Hockey Day in America is this Sunday and once again, the day will have at least one Canadian component. Gord Miller of TSN will call the Pittsburgh-Buffalo game in the early time slot. Miller will work with Joe Micheletti on the broadcast.
Unlike last year's regional madness where Canadians had better luck in watching Hockey Day in America than Americans, each daytime game will go coast-to-coast on NBC while NBC Sports Network carries a third game at night. No Canadian-based teams need apply.
Too bad Detroit at Minnesota was moved out of the HDIA slot since that would have meant that the Red Wings would have participated in both Hockey Day in Canada and Hockey Day in America.
For our Canadian friends, both NBC games will air on TSN2.
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NHL Network
Saturday
Philadelphia @ Montréal, 7p (CBC Montréal simulcast)
Monday
Carolina @ Montréal, 7:30p
Tape delayed
Tuesday Ottawa @ New Jersey, 1p
Wednesday Montréal @ NY Rangers, 1p
CBC
Friday
Pittsburgh @ Winnipeg, 7p
Saturday
Ottawa @ Toronto, 7p (nationwide except Quebec)
Philadelphia @ Montréal, 7p (Quebec)
Colorado @ Edmonton, 10p
TSN
Tuesday
Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
Wednesday
Los Angeles @ Calgary, 10p
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The NHL Network has many phobias, none more pronounced than refusing to carry the Battle of Ontario. This week, the NHL Network will carry Philadelphia at Montréal instead of Ottawa at Toronto. Next week, Toronto is at Ottawa and the NHL Network won't carry the first Hockey Night in Canada game for the first time since Opening Night.
The NHL Network is scheduled to show every Canadian team live at least once in the season, but the channel will not touch a battle of Ottawa vs. Toronto.
The NHL Network is willing to show a Canadian team against an American team or Toronto-Montréal on the Hockey Night in Canada feed. The only exception this year is April 6 when the NHL Network will show Calgary at Vancouver as the second half of the HNIC doubleheader.
The difference in ratings can't be that high on a Saturday night. Heck, the difference for the NBC Sports Network might be 200,000 people nationwide.
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Speaking of Ottawa, Erik Karlsson is out for the season and most if not all the playoffs thanks to what some are calling a cheap shot by Matt Cooke, cheap shot taker extraordinaire. In a move I've never seen on a hockey rink, Cooke lifted his skate and came down hard on Karlsson's left calf, cutting his achilles tendon.
The NHL Network did show the game tape-delayed, though with the ROOT Sports Pittsburgh feed. We don't know what was spoken in between periods, but the game coverage treated Cooke's action as being accidental at worst.
As bad as what Cooke did, we should note that the play should have been whistled dead before the hit because the puck hit the netting above the glass. The Penguins announcers noted that before the hit.
Cooke's rap sheet is too long to list here. Despite that track record and the video evidence, Cooke received no penalty, no suspension, and no hearing. If the argument is that star players need to be protected, Karlsson is one of the best defensemen in the NHL, yet no punishment. Cooke is a thug, and one who won't even fight back, especially given the damage and ruined careers he has caused. Cooke is also a considerable repeat offender, and yet he get off scot-free.
Cooke plays for Pittsburgh, one of the protected teams in the league. Heck, Cooke couldn't even get suspended for the Marc Savard hit. If the skate were on the other foot, and a Senators player did that to a Penguins player, there would be a punishment.
Yes, Karlsson is a star, but he plays for Ottawa, so the NHL isn't as concerned. This is the issue when you have a team that is on U.S. national TV for 29 of the team's 48 games vs. 1. Pittsburgh will always get the benefit of the doubt over Ottawa with the current NHL management, even with a repeat offender thug and one of the game's brightest young stars.
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Carolina at Montréal is carried on TSN-Habs, so we are hoping the NHL Network uses that feed. John Forslund is the Carolina play-by-play announcer so that is a realistic possibility. Still, even objective fans know which feed will be better.
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Don't think anybody had the CBC announcers matchup correct for Hockey Day in Canada. Even if you thought that Jim and Craig would stay out west, no one had Bob Cole and Kelly Hrudey working together in Montréal.
Cole is great at letting the colour commentator talk a lot, and Hrudey has a lot to say. Hrudey and Glenn Healy do have chemistry, and not just because they're former goalies.
I did call the split correctly for the two matinee games.
Dean Brown made his 2013 CBC debut reuniting with Garry Galley in Ottawa. Jets fans could not have been happy with the current and former Ottawa TV voices in the booth. Usually when Brown is calling a Sens game, the opponent is American and the feed is only going back to Ottawa.
Mark Lee and Greg Millen are vanilla, even by Canadian standards. But I figured they would be together at some point.
Dean Brown has now done as many CBC games in 2013 as Rick Ball has. If you are playing for a prize of any value, don't pick Ball until you hear his smooth voice.
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I didn't get NHL Center Ice this year because I wasn't contributing $ to Gary Bettman. But if I did have Center Ice, I wouldn't have known which channel carried the extra Hockey Day in Canada coverage. I heard second-hand that not all places had the extra coverage and couldn't find out if GameCenter Live subscribers got the extra coverage. Another second-hand report couldn't get the CBC feed for the Oilers-Red Wings game on Center Ice.
We lost about 10 minutes of Hockey Tonight thanks to the San Jose game going to OT. An ideal solution would be for the NHL Network to blow past the lame ads it runs and start Hockey Tonight tape delayed and catch up to live action before the game starts.
Planning and consistency are both missing from the NHL/NHL Network approach. CBC does a Hockey Day in Canada every year. Don't have to wait until the last minute to get your act together.
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Watching Toronto-Montréal has been sad in recent years because a) the Leafs are bad and the Habs are good or b) the Leafs are bad and the Habs are bad. Saturday night's game was the first time where the two teams met where both teams were above .500 since Rememberance Day 2006 (November 11). Toronto hasn't made the playoffs since before the lockout before last.
Don Cherry on Coach's Corner said Leafs fans need to embrace their team more at the Air Canada Centre, especially coming off a perfect road trip, something also pretty rare for the Maple Leafs. Cherry lambasted Leafs fans for chanting "Go Jays Go."
Cherry is correct, but the Leafs have two problems. The team needs to do well on a regular basis to draw the crowd back, and too many of those in the good seats at the ACC are there to be seen rather than watch hockey.
The Toronto crowd was more into the team and game when the Leafs returned home on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Kudos to the NHL Network for using the Rogers Sportsnet Ontario feed in the rebroadcast.
Let's see where the Maple Leafs are in a month. Of course, by then, spring training will be well underway. So the crowd may yell for the Jays and the Leafs.
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We had another David Amber interview where the NHL Network joined in progress. This was the interview after the ad break following Coach's Corner. Pay more attention.
The start of the second period was also cut off, though that might have been a CBC error.