Brian Boucher talked about how loud it was. AJ Mleczko thought the roof might come off after the Winnipeg Jets tied it at 3 in Game 3. Chris Cuthbert knows how loud Bell MTS Place can be in Winnipeg. Since NBCSN has only had the lone regular season trip to Winnipeg in 2011, the only full-time on-air person to be there was Pierre McGuire, who called that game with Gord Miller.
This impact becomes important if NBCSN decides to lift the ban in covering Winnipeg. Ottawa and Calgary have always been in the highly limited basket. Vancouver didn't used to be in that basket but is now in there for good. Edmonton was in the basket but got out a bit, but the Oilers might end up back in there.
The night Miller and McGuire called that game, McGuire compared the noise to the old Chicago Stadium. NBCSN could have access to that magic if the channel chooses to go back to Winnipeg during the winter.
If only @NHLonNBCSports had 2 available channels, @NHLJets would start on time at a normal hour. @GolfChannel wasn't available? #Canada once again juggles it better with #Winnipeg on @cbcsports and @Sportsnet carrying the other @NHL game.
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) May 3, 2018
The U.S. audience got to hear more of the "True North" during O Canada in Winnipeg. The anthems in Winnipeg were limited to Game 1 in the opening series. The horrible scheduling that was Game 4 prevented the U.S. audience from hearing the anthems even if you were streaming the telecast online. It's bad enough not to show that on TV but to deny that to streamers is outrageous.
Even in Nashville, you heard a bit of "True North" during O Canada.
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Not much can be said about Game 4 except that Nashville seemed faster to everything all night. Patrik Laine did get on the scoreboard late. Hopefully, that goal will let you improved confidence and scoring.
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One major element you see when viewing a hockey game in person is the line changes. The Winnipeg Jets got burned on a bad line change in the OT goal in Game 2 and the 3rd goal in a lopsided 1st period in Game 3. Bad line changes happen all the time, but that is an area of concern for the Jets.
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As we saw with Michelle Wolf at the White House Correspondents Dinner and any show on Comedy Central, the swearing standards have loosened a bit on U.S. cable TV. Broadcast TV freaks out over swear words. NBCSN interviewed Dustin Byfuglien after Game 3. In a response to one of Boucher's questions, Byfuglien said "shit happens." Yes, it does. Thanks NBCSN for not freaking out.
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Austin Watson probably hit the shoulder of Blake Wheeler instead of his head in Game 3. Mark Scheifele came to Wheeler's rescue in a way where Don Cherry would have been proud. The potential power play disappeared and the teams were forced to play 4-on-4. The Winnipeg Jets proceeded to put on a clinic in that 2 minutes.
The 4-on-4 goals were 18 seconds apart. Nashville had allowed only a pair of 4-on-4 goals in the whole regular season. The 3 goals in that second period came in a 2:51 span.
We like P.K. Subban a lot, though not for this series. Subban was praised for his sportsmanship of taping his stick while on the ice to slow down Winnipeg's momentum. Even if Subban were doing that for the Canadiens, we wouldn't praise that move. The simplest way to deal with that is delay of game, which would give Subban plenty of time to properly tape his stick while in the penalty box.
2018 Stanley Cup notebook: Winnipeg Jets get split in Nashville
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Guy Boucher is back as the Ottawa Senators head coach. Boucher only has a year left on his deal and the word from above reportedly is that he will run the power play in the upcoming season. The magic that Boucher brought in Year One would spring the Ottawa Senators back to life.
Ottawa was a possible resting place for Alain Vigneault as was Calgary. The Flames and Senators are set for next season. Every other Canadian team seems set though speculation in Edmonton was an exception.
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Tom Wilson makes 2 head hits but only got punished for the second hit and gets 3 games. He did way more damage than Nazem Kadri with a worse reputation and got the same punishment. Wilson wasn't penalized for the hit that got him 3 games while Kadri got a 5-minute major and a game misconduct, so Kadri got punished more.
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NBCU produces every single game in the second round. That comes in handy for Rogers when simulcasting the U.S. feed. Rogers has been good so far until Game 3 and Game 4 where Rogers didn't send the crew to Pittsburgh. The Rogers logic might be since the Winnipeg Jets were opposite that game on CBC that fewer people would watch.
When CBC and TSN aired the second round, both channels had incentives to produce the games. CBC is required to produce every game but the TSN logic was that its announcers would be a reason to watch. Sidney Crosby attracts a significant Canadian TV audience. Rogers would rather have fewer viewers with no expenses than more viewers with more expenses as long as the company could make more money.
We learned this week that Canadian Senator David Adams Richards is not a fan of the Rogers approach. Richards took off on how American broadcasters call NHL games.
Whatever happened to "dipsy-doodling," a Canadian phrase he said came from knowing "the motion of the ice"? It's hockey sweaters, not jerseys. Dressing rooms, not locker rooms, he said.
"We didn't deny a shot; we actually saved it. We didn't delay at the blue line; we stopped at the blue line. Nor did we take a wrister. What an insulting word. We took a wrist shot. Nor did we take a slapper. What an insulting word. We took a slapshot — and not the movie," Richards recited. "And none of us from about the age of six months on ever needed a laser beam to follow a puck."
Calling the phrases "odious," he accused American hockey commentators of having "no respect for millions of Canadians" who love the game.
"Tragically, Canadians are often forced to listen to American play-by-play commentators if we want to watch U.S.-based teams in the first or second round," he said. "I know, my fellow senators, that all of this seems petty, but nothing is petty about our game, nor the language we used to illuminate it. Our language enhanced and enriched every aspect of the play because our commentators actually knew what was happening on the ice."
Richards is an acclaimed New Brunswick novelist, so he is used to thinking about words. He hasn't been in the Senate long, only going there last August. We don't know how the senator feels about Gord Miller and Chris Cuthbert working on the U.S. side.
Twitter capture: @canadian_xing
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