Broadcast News: Every Day This Week
April 5, 2010 11 Comments
Potential Playoff Matchups:
EAST
#8 Philadelphia vs. #1 Washington
#7 Boston vs. #2 New Jersey
#6 Montreal vs. #3 Buffalo
#5 Ottawa vs. #4 Pittsburgh
WEST
#8 Colorado vs. #1 San Jose
#7 Los Angeles vs. #2 Chicago
#6 Detroit vs. #3 Vancouver
#5 Nashville vs. #4 Phoenix
Canadian Networks “Draft”
#1 (CBC): Detroit-Vancouver
#2 (CBC): Ottawa-Pittsburgh
#3 (TSN): Montreal-Buffalo
#4 (CBC): Los Angeles-Chicago
#5 (TSN): Philadelphia-Washington
#6 (CBC): Colorado-San Jose
#7/#8 (TSN): New Jersey-Boston/Nashville-Phoenix
Tough call for CBC, where they can pick the biggest star in the game vs. the worst draw in Canadian hockey, or a pretty good draw of a team who will take viewers away with RDS getting the French-speaking crowd. I’d wager CBC will go with Crosby. Can always pick Montreal if they get to round two. CBC will alternate LA-Chicago and Detroit-Vancouver on a late game/early game night, and Ottawa-Pitt and San Jose-Colorado the other night.
TSN gets a still pretty sizable Montreal audience, while also getting a crack at Alex Ovechkin. Devils-Bruins and Nashville-Phoenix will likely hit up TSN2.
NBC: Bank on Washington/Philadelphia and LA/Chicago. Detroit/Vancouver and Boston/Jersey are probably the substitute series. Maybe Colorado/San Jose too.
VERSUS: Washington/Philly, Boston/Jersey and the Detroit-hosted games of the Canucks/Wings series as the 7PM games. The Colorado/San Jose series will be the west-coast produced games on VERSUS, while CBC coverage of Detroit/Vancouver and maybe some original broadcasts of the Chicago/LA series out west will get the 10PM slot.
Available VERSUS Announcers
Play-by-Play
1. John Forslund
2. Rick Peckham
3. John Ahlers
Color
1. Darren Eliot
2. Daryl Reaugh
3. Joe Micheletti
Reporter
1. Charissa Thompson
2. Bob Harwood
3. Lindsay Soto
About stevelepore
Obviously the matchups will change alot over the next week, but I guarrantee that the CBC takes any series with Montreal over Ottawa.
TSN would also likely pick a matchup with a pacific coast team involved so they can do doubleheaders.
The standings will change, for sure.
In the west, only Vancouver’s spot is known. Any of the teams below them can still finish 6th. Chicago and San Jose are battling for the #1 and 2 spots and any of the 5th to 8th place teams could play them. A Colorado or Nashville vs. Vancouver series would be nice.
In the east, the #6, 7, 8 teams can still play any of the top four teams as the Atlantic division has not been decided yet. Montreal or Boston vs. Pittsburgh would be a great matchup.
While the loss of the french speaking audience in Quebec would be a problem for the CBC there are a lot or Habs fans all over Canada. So CBC will go with Montreal for sure. It’s too bad the Flames have folded so there will only be one western Canadian team in the mix.
I just hope NHLCI picks up the CBC feeds for the games that aren’t on Versus.
I really enjoy this segment, Steve, so I’m looking forward to reading your blog this week. I agree with the other commenters, CBC will never, ever pass on Montreal. The history, the energy of the crowd, plus the Habs are still a huge draw considering RDS gets about 800,000 to a million viewers each game. TSN will probably end up with Ottawa.
I’m a Sens fan, but I’m gonna go with the crowd on this and say that CBC will take Montreal over Ottawa. There’s a reason that whenever HNIC has Habs and Sens regional games to choose from to cut them a bigger piece of the national pie (like, when the Leafs’ season is effectively over as has been the case lately), they send the Montreal game everywhere but Ontario.
Ottawa’s games are always relegated to the Ottawa Valley.
As a Sens fan living way west and north of Ottawa, I’m glad TSN is in the mix now, because it means I can see them here, whereas a few years back when CBC was still getting *all* the Canadian teams, any games that conflicted with Montreal broadcasts would have been limited to Ottawa, which is a CBC affiliate I don’t get with my cable package.
I’ll happily take TSN’s national reach and big-time coverage.
Yeah TSN’s coverage is top-notch no doubt. Chris Cuthbert is TSN’s Canadian team playoff voice over Gord Miller, so you’re getting one of the best in the business calling the games.
Huh, I didn’t realize that about Cuthbert – I assumed that Miller would be doing it. Did he call the Flames-Hawks last season?
Also, I wonder how it went over with the rest of the TSN staff when Cuthbert demanded (a)the Olympic gold-medal game and (b)the Canadian team(s) in the playoffs when he was negotiating his first contract with TSN. I can’t imagine it endeared him to many people around the office.
Yeah, Chris Cuthbert and Pierre McGuire called that series last year. My guess, is TSN/CTV really wanted Cuthbert after CBC made the horrible decision of firing him. Cuthbert saw it as another way of advancing his career, and what he should have had by now at CBC, the #1 announcing job, doing the big games.
It’s a bit curious then, that Miller still works the WJHC, which is hands-down the biggest hockey event TSN gets from year-to-year.
I remember the 1980′s when the CBC only had regional games for the playoffs and Leafs or Canadiens fans who lived in western Canada never got to see any games outside of the west. Times have changed for the better. Most of us will get to see all of the series one way or another. It may not be with the broadcaster we would like but we will get to see most of the games.
Oh, absolutely. And to be honest, as much as I complain about it, the broadcasters don’t bother me *that* much. When I see a homer for the other team calling an Ottawa broadcast on a national channel, it gets under my skin, but I can deal. Hockey coverage in Canada is pretty great on the whole.
(Minus the PPV games that western fans have to deal with. I really think that $10-$15 or so *per game* is absolutely outrageous. I wish people would boycott them!)