Your Hockey Night in Canada Open Thread

Ottawa vs. Pittsburgh, 3PM
Play by Play: Dean Brown
Color: Gary Galley
Reporter: Cassie Campbell

Calgary vs. Toronto, 7PM
Play by Play: Jim Hughson
Color: Craig Simpson
Reporter: Elliotte Friedman

New Jersey vs. Montreal, 7PM
Play by Play: Bob Cole
Color: Greg Millen
Reporter: Jeff Marek

Colorado vs. Edmonton, 10PM
Play by Play: Mark Lee
Color: Marc Crawford
Reporter: Scott Oake 

ain’t leavin’ til six in the morn’.

Snoop, man I love you. But I have never understood this fashion choice. I mean the opening lines are “With so much drama in the LBC/it’s hard being Snoop D-O double G.” But seconds prior you are rocking a Penguins jersey. How does this work? What led to this fashion choice? Given that this is your early work and it’s wonderfully low budget I assume there was no stylist on set. And even then, Snoop doesn’t need a stylist. So clearly you picked this jersey on your own. What gives, G? But if I remember correctly you rock a Kings jersey now.

Love,

Wrap

If anyone can explain the jersey to me, I will love you forever. And mail you a prize.

And So… A Week Off

We know, we know.  You’re all not happy.  But the site isn’t going away.  We’ll break anything massive that happens and post the VERSUS threads and whatnot.  But we’ve got 6 days of subs, so you can hang with them while I sit back in a hammock and eat bon bons.  Not really, but we need to take care of some things next week, and we’ll be back soon.  If Marty breaks the record next week we’ll likely have something to say there too.  Here’s your guest list for next week:

Monday: Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites
Tuesday: Bryan Berg of NY Hockey Rivalry
Wednesday: Chris Wassel of The Program
Thursday and Friday: Wrap Around Curl

Enjoy the week, see you the 23rd.  It’ll be exactly 20 days until the end of the season, and 23 days until the post-season.  I imagine I’ll be pretty darn excited.  I hope you will too.

Thank you, one more time, for your support of Puck the Media.

Your Mid-Day YouTube Compulsory: Doc and Edzo Preview Rangers-Flyers

Some Friday Odds: Will Anyone Care Enough to Air Marty’s Record Breaker?

 

Devils Goaltender Martin Brodeur

We have a DVD of the NHL’s greatest moments, and within is a video from when Patrick Roy broke the NHL’s wins record for a goaltender.  We can distinctly hear Gary Thorne and Bill Clement from ESPN calling the game.  It was against Washington, so we can’t imagine ESPN scheduling it from the start of the season, as ESPN was in it’s full “Hate Hockey” mode by then.

So half a decade later, we have Marty Brodeur set to break the wins record that Roy set.  It’ll probably happen either Tuesday vs. Chicago or Wednesday at Carolina.  Honestly, knowing the NHL’s TV partners… we’re not hopeful that the game will get on national TV.  But let’s set the odds for you.

4:1 NHL Network

If only because it’s easiest for them, because it’s not really getting in the way of much programming to just schedule a simulcast of MSG Plus or whatever other feed they want to use.  NHL Network has only “Hodge Stove League” and new episodes of it’s other series on that night, so it’s certainly possible.

8:1 CBC

Marty’s a big star up in Canada, and CBC might take the opportunity to salute one of the nation’s great hockey heroes.  This might be similar to when CBC aired Steve Yzerman night, and it featured Anaheim and the Wings.  Also, can anyone name another program on CBC?  Exactly.

20:1 TSN

The problem with this is that TSN has a Maple Leafs game scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30 PM.  TSN’s odds could increase if Marty has to wait until Wednesday, as they have a game scheduled for 9:00, nothing before it and it’s possible Marty’s battle vs. Carolina could catch on.

100:1 VERSUS

Tuesday probably features the only game VERSUS wouldn’t pull last minute for Devils-Chicago: Philly-Detroit.  Pretty much a guaranteed Top 5-rated game for VERSUS this year.  VERSUS shuffling it’s schedule to get a hockey game on a Wednesday?  Even with both Mike Emrick and John Forslund – VERSUS paly-by-play men – in the building, we’d say there’s a better chance the game gets aired in Spanish than VERSUS airs it.  By the way, your VERSUS lineup for Wednesday:

7:00 Holy @#%*!
7:30 Sports Soup
8:00 Iditarod Coverage
9:00 Movie: Wildcats
11:00 Iditarod Coverage 

Your Mid-Day YouTube Compulsory: That Thing We Told You We’d Do

If the Playoffs Started Today: Yep, It’d Be Pittsburgh and Detroit on NBC

The NHL has been posting “If the playoffs started today…”-type news up on the main page for the past couple days, a practice that limits those tired of taking the time to just click on the “Standings” icon.  Anyway, we thought we’d take an early look on what series the networks would be showing.  First of all, here’s what the series would be:

East
#8 Florida vs. #1 Boston
#7 Carolina vs. #2 New Jersey
#6 Pittsburgh vs. #3 Washington
#5 Montreal vs. #4 Philadelphia

West
#8 Nashville vs. #1 San Jose
#7 Edmonton vs. #2 Detroit
#6 Columbus vs. #3 Calgary
#5 Vancouver vs. #4 Chicago

An NBC Press Release That Won’t Get Us in Trouble (We Hope)

NOTE: The YouTube compulsory will feature NBC’s promo.

NEW YORK – March 11, 2009 – The New York Rangers battling for a playoff berth in the tight Eastern Conference, host their fierce rival the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL Game of the Week, Sunday, 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC, presented in high definition. Mike “Doc” Emrick (play-by-play), Eddie Olczyk (analyst) and Pierre McGuire (inside-the-glass reporter) call the action. McGuire will pull double duty, hosting NBC’s studio show alongside analyst Mike Milbury on site at Madison Square Garden. 

MCGUIRE ON THE RANGERS UNDER JOHN TORTORELLA: “Under Torts the Rangers have improved on the forecheck and also on the power play. He has made them more aggressive in all facets of the game.” 

MCGUIRE ON THE FLYERS: “Philadelphia has great leadership with Mike Richards and Simon Gagne, a quick strike offense led by Jeff Carter and a brilliant young player in Claude Giroux. The only question mark is in goal. If they sort that out they will be very tough in the playoffs.” 

MCGUIRE ON SEAN AVERY: “If there’s one science experiment that better work for the New York Rangers, it’s Sean Avery. John Tortorella is the perfect tonic for Sean Avery. If he’s going to salvage his career, it’s going to be because of John Tortorella.” 

MILBURY ON RANGERS NEW ADDITIONS: “It’s amazing what a shift in attitude can bring. John Tortorella becomes the coach, Sean Avery’s added to the mix and bang you have chemistry.” 

INTRASTATE RIVALS FLYERS-PENGUINS FLEXED INTO MARCH 22 “GAME OF THE WEEK”: The Sunday, March 22 contest between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins has been selected for the “NHL Game of the Week” on NBC. Puck drop at Mellon Arena is at 12:30 p.m. ET. 

NBCSPORTS.COM & NHL.COM PRESENT “STAR-CAM”: NBCSports.com and NHL.com will offer a “Star-cam” in conjunction with NBC broadcasts, which will follow one player on each team throughout each of his shifts. Following the game, NBCSports.com will present a post-game show with game highlights and highlights from “Star-cam” and “Net-cam,” along with analysis from McGuire and Milbury. 

FLEX SCHEDULING & CONSISTENT 12:30 PM ET START TIME: For the first time, “Game of the Week” broadcasts have a consistent start time – 12:30 p.m. ET on Sundays (except for April 12, 2 p.m. start time). For the second straight season, the NHL and NBC will utilize flex scheduling and will be able to select from up to four games on Sunday afternoons. Thirteen days prior to the scheduled games (on Mondays), NBC, in conjunction with the NHL, will select one of those games as the “Game of the Week” to be broadcast during the NBC window. The other games will remain available to the teams’ regional carrier but will not be televised during NBC’s broadcast window. 

Your Mid-Day YouTube Compulsory: Basil McRae vs. Keith Primeau… On FOX!

Bob McKenzie: “Zero Validity” to Eklund/ESPN Rumor

 

TSN Insider Bob McKenzie

It takes quite a bit to get Bob McKenzie activating his ol’ HFBoards account, and he usually uses it these days to disspell ridiculous Eklund rumors.  But it usually has to be something really, really stupid.  The last notable time he posted was to shoot down Eklund’s retrospectively trite “Ovechkin to Nashville” rumors.  

But McKenzie came back into the HF fold in the wake of the large HF thread on Eklund’s rumor that the NHL will go back to ESPN for Stanley Cup, Conference Finals, and every NBC game except for the Winter Classic, and VERSUS sticks around for, whatever else.  He posted the following on Hockey’s Future Forums:

I checked it out. My sources say: Zero validity to this story. None.

We have got to get Bob McKenzie to do an interview with us.  His awesomeness radiates with us daily, and never more so than when killing Dwayne rumors.