Canadian Crossing

Day 4 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Ben Mulroney, torchlight skiing, and Canadian cuisine

Canadian word of the day: Ogopogo

The Calgary Stampede Show Band opened and closed the final chapter of Kelly Ripa's adventures in Banff. Ripa's co-host on Thursday was Ben Mulroney, an actual Canadian. Mulroney works for CTV as host of ETalk and "Canadian Idol." (CTV airs Live with Kelly.)

Mulroney was born in Montréal and grew up in Ottawa. Ben was 8 when his dad became prime minister. Tying in the show band, the hosts talked about this summer's 100th Calgary Stampede. Mulroney noted that Canada is a young country, having been created in 1867, so 100 years make it a nationwide cultural icon. Calgary is about 145 km (90 miles) from Banff.

Mulroney did a really nice job as co-host. I argued that Ripa needed Canadian presence in the chair. And it showed well on Thursday.

Theresa Montague of Banff introduced the Canadian Word of the Day; an ogopogo is a mythical creature that lives at the bottom of the lake. Montague said the creature is green and 50 ft. long. I confess I didn't know that word either.

We mentioned yesterday the oddity of promoting trips with the trivia game while promoting Banff and Alberta. Well, sure enough, the trip up for grabs on Thursday was for the Fairmont Banff Springs.

David Torres of Fairhaven, MA was the player. Torres had heard of Calgary and Alberta but not Lake Louise. Not too bad. Then Torres blurted out his critique of Alberta beef "not the best looking, but it is the best tasting steak."

Torres won the trip to the Fairmont in Banff Springs because he knew the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City the same year as Banff National Park. You got the impression that the show would have been more pissed than the contestat if he didn't get the question correct.

David James Elliott was the primary guest. Elliott is a native of the Toronto area, but had never been to Banff. He teasingly went after Mulroney for his father being in charge. Ben said "Take a number." Elliott was known for being on "JAG" but is now on "GCB." At the end, Ripa noted that GCB aired on ABC; Mulroney sneaked in that the show also airs on CTV. (That is too many initials in one paragraph.)

One of the issues with the coverage in Banff was that we only saw winter shots, forgetting how pretty the area is when the snow isn't on the ground. We got a shot of Horse Thief Canyon, a lovely shot of the area without snow.

Kelly never did see a moose, even if Mulroney wore a moose hat for her. And Ripa snapped her 2-day string of mentioning poutine.

Speaking of food, Kelly and Ben were treated to Rocky Mountain cuisine courtesy of the executive chef of the Fairmont Banff Springs.

The difficulty of defining Canadian cuisine is that this depends on the region of the country. Poutine travels well beyond Quebec. But it is easier to get elk and bison in the Rocky Mountain region. We also got trout, salmon bouillabaisse, beef tenderloin carpaccio, cheese fondue with truffle, and poached pears with maple mousse.

Mulroney said, "nothing says Canada like maple, huh." Ripa dipped the poached pears with maple mousse in the cheese fondue.

Ripa reacted fondly to the food by kissing the executive chef and the sous chefs. This is about local cuisine, but it's also about food for people who can afford the luxury of such a trip.

Kelly was aggressive in selling Banff, Alberta, and Canada. Unlike Monday, it came across better and reflecting the time that she has had in that area. When people think of Canada, Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver leap to mind. Full credit where credit is due: the show went to two places that are very little known in the States and showcased them on U.S. television in ways that even the best of commercials couldn't do.

As much as we have teased about watching the show, I haven't been to Prince Edward Island or Alberta. And I want to see both provinces.

Previous: Day 3 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Snow shoeing, Melanie Fiona, and a beaver hat

Previous: Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

Day 3 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Snow shoeing, Melanie Fiona, and a beaver hat

Canadian word of the day: Ginch

According to Wikitionary, ginch is from Alberta and British Columbia and refers to briefs, as opposed to boxers. For the record, ginch is not in the Canadian-English dictionary I own. Bunny hug, Tuesday’s word, isn’t in the dictionary, but I knew what that was.

Episode 3 started out with the Alberta Caledonia Pipe Band playing the bagpipes and drums. Ryan from Toronto gave the Canadian Word of the Day. But he clearly knew of ginch, so perhaps the word has drifted throughout the country.

Kelly's co-host was Peter Facinelli. Facinelli was a guest on the Prince Edward Island episodes, and had shot a movie in Banff. Kelly touched briefly on the fact that Facinelli is coming off of a divorce. He allegedly was having an affair with a Canadian woman. When Kelly brought up the divorce, one audience member clapped. Kelly said. “So kind of you. You must be American.”

The opening banter lasted quite long since there was only one non-musical guest. At one point, they mentioned that the mayor of Banff was in the audience. The conversation shifted to various mayors, so Kelly used it as an opportunity to make another Regina joke. Facinelli replied, “That’s not a real place, is it? It’s a real place?”

Kelly assured Peter that Regina was a real place. “Speaking of Regina, I got you a beaver hat.”

Melanie Fiona performed, just as she did in Prince Edward Island. Fiona is from Toronto and had not been to this part (Banff) of Canada. Fiona flew in from Ottawa where the Junos were.

The outdoor activity was Kelly going snow shoeing. The views were quite impressive. This showed off the park much better than Gelman’s skiing. Still, the lake where Kelly ended up on Wednesday (Lake Louise?) would have been amazing without all that snow.

Other highlights included:

-- They played the phone trivia game. The woman was from Babylon, NY (New York City area). Kelly asked her, "Joanne, have you ever been to Banff?” “No, I never even heard of it before you went.” The crowd booed that.

She won the trip to St. Lucia. Giving away a trip to somewhere else while enticing people to come to Banff seems odd, but they did this during the Prince Edward Island trip. So maybe she'll go to Banff after her St. Lucia trip.

-- Before they introduced Johnny Galecki, Kelly noted that this was “Day 2 of my poutine addiction.” Kelly had to explain that it was not a dirty word, but Canadian French fries.

-- They are shooting the episodes at the Banff Centre. Kelly noted that prominent alumni include Kim Cattrall and Eric McCormack.

-- They mentioned Balkin, a Greek restaurant in Banff, a couple of times.

-- Don’t know if you noticed this, and our Canadian friends didn’t see this, but I saw a Travel Alberta ad in the first break of the show.

Previous: Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Canadian word of the day: Bunny Hug

"I am in love with poutine" — Jayma Mays

Kelly starts out by noting her producer says Jayma Mays had fallen in love with Canadian French fries. Ripa, co-host Chris Harrison, and Mays eat from a large bowl of poutine. "It is heaven on a plate," said Mays. "It's heaven in a bowl."

"That is incredible," Ripa said after she tried it.

Mays had not been to Banff, but her husband has gone swimming. The couple had worked together in Vancouver.

Caroline Rhea was introduced as "Canadian royalty." Now you had a segment earlier in the show on poutine. You have a guest from Montréal, home of poutine. And they don't ask Rhea about poutine.

Rhea noted that she flew in from Vancouver where she was filming a movie with David Hasselhoff. At the end of the segment, Rhea ended, "I want everyone in Canada to follow me on Twitter because they are coming for our oil and I want you to know."

The second show started out with the Calgary Fiddlers. Ripa and Harrison showed pictures of Marilyn Monroe in Banff in 1953.

Yasmine, Betty Jo, Colleen, and Cheryl introduced the Canadian word of the day: Bunny Hug. A bunny hug is a hooded sweatshirt. The lovely ladies were adorned in bunny hugs. As Kelly mentioned yesterday's word, toque, she mispronounced toque as "toke," as in "one toke over the line."

The outdoor adventure was Live's producer Michael Gelman doing cat skiing. Everyone had fun with the idea of cats skiing. Unfortunately for the segment, cats skiing would have been more interesting.

The terrain is clearly pretty, but with a lot of it covered by snow, they could have been anywhere. Early in the segment, they did note that they were going from 8,000 ft. to 9,000 ft. The significant altitude is the one element that has been missing from the coverage.

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

photo credit: WABC-TV New York

Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

Canadian word of the day: Toque

See there was some Canadian content on Day 1 of the Live with Kelly experience in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Well, that and Regina vagina jokes.

Okay, this was the first episode I have seen of this show without Regis. Kelly Ripa tried too hard to give Travel Alberta its moneys worth, pounding home the point of coming to Alberta. You can be smoother about the idea.

Oh, and Regina is in Saskatchewan.

Kelly and her co-host husband Mark Consuelos entered the theatre with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Kelly and Regis were accompanied by the RCMP in Prince Edward Island. Still, Ripa acted surprised.

Ruth from Calgary introduced the Canadian Word of the Day, a cute feature.

One major Canadian highlight was when Mark went dog sledding and passed the Great Divide Arch, marking the Alberta-British Columbia border. A nice moment to show how large the park is. They did talk about how Banff National Park is the third oldest national park, and pictures of Banff then and now.

The major reason to tune in was gorgeous scenery of the area, and they had plenty of shots. A beautiful moment to be captured in HD.

This isn't to ignore ice carver Scott Harrison, or the fact that Ripa was white-hatted, or the couple telling the story of their son, Joaquin, being conceived in Montréal.

Oooohh, Jason Biggs had an elk burger in Banff. That was the singular highlight of the guests from Day 1.

Perhaps this isn't fair to compare what happened in Banff vs. Prince Edward Island. Being indoors and surrounded by snow makes telling the story more difficult.

Feist wins Juno's Artist of the Year

Feist was a 3-time winner at the Juno Awards, including Artist of the Year, culminating earlier this evening in Ottawa.

The Sheepdogs were also 3-time winners for single ("I Don't Know"), best new band, and for rock album ("Learn & Burn"). The band became famous for winning a contest to appear on the cover of the Rolling Stone.

Michael Bublé won the Album of the Year for his Christmas album called "Christmas."

Feist also won for adult alternative album of the year and music DVD of the year.

Justin Bieber won the Fan Choice Award.

The other major star of the show as host William Shatner. The Canadian icon hosted the Genies last year. This year, in the opening number, Shatner did a spoken word medley of well-known rock songs, such as Canadian classics "Summer of '69" (Bryan Adams), "Takin' Care of Business" (BTO), and "Tom Sawyer" (Rush).

The Juno Awards were carried on CTV in Canada.

'Suck' is a rock and roll film with vampires, but mostly cameos from cool rock stars

An independent film about rock and roll and vampires that features roles and cameos from Alice Cooper, Moby, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Alex Lifeson (Rush), and Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides). And you probably never heard of it. Boy that would "Suck."

Well, you may not know about "Suck" because it's a Canadian movie.

"Suck" also has solid roles from Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall), Malcolm McDowell (past and present), and the lovely Jessica Paré (very much Canadian).

My cable company doesn't carry premium channel previews like in the old days, but it had a SHO On Demand weekend. The shows don't interest me, but I scrolled through and found this movie that played once in Chicago on a night where I couldn't go. I had lost track of the movie since then, but know it's more readily available.

The premise of the movie is simple: lame rock and roll band is going nowhere. The female bassist goes off with a weird-looking guy. The next day, she is a vampire and the band starts to take off in popularity.

Paré pulls off the need to be sweet one minute and scary the next. Looking sexy is difficult when you eating the leg of a dead guy, but she pulls it off. If the only movie you ever saw Paré in was "Hot Tub Time Machine," for goodness sake, rent "Lost and Delirious" or "Stardom."

"Suck" is the brainchild of Rob Stefaniuk, who wrote, directed, starred, and sang in the movie. Though he dominates the movie, Stefaniuk makes his character far less than perfect, often being the killjoy of the group. Fortunately for the viewer, the vampires win out.

Like a lot of Canadian comedies, it doesn't take itself too seriously. There are a couple of border crossing scenes that are pretty cool (Lifeson plays an American border guard). The roadie is a French Canadian, adding a feature not seen in American indie films.

If you think vampires have been overplayed, the vampire material is more funny than dark. "Suck" is way more about rock and roll than vampires. The movie is funny, playful, with lots of songs and famous rockers. And the movie contains McDowell from a past movie and incorporates it into this movie, a rather cool feature you don't normally get.

"Suck" is a light-hearted, fun movie that has that extra layer of Canadian cool we see from a lot of Canadian films. This is definitely a "recommended" movie.

Notebook: CFL playoffs set, Nickleback, booed by Detroit fans, will play Grey Cup

A wild weekend of CFL football broke the logjam of 5 10-7 teams. Montréal and Winnipeg did their best to give the other team the East Division crown. In the end, the Blue Bombers get the week off.

While it would have been tempting before the game for the NFL Network to carry the Alouettes-Lions in Vancouver, the two contests the channel carried were close, tough battles.

All three top teams in the West all won at home, and so B.C., Edmonton, and Calgary will go 1-2-3 in the West.

Now we wait for the NFL Network or some other channel to carry the CFL playoffs. Please. Pretty please with Canadian maple syrup on top.

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When people ask if I like everything Canadian because I like Canada, I respond, "No" and "Nickleback." For those who don't like Celine Dion, and I don't, my dislike for Celine Dion isn't even close to my hatred for Nickleback. I refer to them as "kings of the teeth-clinching rock world."

Turns out that the hatred for Nickleback is international: Canadian and American. Detroit Lions fans are protesting the selection of Nickleback as the halftime entertainment of the annual Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit. The online petition has more than 34,000 signatures.

More: Link to the petition at change.org

Unfortunately, the Grey Cup decided to have Nickleback for its halftime entertainment. Last year, we complained that the ESPN3.com feed didn't show us the halftime show of Bachman and Turner. If we are stuck with ESPN3.com this year, it has our permission to not show the halftime entertainment.

Even though the band is from Alberta, Nickleback is based in Vancouver, home of the Grey Cup. If the Grey Cup wanted to celebrate Vancouver, we would have suggested Sarah McLachlan, who has relocated to Vancouver and sang O Canada when the refurbished B.C. Place Stadium opened, or Michael Buble, who is from nearby Burnaby.

Canada has plenty of great musical guests for the Grey Cup but Nickleback will never be one of them.

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The two games on the NFL Network came to us from Alberta, which were hit with below 0 temperatures (Celsius). Edmonton didn't get snow, but Calgary did have the white stuff the day before its kickoff.

A significant number of NFL teams play in decently warm weather sites. Hamilton is the furthest Southern CFL city, yet won't host a game. The domes in Montréal and Vancouver (and Toronto if it ever can get back into the playoffs) hide the weather elements. A late afternoon game in northern Alberta or Winnipeg can be really cold.

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While Joey Votto will not win another MVP trophy as he did in 2010, Votto did win an award he did not win that year: a Gold Glove.

The Cincinnati Reds first baseman has stiff competition within his league for the honor. This year, Votto beat out two-time winner Albert Pujols of the world champion St. Louis Cardinals. This is Votto's first Gold Glove.

Votto becomes the third Canadian-born player to win the honor. Larry Walker won 7 Gold Gloves, 2 of them with the Montréal Expos, for his outfield play. Russell Martin win the 2007 Gold Glove at catcher while with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Though the Canadiens and the Rangers are Original 6 franchises, the CBC kept pointing out that the Saturday night matchup was the 2nd time since 1984 that the two teams met on a Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

One amusing glitch in the telecast came late as the U.S. viewers briefly got Boston at Toronto near the end of the Montréal at New York Rangers. The NHL Network insists on dumping out right after the telecast to go to NHL on the Fly. David Amber, who moonlights for the CBC, and Mike Johnson, whose day job is with TSN, didn't seem prepared for being on right after the game. Then NHL on the Fly showed us the OT of Buffalo-Ottawa. Would have been smoother to show the CBC feed all the way until 10 p.m. Eastern. Then NHL on the Fly can start at the top of the hour.

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The NHL Network streak, if you want to call it that, of carrying the first Hockey Night in Canada game will be snapped next week. The HNIC choices are Ottawa at Toronto and Montréal at Nashville (yes, Winnipeg is at Columbus but the NHL Network won't pick that game).

The NHL Network is going with New Jersey at Washington. We have seen the U.S. cable channel snub the Battle of Ontario in the past, but this year's matchup is really solid. The channel's management made this call before the season started, so the decision isn't based on actual records.

The channel is pointing out in its promo for the Devils-Capitals that some markets will see  Montréal at Nashville. Presumably this means New York City and Washington will get Hockey Night in Canada, even if most of the country won't.

This is the time you want a Slingbox, but if you had that option, you'd pick up a CBC affiliate anyway. I will be on Canadian soil on the weekend, but my game will be Ottawa at Toronto and my best shot to see it will be if I stay up for the replay that airs at 1:30 a.m. Eastern time.

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Jobing.com Arena is made fun of for a number of reasons: it's in the middle of nowhere and the crowds with non-Canadian teams are rather pathetic. In watching the outside of the arena during the 2nd half of the HNIC doubleheader, the arena itself is plastered with huge tacky signs and on TV looks pretty ugly.

Watching Winnipeg back in the league is wonderful, but the error that was Winnipeg to Phoenix is only half-fixed. Phoenix needs to leave the desert, never look back. Even if the team goes to Seattle or Kansas City, the fate is still better than going to Glendale.

Saskatoon's The Sheepdogs make Rolling Stone cover

Getting the cover of the Rolling Stone magazine has been a dream even before Dr. Hook devoted a whole song to that goal. Most bands have no shot at stardom, much less the chance to be featured in that treasured fashion, the epitome of success.

So even when the magazine runs a contest where an unknown band gets a chance at that coveted ideal, you still wouldn't think a band from Canada would have a chance, especially one from the prairies.

Well, The Sheepdogs from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan have won the contest, and yes, will be on the cover of the Rolling Stone.

If the cover was enough, that would be impressive. But the band also gets to cut an album (or whatever the &%$# the kids are calling it these days) with Atlantic Records and have received coverage on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC.

From listening to and watching The Sheepdogs, you might have thought you were back in the time when people read rock and roll magazines with more fervor than, let's say, the 21st century. Less like Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and more The Midnight Special (ask your parents about that).

I first heard The Sheepdogs on a report from CBC radio when the band was part way through the contest. I confess I found the story to be charming, but never entertained that a Canadian band, especially one so different from the current scene, could pull it off.

People have their stereotype of Canadian bands from Rush and Triumph to Neil Young and the Guess Who to Gordon Lightfoot and Anne Murray to Alanis Morrisette and Sarah McLachlan to, yes, Celine Dion.

Well, The Sheepdogs from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan have put a new spin on what people will think about Canadian music. And you need no other proof than to check out an upcoming cover of Rolling Stone.

Stanley Cup Final Game 7: Curse continues

As much as this series has been ugly, unprofessional, and heavily biased, in the end, it was more about a lack of desire. One team wanted to go after this Game 7 and one did not. 

True, if this series were treated in a more fair (and ethical) manner, the series may have ended before Game 7. Or not.

Game 7 can't be blamed on these factors; this lies on the hearts of the Canucks. The other 6 games ... well, this should be looked into more.

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NBC actually showed the Vancouver fans in the CBC Plaza before Game 7. This is what has been missing from the coverage in the United States. We have seen huge gatherings of fans on the CBC coverage, showing the passion of the fans pining for the Stanley Cup to finally come to Vancouver.

What the one-sided coverage hasn't showed is the excitement of the prospect of the Cup being brought back to Canada. Doc Emrick has captured a tiny portion of that excitement, but there has been so much more to the story.

There is a human element to a hockey-passionate city that has always come up short. But Vancouver and Canada was never presented as an equal in this series — not in the features, the commentary, the pre-game, nothing.

NBC missed a great story because it decided that Canada story wasn't worth showing.

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Michael Buble is a well-known singer from Vancouver, and is a passionate hockey and Canucks fan. But he was scheduled to play a concert at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun last night, opposite Game 7. And he was in an area more likely to support the Bruins than most other teams (of course, some in CT root for the memories of the not-forgotten Hartford Whalers). So Buble did the most appropriate thing: he postponed the concert to tonight.

Too bad the results weren't better for Buble.

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They kept saying that Boston hadn't won since 1972 and the Vancouver Canucks have never won the Cup.

One wasa streak of 39 years and the other was a streak of 40 years. Yet, there are fans who can remember celebrating a Boston Stanley Cup win, yet no one can remember a Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup win. Well, if someone were really old, they might remember that Vancouver did win a Stanley Cup.

Yes, the Vancouver Millionaires did win the Stanley Cup — in 1915. The Vancouver franchise played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and beat the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association (Imagine, an all-Canadian battle for the Stanley Cup. What would Gary Bettman's grandfather have thought of that?).

In fact, the Millionaires swept the Senators in 3 games to win the Cup. There are several winners of the Cup before the NHL was formed.

So technically, Vancouver has a Cup win, but that was a very long time ago. But the city of Vancouver has still waited 7 fewer years than fans of the Chicago Cubs. And odds are still good that Vancouver will win a Cup before the Cubs win the World Series.

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If the battle had been between Vancouver and Tampa Bay, this struggle would have been easier to handle. Boston is an Original 6 franchise, and when we set up the rules for who to root for, the order was Canadian-based teams, then Original 6, then places where snow was common.

Calgary losing to Tampa Bay and Edmonton losing to Carolina (and somewhat Ottawa losing to Anaheim) hurt worse because those markets aren't into hockey.

What we might have said about Boston, their fans deserved a Stanley Cup. Just was hoping it wasn't this year.

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This wasn't as noticeable on the NBC telecast of Game 6 but became more clear during the CBC broadcast (thanks to the NHL Network), but the Boston fans' reaction to Mason Raymond laying on the ice was tacky at best and offensive at worst.

Whatever one might think of Vancouver's diving reputation (not completely unfounded, but definitely exaggerated), Raymond was clearly hurt. Yet another ugly taste from this series.

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Even if you know what happened, you still can catch the CBC rebroadcast of Game 7 tonight at 8 pm and midnight Eastern on the NHL Network.

Stanley Cup Final Game 2 through the eyes of the CBC

We have taken a few shots at the NHL Network during the regular season, but the channel's ability to deliver CBC in the playoffs has been off the chart.

The coup de grace has been to show rebroadcasts of each Stanley Cup Final game via the CBC. And it's been fun watching what they catch that NBC misses.

The Game 2 broadcast mixed it up a little bit. We got a longer intro, including an interview of Prime Minister Stephen Harper by CBC late-night talk host George Stroumboulopoulos. We saw Randy Bachmann playing "Takin' Care of Business." And we had one of those great music montages -- Game 1 highlights -- to Bryan Adams' "Cuts Like a Knife."

We learned that Harper doesn't PVR a game, but will schedule business around a hockey game. Harper represents Calgary Southwest, so George asked him about a conflict between Calgary and Vancouver. Harper said at this time of the year, you root for the Canadian team in playing an American team.

Harper described how poor he was as a hockey player. George asked him if they stuck Harper on left wing (a hockey and political joke all in one).

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Mark Donnelly's trouble with the microphone was at the arena; there were the same problems with the CBC feed. This was really sad because this was 1 of 2 chances for the NBC audience to see how the anthem should be done.

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CBC played up the return of Manny Maholtra from his eye injury back in March. This was a heartwarming story. There was the nice touch of the cameras showing Maholtra's parents in the crowd; something the CBC cameras showed but not NBC.

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Okay, so CBC didn't show too much of Zdeno Chara in the penalty box. They were doing a spotlight special on Chara, so they showed him in the box (more than NBC did). As they went to break, you could see one of the Green Men in the background.

Not as much as they should have, but CBC still had the edge. And we know CBC isn't afraid to show the Green Men.

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One edge that the CBC has had over NBC is camera work. More cameras, better angles, and clearer replays. NBC used to pride itself on the number of cameras at major sporting events. They are using more shots than Versus would have, but not by much. This is the Stanley Cup Final, wish the NBC would bring more cameras.

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There was a wedding in between the 1st and 2nd periods at Rogers Arena. Obviously, this isn't a hockey story. But the CBC is beating on NBC on the lighter side as well.

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Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, and Glenn Healy were honestly stunned that Bieska was called for the phantom delay of game. They really thought that the referees weren't going to call any penalty.

In sports, the home team usually gets the breaks. But as we have seen in Games 1 and 2, the referees have been biased against Vancouver. There is a legit fear that Game 3 will be much worse for Vancouver from the refs in TD Garden in Boston.

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CBC covered a little bit of Maxim LaPierre offering his fingers to Patrice Bergeron, but NBC covered it more. Normally, this would be a negative to NBC, but the hype surrounding the "bite" is part of the story. Though NBC has proven to be borderline unprofessional in its overall coverage.

NBC also showcased the Sedin line where Henrik Sedin introduces his brother Daniel and Alex Burrows, the vegetarian. Good to see that the Sedins are in on the joke.

One earlier commenter wasn't thrilled with what LaPierre did. We're not either, though we pointed out that a Bruin would have done the exact same thing if the skates were reversed.

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The NHL Network didn't show the 2nd period intermission from the CBC. This seemed a curious choice given that the entire game fit into the 3-hour window. The NHL Network showed post-game coverage, which was a nice touch. Though we were sad to miss the Hot Stove segment, the editorial choice was a smart one: nicely done. And you can watch the Hot Stove online at cbcsports.ca.

The channel did carry the in-between from the 3rd period to overtime. If you got the impression that Don Cherry is rooting for Boston, you would be right. Ron McLean lets him do what he wants, and then switches topics. Oh, and when Ron and Don picked their predictions for who would have the game-winning shot, McLean said Alex Burrows. Cherry went with Nathan Horton for Boston, though later they each had a guess for the other team, respectively.

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Versus will have the coverage in the United States for Games 3 and 4. Though Versus will carry the same cast of characters, there should be less hype from the studio crew and less pressure on the broadcast crew. The channel will play up the Boston element in a hyper-hype fashion.