Milbury and McGuire Preview Pens-Caps

Former Devils Radio Voice Injured in River Rats Bus Crash

From Tom Gulitti at Fire & Ice:

The Albany River Rats’ bus was involved in an accident early this morning on its way back from the team’s game in Lowell last night and former Devils radio announcer John Hennessy was among those injured. The accident occurred on the Massachusetts Turnpike “just before 3:30 a,m.” according to a press release put out by the Carolina Hurricanes. The team’s original bus broke down, which caused a delay. The replacement bus is the one that crashed.  There was apparently bad weather up in Massachusetts l

The team confirmed that players and staff members were taken to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Mass. for treatment and the majority of the passengers are now returning to Albany. The team said “four players and one staff member” remained in the hospital to be treated for “serious, but non-life threatening injuries.”

Hennessy, who now does the radio for the River Rats, was the staff member who was injured and remains hospitalized.

Let’s hope Hennessy recovers, as he’s a class act and a MUCH better radio play-by-play man than the Devils have now.  It’s a travesty that, with the quality of some NHL announcers, he hasn’t gotten another shot at the big time.

John Tortorella Sees Pierre McGuire’s Team Canada and Gives You His Team USA

 

TSN Analyst John Tortorella

We’d love to see John Tortorella try to coach team USA and ignite a little fire in them himself.  Regardless of whether he does or not, he’s got his pick for the 2010 squad, after Pierre McGuire gave his on Tuesday.  Here goes:

Goaltenders:

Miller
Thomas
DiPietro

Defense:

Martin/Rafalski
Suter/Komisarek
Whitney/E. Johnson
Gleason

Forwards:

Parise/Stastny/Kane
Pominville/Kessel/Brown
Kesler/Drury/Wheeler
Booth/Gaustad/Backes
Stafford

Do you agree or disagree?  What are your picks for Team USA?

NHL Network Confirms Simulcast of Hockey Day in Canada

NEW YORK – The NHL Network will simulcast CBC’s Hockey Day In Canada programming in the United States, with over 13 hours of continuous coverage planned in celebration of the sport. Hockey Day In Canada is a yearly day-long broadcast of special features that celebrate hockey in Canada. This year marks the ninth annual broadcast.

The celebration commences from Campbellton, N.B. on Sat. Feb. 21 at 12 Noon ET as Hockey Day In Canada programming begins its 13.5-hour broadcast with Ron MacLean hosting live from the Memorial Civic Centre in Campbellton, N.B. Don Cherry, Scott Morrison, Dick Irvin and other special guests will join MacLean in Campbellton.

“Rivalries,” the theme of this year’s celebration, will be explored throughout the day. Whether it is individual or team, town or city, province or country, hockey rivalries give the game much of its color and are found everywhere from a shinny game on the local frozen pond to an NHL showdown on a Saturday night. 

Plus, with satellite locations in Plaster Rock, N.B, Windsor, Ont., Carlyle, Sask., Cold Lake, Alta. and Toronto, Ont., NHL Network viewers in the U.S. will be able to enjoy several stories highlighting the people, places and events that have shaped the game, including: 

BREAKING NEWS: Flyers-Rangers Can’t Top 1.0, Still Beats Last Year

From Sports Media Watch:

The 0.9 for NBC’s Rangers/Flyers game on Sunday marks a 13% increase from a 0.8 for Red Wings/Stars in ’08.

So, you know, the games aren’t great, the ratings aren’t great, but the NHL is trending up, still.  It’s something.

Programming Notice

We are under the weather today, so we’ll be out until at least tomorrow.  Thank you for your understanding and continued support of Puck the Media.

BREAKING NEWS: NBC Willingly Chooses Another Game Over Crosby-Ovechkin on March 8th

Ready to see more of the Rangers, kids?  Yeah.  At least this time, it’s against a Bruins team that’s been screaming for some national attention this season.  NBC’s taking the Bruins-Rangers showdown from the Garden as it’s Game of the Week March 8th at 12:30 PM.

SUNDAY, MARCH 8 
12:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. 
NHL GAME OF THE WEEK (Boston Bruins @New York Rangers)(live) 
Commentators: Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire, Mike Milbury 
Site: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 
*Available in High Definition 

This will be the Rangers third “Game of the Week” appearance, the Bruins first, and potentially first of three straight, as Bruins-Pens will likely be taken over Rags-Flyers and Wings-Jackets on 3/15 and Bruins-Devils will probably get chosen over Kings-Hawks on 3/22 (with Crosby’s Pens taking on Philly ineligible for selection). 

Who’s psyched to see another beatdown from The Garden?  To be fair, folks would’ve gone nuts if the Pens-Caps had been selected twice in a row, from the same building nonetheless, and it’s not like Phoenix-Isles or Hawks-Avs are really gonna set the world on fire.  Finally, it’s high time the Bruins got on the network to see if they have any ratings potential.

Announcers and Open Thread For Tonight’s Sabres-Maple Leafs Game

Every Monday & Tuesday night, VERSUS gives you a chance to snark away at the jokesters at VERSUS with this open post/thread.  Feel free to post opinions on the game, humorous anecdotes, and anything just plain stupid the announcers might happen to say.  Enjoy.

Buffalo vs. Toronto, 7PM
Play by Play: John Ahlers
Color: Billy Jaffe
Reporter: Chris Simpson 

CBC to Air Hockey Day in Canada in Three Other Languages, None of Which We Flunked in High School

 

CBC continues to help grow the game of hockey across the country, with the ninth annualTIM HORTONS HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 12 noon ET. Ron MacLean will front the broadcast from the Memorial Civic Centre in Campbellton, New Brunswick – the host location for the unofficial Canadian hockey holiday. The 2009 edition of TIM HORTONS HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA will also continue its multicultural tradition, providing select NHL games in Cantonese, Italian and Punjabi languages.

TIM HORTONS HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA begins the 13.5-hour long broadcast on Feb. 21^st with Celebrating the Game, as MacLean leads viewers through features and stories that paint the picture of Canada’s great frozen game, with a special focus on “Rivalries”, the theme of this year’s broadcast.  CBC will also visit satellite locations in Plaster Rock, N.B, Windsor, Ont., Carlyle, Sask., Cold Lake, Alta. and Toronto, Ont.

Philadelphia Columnist Wants Hockey Off National TV, Likely Hated by His Parents as a Child

Hey, guess what?  Mainstream columnists bashing hockey’s relevance in the marketplace are back!  Yay!

Today, our contestant is this idiot with the nerve to call himself Gonzo, from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

 

Well, hey, good luck with that, Bill. Because my first reaction to the news that NBC might bail on the NHL was “hooray.” It made me dream of a world where no one suffers through national hockey games because they will have disappeared from our televisions.

To be clear, I have no beef with the Flyers. Catching the local guys on Comcast SportsNet is fine by me. But I’d rather watch an Arena League Football game – if the AFL were still operating, that is – than settle down for three periods of out-of-town hockey. And I don’t think I’m alone.

Would you be that broken up about not getting the next Calgary-Columbus clash? Would you head out to the bar or buy the NHL package to catch Colorado vs. Washington?

Not long ago, there was a rumor about the NHL putting another team in Toronto. While the hard-core puck heads up in Ottawa no doubt debated the plan, it seemed like hardly anyone south of the border noticed. The NHL could move every team in the league (save the Flyers) to Toronto and it’s doubtful anyone around here would blink. I’m betting the same goes for other American cities, too.

 

Pure idiocy.  Does this guy know that the Flyers were the top dog in Philly (save for the Eagles) until the Phils return to relevance?  This isn’t Boston, where hockey’s a solid fourth but has the sport ingrained in it’s culture, or New York, where the game doesn’t go beyond the diehards.  This is Philadelphia, where people took shifts defending the Rocky statue from Penguins fans during the Eastern Conference Finals.  This is an insult to Philly’s large amout of hockey fans, larger than it’s contingent of 76ers fans in your glorious NBA.

He does make one good point, however: