The Vancouver Canucks series was postponed for 2 days as part of the NHL finally stepping up on the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI as part of the ongoing series of shootings of unarmed Black people.
Good. There are higher priorities. People say racism is different in Canada. The story of Regis Korchinski-Paquet is one of many in Canada that would have been handled in a different manner involving a white person.
You might recall the NHL started the qualifying round in Edmonton with the speech from Matt Dumba on the importance of Black Lives Matter.
We the @TheOfficialHDA have formally requested the @NHL to suspend all playoff games today. We strongly feel this sends a clear message that human rights take priority over sports.
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) August 27, 2020
The Vancouver Canucks players and captain Bo Horvat got leadership points for stepping up. A cool gesture was the Canucks players contacting Ryan Reaves (centre).
"If you look around this room, there's a lot of white athletes in here, and I think that's the statement that's being made right now," said Reaves. "It's great that the NBA did this, and MLB and the WNBA — they have a lot of Black players in those leagues. But for all these athletes in here to take a stand and say, 'You know what? We see the problem, too, and we stand behind you.'"
"I go to war with these guys. I hate their guts on the ice, but I couldn't be more proud of these guys. The statement they've made today is something that's gonna last. These two days isn't going to fix anything, but the conversation and the statement that's been made is very powerful, especially coming from this league."
There is a lot of credit to go around. Just want to acknowledge the part that came from the Vancouver Canucks.
More on Reaves later in the notebook.
Game 3 started with a video featuring the voices of Kevin Weekes, Canadian and former Hockey Night in Canada analyst: "Starting with 3 words we need to get comfortable saying: Black Lives Matter. Equality is the only way forward."
2020 Stanley Cup notebook: The day NBC tried to make us stop watching the NHL
On a much lesser note, Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy whined about having to play back-to-back games in this round. When the NHL drew up the revised schedule, every series had a single back-to-back on the schedule, except for Vancouver, which had 2 of them: Games 3-4 and if necessary Games 6-7. The NHL seems intent of keeping to the schedule but even without the travel, back-to-back games are harsh.
Given the physical play of Las Vegas and the refs reluctance to blow whistles, this give the Golden Knights yet another advantage.
Boston whines on and off the ice and gets their way. Other teams can't or won't try that tactic.
2020 Stanley Cup notebook: 3 Canadian teams in the first official playoff round
Tyler Toffoli was hurt in Game 1 of the qualifying round against Minnesota, returning in Game 2 of this series. Toffoli scored 9 seconds of being on the ice and later had a wicked assist in the 1st period.
Toffoli scored 3 points in Game 2. Bo Horvat scored twice and Elias Pettersson added a goal and 2 assists. Jacob Markstrom had 38 saves n Game 2.
Game 3 gave the Canucks slightly better power play opportunities. The cynical part of the brain would assign that to be a "home game" for Vancouver. A casual fan might find that hilarious (understood), but we've seen worse in playoff hockey.
The Canucks had a 3-2 lead through 2 periods in Game 4. Horvat, Pettersson, and Toffoli scored goals in Game 4. Horvat now has a league-leading 9 playoff goals in 2020. Quinn Hughes now has 12 assists.
Ryan Reaves would look really good in a Winnipeg Jets sweater. Reaves is very good at his niche in the NHL. He gets points from us because his father and brother played in the CFL.
The power of After Hours is clear in the 2017 interview with Scott Oake, Reaves' neighbour and father of childhood friends Darcy Oake and Bruce Oake.
On the ice, Reaves had the upper hand in Game 1 against Antoine Roussel but not as much for Game 2. Trying to keep up with Reaves is a most difficult task.
Hoping Reaves plays for a Canadian-based team soon. Will be more fun then to watch him on the ice. We already like him off the ice.
2020 Stanley Cup notebook: Mike Milbury mistakes CN Tower for Space Needle
FROM MIKE MILBURY:
— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) August 22, 2020
In light of the attention caused by my recent remark, I have decided to step away from my role at NBC Sports for the remainder of the StanleyCupPlayoffs. I do not want my presence to interfere with the athletes as they try to win the greatest trophy in sports.
Jonathan Marchessault didn't get called for embellishment in Game 2. We knew Las Vegas would get such preferential treatment. When Vancouver Canucks fans chirped Marchessault for being a diver, Marchessault responded with calling one fan and his dog "ugly" and some rather nasty profanity.
Marchessault offered an apology. Lots of free time in the bubble doesn't mean you have to stir things on social media.
There were a few cheap shots at the end of Game 2 as well. Las Vegas has a number of advantages that most NHL teams do not have. They could be gracious winners but so far, they haven't shown that grace.
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2020 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs preview for Canadian teams
We stopped watching the East broadcasters because yikes, you couldn't pay me to watch any of the Toxic Trio if a Canadian team wasn't involved. Also, Gord Miller left the bubble.
We definitely thought Milbury's comment was sexist. Not the first sexist comment he made; hopefully the last. Like most of what Milbury "added," this and other comments were lazy and uninformed. In bite-size portions in the studio, Milbury was okay as long as he stuck to hockey.
Long-time viewers of Hockey Night in Canada will remember that Milbury did work on CBC Sports in 2008-2010. Milbury was okay then as well.
Even in earlier times, Milbury was kind of a dinosaur. I would have fired Milbury back in 2011 for his characterisations of the Sedin twins as "Thelma and Louise."
Putting him in the booth has been a disaster. We have criticised his hostility to Toronto and Montréal, both prevalent in 2020. Milbury struggled to pronounce the last name of Montréal's Jesperi Kotkaniemi. John Forslund and Brian Boucher were trying to help Milbury but he had no interest. Wikipedia now has a chapter devoted just to Milbury's antics in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.
NBC already fired Jeremy Roenick for offensive statements on a podcast of a sexual nature.
Putting Milbury in the booth has exposed how much more of a dinosaur Milbury has been in the last few years. If this was the first offensive thing Milbury has said, maybe, maybe a second chance, maybe. This isn't and Milbury won't change. Time for him to enjoy retirement.
At the very least they could’ve played the game on CBC British Columbia for those of us who would like to watch our #Canucks play a second round #NHLPlayoffs game 😑 #CBCistheworst #CBC #VANvsVGK @cbc
— Ashley Martin (@ashleymartin83) August 24, 2020
Game 1 of the Vancouver Canucks series was scheduled for CBC but the Conservative Party leadership race ran extremely long. The game started out on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific and Rogers Sportsnet 360. Can imagine that CBUT/Vancouver viewers would be furious that its audience would rather watch the Canucks than see pundits and reporters fill airtime.
The political coverage was also available on CBC News Network and online. The NHL coverage was also available on cbcsports.ca and sportsnet.ca.
Rosemary Barton pointed out that people can have dual computer screens: one for hockey and one for politics. Seems like CBC television should have been able to bail after 4 hours of coverage when there was no news. I would say the same thing if the Liberals, NDP, and Greens were having a leadership race. 4 hours is a reasonable amount of time to devote to a party leadership race.
The loss of the game on CBUT/Vancouver affected viewers across British Columbia since the channel is the only CBC station in the province. The loss also affected NHL fans in Western Washington from Blaine to Bellingham to the Seattle/Tacoma area.
2020 Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
The NHL on NBC has steadfastly not used sideline reporters in its coverage. The NBC intermissions have featured interviews of players throughout the playoffs. The interviewers are the Rogers Sportsnet reporters. They are Kyle Bukauskas, Caroline Cameron, Shawn McKenzie, and Christine Simpson in Toronto with Scott Oake, Dan Murphy, and Harnarayan Singh in Edmonton. Even though you don't see them on camera, if you watched Hockey Night in Canada, you recognise their voices.
A number of years back, Simpson worked for Versus as a sideline reporter but that feels like a long time ago.
The NHL Network has sideline reporters in the Toronto and Edmonton bubbles for its coverage.
NBC put 3 announcers on most games in most series. Kenny Albert and Pierre McGuire were the only NBC employees on the Vancouver series.
We got the Game 3 anthems thanks to the Black Lives Matter video. They recycled the Michael Bublé anthem for what was considered a Vancouver "home" game. The Game 4 anthems aired as well, provided by Marie Hui.
photo credit: Rogers Sportsnet/NHL
Twitter captures: @evanderkane_9; @NBCSportsPR; @ashleymartin83
video credit: Rogers Sportsnet
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