Wear orange. Get loud. #OrangeCrush pic.twitter.com/fRQHjPUKUL
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 10, 2017
The Edmonton Oilers long-awaited return to the postseason will be infused with the colour of orange. The Oilers will be wearing their orange jerseys and are encouraging fans to wear orange at playoff games.
The scene should be similar to the Winnipeg Jets whiteout we saw in 2015.
"Connor McDavid: his astonishing speed and skills have the whole league on notice. Follow his pursuit of the Stanley Cup here on NHL Network."
The NHL Network hasn't shown too many games that feature Connor McDavid. The channel aired 4 Edmonton Oilers games during the season, all of which aired during NHL Center Ice free previews. Admitted, 4 games is a record for the NHL Network. But it feels really disingenuous for the NHL Network to act like it has been on the Connor McDavid bandwagon.
The promo is one of several for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Chances are that those other teams got a lot more U.S. coverage than the Edmonton Oilers. If we see changes to coverage in 2017-2018, then we will be impressed.
NHL Network games in 2016-2017 season analysis
Glenn Healy has been the Nessie this season. Healy awarded the Nessie to a player who was supposed to be huge but wasn't while he worked at TSN. The Nessie was supposed to be "the monster you hear about but don't see."
Healy's absence from the Rogers #1 crew has been deafening all season. Turns out Healy has done some fill-in work on New York Rangers telecasts on MSG.
Since Rogers is still paying on his contract, his work would have to be limited and not in Canada. If NBC is allowed to use him in the playoffs, the network would be absolutely foolish not to take advantage. Healy would greatly improve the studio or analyst roles or both.
2017 Stanley Cup playoffs schedule
NBCSN did a really nice job Friday night from Montréal. Gord Miller handled the open. Anthems were aired. Claude Julien was interviewed in the 1st period. Tampa Bay was the story Friday night as the Lightning were hot and pushing for a playoff spot. The Canadiens had clinched and had nothing to play for other than being a spoiler.
The funny part is the Miller called the Lightning game in Toronto the previous night on TSN4, so he knew first-hand how Tampa Bay had looked in the last game. Miller and Joe Micheletti formed a good pair.
Wish NBCSN could do that good a job a lot more often.
Why Canadian teams struggle to contend for the Stanley Cup
Rogers could have easily underplayed the Ottawa Senators Saturday afternoon, even with the Senators trying to secure 2nd place. To Rogers credit, they brought in Paul Romanuk, Garry Galley, and Cassie Campbell-Pascall for a matinee game. The Edmonton crew called the game in Winnipeg. Bob Cole got to call the game in Detroit for his last trip to Joe Louis Arena. Rick Ball and John Garrett handled the game from San Jose; we may see them together in the 1st round.
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Saturday produced some odd bedfellows among Canadian teams. Calgary fans suddenly wanted Winnipeg to win on Saturday; the Jets beat Nashville to give the Flames the #7 seed. Edmonton fans were in a more unusual situation in rooting for Calgary to beat San Jose Saturday night. The Flames didn't help out the Oilers, but Edmonton took care of its own situation.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
InDemand carries a lot of pregame and postgame shows as part of NHL Center Ice. But this is the second free period in a row that we couldn't get the Hometown Hockey telecast. The $200 cost, give or take, would be worthwhile to get Hometown Hockey EVERY week, even in SD. They are consistent about After Hours but they should have that same respect for Hometown Hockey.
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The person in control of going into and out of the breaks at the NHL Network for the Pittsburgh-Toronto must have been drunk or on very strong cold medication. Breaks started before the programming ended. Breaks would come back late, the most egregious came before the Saturday headlines. The problems continued into the Calgary-San Jose game but were slightly less frantic. Felt like a Canadian screaming at the television with their troubles of U.S. simulcasts.
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We got 9 of a possible 12 CBC promos on the final weekend. 4 of the 9 promos went to the season finale of Bellevue, a show that has a limited run. Anne took up 3 of the promos. We found out this week that Anne will take up enough of a priority so that Sunday nights will be NHL-free for awhile.
We are Canada is a 6-part docu-series about "talented and passionate change-makers" who are "forward-thinking innovators." Sarah Polley narrates the series. The program runs in the Heartland slot Sunday nights at 7 pm.
This isn't the best time for promos. Last year, we were getting Rio Olympics promos in the spring. If nothing else, promote The National nightly newscast.
We did see a potential annoyance in the first promo break in the early game: a sponsored break running before a CBC promo in a break in the action. Promos have run alone in a break. There is NO reason to run a sponsor promo next to a CBC promo. You diminish the impact of the CBC promo and there aren't enough CBC promos as it is.
Based on the early trends, the U.S. networks aren't running too many CBC simulcasts. We might get more CBC promos in the NHL Network rebroadcasts. In all ways, we will monitor CBC promos even during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Early game: Anne; Bellevue (1st); Bellevue; We Are Canada (2nd); None (3rd)
Late game: Anne; Bellevue (1st); We Are Canada (2nd); Bellevue; Anne (3rd)
Twitter grab: @EdmontonOilers
logo grab: Edmonton Oilers
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