Blake, Senators, Sharks, sweep, Versus
07Nov
The Los Angeles Kings have two of the top 10 scorers in the NHL this season. Anze Kopitar is 1st with 26 points (13-13) and Ryan Smith is 7th with 20 points (8-12). Like every team, the Kings have had some moments where they haven’t looked that great, but this season they’ve managed to come back from those more times than not and win the game. When the Kings were on the east coast, they had their only losing streak longer than 2 games and their only set of consecutive games without points this season. A lot of people don’t watch late night games the next day or stay up late regularly, so they miss the rest of the Kings games.
Beating the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins might help the Kings. However, I have a feeling a lot of people will talk more about the fact that some of the Penguins’ key players (Malkin, Gonchar, Kennedy, Talbot) were missing from the Stanley Cup Champion team than they do about the fact that the Kings beat the Penguins. Of course, what those people will be missing is that the Penguins have been beating teams without some of those players. Until Colorado played last night, the Penguins were in first place in the NHL. Though the standings don’t matter much this early in the season, since they change so much between the first month and the end of the season, the Penguins had won80% of their games this season before playing the Kings. That’s an amazing percentage and the Kings beat them.
The Kings of the 08-09 season would not have won the game against the Penguins. Pittsburgh scored the only goal in the 2nd period of the game, though the Kings had outshot them 13-7. Last year’s team would have gone into the locker room dejected and come out ready to go home. The Penguins would have scored a few extra goals that no one would have been able to blame on Jon Quick. Instead, the Kings came out in the third period determined to win. They were not going to fold and let the Penguins walk away with a win (easy or otherwise). They showed their fans what they’re made of and extended their streak of games where they get at least one point to 8 (they’re 6-0-2 in their last 8 games).
They put on a good show for people like my dad who were excited to see the #1 scorer in the NHL for the only time they can this season. My dad has DirecTV, so he won’t get the Kings game on Versus Monday and he doesn’t have Center Ice. The only time he could see the Kings play this season was when his team (the Penguins) played them. This is why every team should play the rest of the teams in the league at least twice (once at home, once away). At least then everyone following any team in the NHL would be able to see Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Anze Kopitar, and all the other great NHL players at least once a year in person (if they’re not injured – we only saw Malkin in a suit this time, though the injured players were traveling with the team).
If the Kings keep on playing well on their road trip, they’ll start to get recognized as a good team that’s not just getting lucky. I guess we’ll see. The Kings begin a five game road trip in Chicago on Monday with their only nationally televised game of the season. Unfortunately, their only nationally televised game of the season is airing on Versus, so those with DirecTV who can’t find a bar willing to play a Blackhawks/Kings game when Monday Night Football is airing will not be able to see the Kings unless they’re playing their home team or have paid for NHL Center Ice. This is true of a lot of teams in the NHL. Though Bettman says he’s trying to expand interest in the NHL across the country, he doesn’t work to show different teams in national coverage. If you always show the teams with a huge fan base already (original 6 teams and other popular northeast teams), how will you improve your fan base? I understand that Sidney Crosby is the face of the NHL and I don’t argue that point. However, there are a lot of talented players out there and they’re not all on the teams in the northeast. Maybe someday the NHL will figure out a way to actually market the team, rather than just talking about it.
Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Anze Kopitar, Blackhawks, DirecTV, Evgeni Malkin, Gary Bettman, Hockey, Kings, marketing, Maxime Talbot, national TV, NHL, Penguins, Ryan Smyth, Sergei Gonchar, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup, Tyler Kennedy, Versus
01Oct
When the NFL kicked off their season on Thursday, September 10th, there was one game that night. The Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Tennessee Titans at home. That game was the only game on opening day. It was nationally televised and well advertised. They showed the ceremony with the fireworks and the Steelers started off their season with the NFL world watching them celebrate their championship a bit before the game started.
As the MLB kicked off their season on Sunday, April 5th, the only regular season game that day was played by the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies as they faced the Atlanta Braves at home. This opening game of the season was also available for all baseball fans to enjoy as the Phillies celebrated their win with their fans one last time before starting the new season.
The NBA started off their season last year on October 28th with a double header on TNT starting with the NBA Championship Boston Celtics hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers. The second game of the double header featured the first regular season game for the number one draft pick in the 2007 NBA draft.
All of these leagues have a few things in common. The reigning champion of the league gets to start off the next season. The start of the season is a well advertised event with countdowns on public websites. The opening game and pre-game events are nationally televised in HD for anyone in the country to see without a special sports package. The national TV coverage of the games happens on a channel that everyone with cable gets (I realize that TNT is a cable channel) for free. They don’t need to purchase a sports package (as I do in order to get Versus) and the channels are all on DirecTV (which Versus is not as I write this – I’m still hoping they’ll work that out before I move, since I really want to change back to DirecTV when I’m able to get it). These games also all take place in the United States of America.
In contrast, the NHL starts their season with four games on opening day (Thursday, October 1st). Two of these games are nationally televised (including HD) on Versus – the Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins (7pm) and the San Jose Sharks at Colorado Avalanche (10pm). The other teams playing on opening day are The Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and Calgary Flames. None of the teams playing on opening day were even in the Stanley Cup Finals last season. In fact, only three teams out of the eight playing on opening day made it out of the first round of the playoffs. They (the Capitals, Bruins, & Canucks) were all eliminated in the conference semifinals.
The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins play their first game the second night of the hockey season. They play the 8th game of the season and will have all the fanfare of raising the Stanley Cup Championship banner with only local audiences (Pittsburgh & New York City) as well as those of us who have the NHL Network (a pay channel on my cable service). I am hoping the NHL Network shows the Pittsburgh feed of the game. Center Ice normally airs the home feed for home openers and I’m hoping the NHL Network will do the same. I’m also hoping that when entering the info someone just forgot to check the box to select that the show is in HD, since as of this morning the repeats on the NHL HD Network are going to be in HD, but the live feed will not. I think it’s horrible that the first game of the reigning champs isn’t nationally televised on a channel that’s easily accessible to all sports fans. Those wanting to see the raising of the banner living in New York will most likely have to settle for YouTube replays or watching it on the Penguins’ website, since the NHL Network feed will be blacked out in NYC due to the MSG telecast. I’m sure the Rangers will do the same thing the Ducks did when they played in the Penguins’ first home game a few years ago and cut out anything fans of the Penguins would want to see of the opening of the season and local fans will not get a choice.
The NHL messes up a lot of their marketing (or lack of marketing, as it were). Their not acknowledging the reigning Stanley Cup Champion is just one of many errors. The NHL continually tries to compete with the NBA (which will always be more popular in most parts of the US). This competition makes it difficult for some people (especially those in southern California and other areas where local basketball teams were doing well) to find a bar that will show the games if they’d like to go out with friends to enjoy them (or, as in the case of my one friend, didn’t have cable and needed to find someone willing to show hockey that had Versus – at least Versus and DirecTV didn’t have their battle until the playoffs ended). If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that Bettman was brought in to lower the NHL’s ratings and prove that it should eliminate some teams. A lot of the choices he’s made seem more like the choices networks make when they want to kill a show’s ratings. I could talk about different errors in judgment the NHL makes for ages like most hockey fans.
Southern California residents not attending the Ducks’ season opener (also their season opener), which is the same night as (and only a half hour apart from) the Kings’ season & home opener, will be disappointed if they’d like to watch it later. It’s one of the few games airing on KDOC instead of Fox Sports Prime Ticket or West, so it will only be aired in standard definition. I’ll be at the Kings game that night and was disappointed that the Ducks’ first game of the season will not be televised in HD. I think this is another bad marketing choice, though this one was probably made by FSN & KDOC, not the Ducks. I’m sure the Ducks would prefer all of their games to be aired in HD. Who wouldn’t? It makes fans happy and that’s the goal, isn’t it?
I know fans of all sports complain about choices those running the league make, but how is it possible that all the other major league team sports in the country have figured out that celebrating the reigning champion is a good idea and the NHL still hasn’t understood this simple fact? It doesn’t take a brilliant mind to figure out that having one (or two) game(s) to open the season and making a big deal out of the opening night with the current champ as well as nationally televising that game (and the game after it, if applicable) is a good marketing strategy. For all of Bettman’s talk about expanding interest in the NHL in the United States, he doesn’t seem to make choices supporting the concept.
Tags: Braves, Cavaliers, Celtics, Center Ice, Ducks, FSN, Gary Bettman, HD, Hockey, Kings, marketing, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NHL Network, Penguins, Phillies, Rangers, Stanley Cup, Stanley Cup Finals, Steelers, Titans, TNT, Versus, YouTube
02Jun
It’s very different to attend a game as a fan. The last NHL game I had attended as a fan was game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Pittsburgh last year (May 31st, almost exactly a year ago). Same teams, same venue and also the only games I attended as a fan last season. Though I was kicking myself a little for not trying to get credentials worked out in case I could afford the flight back to Pittsburgh for the finals, a large part of me is glad. There’s something about being able to get your face painted and jump up and down and lose your voice cheering for your team. It’s a lot of fun. I’m not saying I don’t have a blast as a member of the media. I do. I’m very thankful for the access I have and really appreciate all the Kings, Ducks, Eklund, and many others have done for me in that area.
I traveled all day to get to game 3 of the finals in Pittsburgh. (I left my house around 5 my time and had gotten very little sleep last night.) So, I’m not completely coherent, but we had a great time at the game tonight. My sister’s favorite player is Maxime Talbot. She predicted that he’d get a goal early and he scored within a minute or so of that comment. Naturally, she was totally thrilled that he got (and deserved) the number one star of the game. Not only did he get half of the goals the Pens scored tonight (true, one was an empty netter, but what a decisive empty net goal), but Talbot created a lot of other opportunities and hit the post once.
It was nice to see that there were fewer blatant missed calls in tonight’s game. With any luck, that will continue.
Jordan Staal had a very good game in spite of being absent from the score sheet. He did have 3 blocked shots. Evgeni Malkin increased his scoring lead from 2 to 4 points with his three assists (Sidney Crosby only had one tonight). I may not have a voice and my throat is definitely sore, but it was great to scream like crazy. I have a whole day to recover before I really need my voice again.
I really like that they had a special moment to thank Versus for allowing the Penguins to show the game outside on their big screen in front of TONS of fans. NBC is not allowing them to do that (not even for the finals) and I think it’s a very sad statement. Personally, I think Gary Bettman should have tried to iron that one out. I understand that it’s in NBC’s contract, but the NHL keeps talking about trying to expand the game and gain fans. The party atmosphere OUTSIDE the Mellon Arena for the game looks amazing (if the pre-game atmosphere was any indictaion). The fans are great and that’s what it’s all about. The Pens aren’t charging for the service, so I don’t understand NBC’s issue. If I were a Pens fan who wanted to do that, I would make sure everyone I knew did NOT watch at home, so I could lower the ratings as much as possible. I’d tell everyone to go to one location (a bar that would have it on anyway – Pittsburgh doesn’t have an NBA team, the only thing people care about around here is the NHL Finals – talk about a switch from southern California where it’s all about the Lakers) to watch the game and fight the urge to record. I know many people (like me) even record the games they attend, so they can watch certain plays again when they get home.
The Red Wings still lead the series, but the Penguins have definitely shown that they have life and I’m sure most Penguins fans are happy with the way the tide has changed a bit in Pittsburgh. Needless to say, Hossa got booed pretty much every time he touched the puck. I’m sure you could hear it on TV at times. Fans here in Pittsburgh have good reason for booing him and I’m not really against booing when it’s the other team’s player and with a good reason. (As many of you know, I always frown on booing a player on your own team.)
I hope you’re all enjoying the finals as much as I am.
Tags: booing, Evgeni Malkin, fans, fighting, Gary Bettman, Hockey, Jordan Staal, Marian Hossa, Maxime Talbot, Mellon Arena, NBC, NHL, Penguins, Red Wings, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup Finals, Versus
14May
Jonas Hiller may have the save percentage (and he’ll probably still lead the save percentage for the playoffs by the end of the Stanley Cup Finals), but Osgood’s save percentage of only 88.89% in game 7 was enough to advance the Red Wings to the conference finals against the Chicago Blackhawks, where they’ll have home ice advantage again.
The Ducks looked sluggish for much of game 7, but still managed to fight back from a two goal deficit to tie the game at 3 goals apiece at 7:37 in the 3rd period. Near the end of the third period, it was obvious that the next goal would win the game. Unfortunately for the Ducks fans and team, the next goal was scored by Dan Cleary with exactly three minutes left in the 3rd period. It was the game (and series) winning goal for the Red Wings.
Detroit is a tough team and the Ducks should be proud of what they accomplished this post season. Game 7 of the series could have easily gone the other way. It was a very close game (unlike the Penguins/Capitals game last night) and to keep the game that close in Detroit is very impressive.
I think the Red Wings are beatable largely because of Osgood’s poor play in the regular season and playoffs, but not this time. It’ll be interesting to see how Detroit fares against Chicago.
As a side note, though it was frustrating last night, the fact that FSN West/Prime Ticket didn’t have their act together ended up saving me and allowing me to watch the entire game. Since they had the game listed on none of their stations (HD or otherwise online or in DVR guides) and I only get one of their two HD channels, I recorded the game on FSN Prime Ticket and FSN HD. Since the Angels game went into extra innings, but first period of the game was only available in southern California on Prime Ticket. I guess that’s the advantage of Versus as a channel – they don’t air anything else right before the games that can’t be cut off to move on to a hockey game. I guess that’s the up side of being on a network a lot of people don’t get. True, most carriers offer Versus now. Of course on the down side, Versus is a paid channel for most, so people who don’t purchase the sports package probably don’t have Versus. This is most noticeable when traveling and trying to find Versus in a hotel.
Tags: Blackhawks, Capitals, Chris Osgood, Ducks, fans, fighting, FSN, game 7, HD, Hockey, Jonas Hiller, NHL, Penguins, playoffs, Red Wings, Versus
05May
The Ducks had a successful return home to Honda Center tonight (in front of a reported sellout crowd of 17,174), as they beat the Red Wings 2-1 in game 3, to take the lead in the series 2 games to 1. This series was the hardest one for me to decide who I thought would win and I expected every game to be decided by only one goal. So far, the Ducks are on track to win in 6 (which was my prediction) and have won and lost the games I predicted they would by the numbers of goals I expected.
The Ducks have gotten very little respect in the playoffs this year and though I realize most east coast reporters probably don’t see the Ducks often, they play enough games on the east coast and have gotten far enough in the playoffs by now that a few members of the east coast based media outlets should have had time to catch the Ducks in the playoffs. Their 3OT game on Sunday (starting at just 2 p.m. eastern) even caught the attention of many people I know who rarely watch hockey teams other than their own (playoffs or not). It would seem that those who report hockey might have caught a bit of it, as well.
Those who saw the Ducks play since the trade deadline can’t be all that surprised by their performance in the playoffs so far this year. They may not have predicted that they’d beat the Sharks (I seemed to be one of the few who predicted that one), but they’re not all that surprised to see them in round two leading the Red Wings in the series and playing up to the level of one of the best teams in the playoffs.
Did the Ducks get a little bit lucky tonight with the whistle being blown a bit early as the Red Wings would have scored the tying goal? Definitely. Did Hiller perhaps earn that luck somehow by stopping 45 of the 46 shots he saved with a save percentage of .978? I’d say so. Someone in the press box was complaining that the Red Wings had outshot the Ducks 2-1. However, the Ducks did very well when the Sharks did that and like the games that started the series in San Jose, the Ducks mostly limited the Red Wings to shots Hiller could see easily and stop. Hiller gave a lot of credit to his defense for keeping Detroit from getting too many really good scoring chances where he couldn’t see the puck easily.
In other good news for hockey fans living in southern California who couldn’t get to the game, FSN West HD aired the game live and is currently showing it again (even though the guide says off the air). Clearly the complaints they got in the first round for not airing games in HD while Versus HD was blocked out in the area were taken to heart. The schedules I’ve seen have included HD for all the upcoming games of the series (on FSN, Versus, or both).
Tags: Ducks, fans, FSN, HD, Hockey, Honda Center, Jonas Hiller, playoffs, Red Wings, sellout, Sharks, Versus
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