VERSUS Goes Nuts During All-Star Weekend

NEW YORK, N.Y. (January 20, 2011) – VERSUS today announced details of its extensive coverage of the 2011 NHL® All-Star Weekend presented by Discover, beginning with the first ever NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft™ powered by Cisco on Friday, January 28, at 8 p.m. ET, during which players will participate in the ultimate game of pick-up hockey when two captains select the NHL All-Star squads. The network will then air the 2011 Honda NHL SuperSkills® competition on Saturday, January 29, at 7 p.m. ET, as these elite athletes display their skating, puck-handling and shooting skills. VERSUS will culminate its weekend coverage with the 58th annual NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, January 30, at 4 p.m. ET, live from the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.

 

This year VERSUS will air the debut of the NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft, which will replace the traditional conference-vs.-conference format, and allow two captains chosen by the players, Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, to choose their own teams from among the remaining All-Stars. Each All-Star team will be comprised of three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards.

 

Coverage of the NHL All-Star Game and NHL SuperSkills competition will be hosted by VERSUS’ Mike “Doc” Emrick and analyst Eddie Olczyk with reporters Charissa Thompson and Bob Harwood providing rink-side updates from the RBC Center. The Hockey Central crew of Bill Patrick, Keith Jones and Brian Engblom will also be on location to report on all the NHL All-Star weekend festivities and host intermissions during the 58th annual NHL All-Star Game.

 

During the weekend’s telecast, VERSUS will also institute production elements to enhance the presentation, including the national network debut of the Imovix replay system that slows down action to an amazing 500 frames/second, offering viewers outstanding replays that can even show the rotation of the puck during a shot. VERSUS will also have in-net goal cameras which offers an amazing look at the on-ice action, extra reporters to add perspective from on the ice and in the locker rooms as well as microphones and earpieces on the players during the 2011 NHL All-Star Game and the NHL SuperSkills competition.

 

VERSUS.com will offer NHL fans extensive information covering the weekend’s events. The site will feature live chats, photo galleries, polls and exclusive videos that include key highlights and interviews from the both the All-Star Game and NHL SuperSkills competition.

 

NHL, the NHL Shield and NHL SuperSkills are registered trademarks and the NHL All-Star Game logo and NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft are trademarks of the National Hockey League. NHL and NHL team marks are the property of the NHL and its teams. All Rights Reserved.

 

VERSUS prides itself on super-serving passionate sports fans across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD). Now in more than 75 million homes, the network is the cable television home of the National Hockey League (NHL), IZOD IndyCar Series, Tour de France and Professional Bull Riders (PBR). VERSUS also airs NASCAR, NBA, UFC, college football and college basketball programming. The network is home to the best outdoor programming on television and airs original programs not available anywhere else, including The T.Ocho Show. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.

 

 

HockeyHighlightDome, Night 7: Overtime vs. On the Fly

Night 7, Wednesday, January 19

NHL Overtime, 11:00 PM ET, VERSUS

Host: Liam McHugh in the house for the second time this week, and I believe the fourth or fifth time during this period. Though I like McHugh, he did make a key mistake when he called the original trade that sent Jamie Langenbrunner to the Devils from Dallas with Joe Nieuwendyk as happening “in the 90′s.” The trade occurred closer to the 2003 trade deadline, as both players were crucial in New Jersey winning their third Stanley Cup. I remember because I was a 14-year old in Northern New Jersey, but maybe someone should’ve told McHugh.

Analysts: Oh snap, VERSUS brought in the heavy hitters last night. It’s Eddie Olczyk, Mike Milbury and Billy Jaffe. This means a 125% increase in the chances of someone saying something embarrassing and/or insightful. Our money’s on the former. Clearly VERSUS knew they’d need a lot of stuff to fill an hour, so we’ve got three of the talkiest talking heads in hockey.

Lead Story: With three games this evening, and three stinkers in either match-up or result, it’s going to be tough to fill this hour for both shows tonight. They opened talking about Evgeni Malkin’s injury, Daniel Briere’s addition to the All-Star Game, and Brandon Dubinsky’s injury status and the Rangers suffering from an injury bug.

Lead Highlights: We then saw the very pointed John Tortorella speech from Sunday leading into the Rangers whitewashing of the Maple Leafs. Totally the right choice to go with among the three scheduled tilts. Though I find it interesting that in a show with an hour to fill, they skipped from goal 1 to goal 4 of a 7-0 victory, and barely even highlighted the four-goal performance by Marian Gaborik in the initial highlights package. They only showed two of the goals he scored in this package, in fact. I found this extremely strange.

Non-Highlight Footage: This lead into a feature on blocked shots and defense in the game. This was even stranger. A guy scored four goals! Maybe talk about that a little bit! Then they talked about some of the Leafs problems as well as Artem Anisimov’s performance. He had four assists. Marian Gaborik had four goals! In a response to his coach calling him out! That’s mildly interesting! Talk about it. They only showed his first and third goals in the main highlights. I’m just sort of curious as to how that was all prepared. They then discussed the Leafs potential trading options. This was good, but … TALK ABOUT GABORIK!

Anyway, in non-Gaborik news, Columbus-Florida got the video board treatment, which saw Jaffe back in his familiar spot.

Interviews: Jamie Langenbrunner sat in for the weekly “5-minute major” on the show with reporter Lindsay Soto. The open of which featured a reference to the classic television series Dallas. Or something. I don’t know. It was an good interview, at least. Probably the first time he’s been interviewed at length in the past year without mentioning the Olympics.

Time Spent on Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin: Neither played tonight yet again, so we didn’t hear much, we occasionally saw the Crosby hits from Steckel and Hedman. Crosby and Ovechkin were both in the night’s VERSUS.com poll.

Spreading the Love (West Coast Coverage): Only one game aired late, and that was a 9:30 PM ET start in Calgary, so all the games should have been close to ending by VERSUS’ Midnight end time. Columbus’ game was in the early part of the show, but most of this thing was Eastern Conference-heavy tonight. After Columbus/Florida highlights, they had a discussion of the Eastern Conference playoff race. I’m so excited that it’s nearing that time again.

Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller was a part of a discussion of how many games goaltenders should play if they want to win the Stanley Cup. They eventually got to the Flames/Wild highlights and discussed all the problems in Calgary. Not a banner night for Canadian clubs.

Features: An “Insiders Roundtable” was promoted from the top of the show, and it definitely lived up to it’s name. The estimable Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe and Jeff Z. Klein of the New York Times are as good as it gets as far as east-coast based hockey reporters. Also, cool to see a different part of the VERSUS set.

The topics discussed were hits to the head, penalty shot/shootout rules (Dupont’s dissension on the shootout was one of the first time I’ve seen it on national TV) and coaches on the hot seat. All three writers brought something to the table, were reasonable in their discussion, and all extremely informative. It was like an American version of CBC’s weekly Hotstove, only without the blowhard arguing. Equal to the Darren Dreger segments on NHL Network.

So of course, Mike Milbury proceeded to criticize doing the segment in general. Sometimes, Mad Mike. Sometimes …

Oh, and the Guardian Project. Sigh. McHugh can barely hide his contempt, and neither can the analysts.

Controversial Material: Mike Milbury had a segment dedicated to the recent rash of hits to the head, where he basically had the position of “In my day hits to the head were different and cats were friendlier and milk cost a nickel a gallon!”

Milbury also called for the ref in the Columbus/Florida game to be fined for an Overtime penalty. Not sure if he was serious or not, but he was certainly up in arms about it.

NHL On the Fly, 1:00 AM ET, NHL Network

Host: Brian Duff’s in for the first time this week.

Analysts: Kevin Weekes for the third straight night, and Mike Johnson checks in for the first time this week.

Lead Story/Highlights: Narrated highlights of Marian Gaborik and the Rangers vs. the Leafs. Again, I don’t like the narrated highlights on On the Fly but at least they showed every one of Gaborik’s goals, and then talked about him properly. Also, cool of them to completely knock Jonas Gustavsson for that awful goal. Just, let’s thank goodness that I’m not crazy and it wasn’t ignored by both networks.

Also, it was another night where NHL Network essentially hit re-set on the show at the halfway point. This was actually just a half-hour show.

Non-Highlight Footage: Immediately they went into a discussion of the Rangers injury troubles, including Dubinsky being out. Boy, when you line ‘em up like that, it’s a miracle the Rangers can ice a team. They then discussed how Gaborik got all four of his goals, which is something that VERSUS should have definitely covered a little bit more. I’m baffled that he got so little attention for such a great accomplish. I know that it’s not the five-goal game he had a few years ago, but still, worth mentioning a little more. They then trashed the Leafs awful team defense.

Interviews: None tonight.

Time Spent on Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin: Again, there is little to be discussed with neither in action last night.

Spreading the Love (West Coast Coverage): Columbus/Florida and Calgary/Minnesota showed up a little bit earlier in the highlights package than on Overtime, as by the time they got to showing Flames/Wild on On the Fly, VERSUS was still discussing Rangers/Leafs.

Features/Controversial Material: Darren Dreger was in to discuss any controversy concerning Jarome Iginla’s wishing out of the NHL All-Star Game for a reasonable purpose. He also discussed something VERSUS didn’t have a chance to talk about and didn’t on Wednesday either, the Ales Hemsky concussion from last night. Head shots in general remain a topic of discussion for any insiders. Boy, this seems like it’s all going to rear its’ nasty head sometime very, very soon. Also, that Coaches Challenges will be on the GM Meetings agenda.

Dreger had a second consecutive segment, discussing trade rumors with regards to the Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues.

NBC Sports to Air NHL Doubleheader on Hockey Day in America

For the first time in recent memory, and perhaps ever, the NHL will have a chance to show off it’s sport with a doubleheader on national, broadcast TV.

NBC Sports announced it’s coverage today for Hockey Day in America, which will feature an NHL doubleheader, all hosted from McCormick Tribune Ice Rink at Chicago’s Millenium Park. From there, NBC will share stories about various displays for love of the game around the nation – from the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships in Minnesota, to celebrity hockey in Los Angeles, to inner-city hockey in Washingon – to celebrate the sport.

After a half an hour of pre-game coverage, NBC will then show three games regionally in the early window, with staggered start times. All viewers will begin the day at the same game at 12:35 PM ET before they get moved to their regional game at no later than 12:45 ET. The early games have not had an exact start time chosen, nor which commentators will call each game, but they’ll be Detroit/Minnesota, Philadelphia/NY Rangers, and Washington/Buffalo.

Later in the day, at 3:30 PM ET, NBC will air Pittsburgh/Chicago nationally, the latest start time for an NHL regular season game on NBC in two years or so. That game will be called by the NHL on NBC’s lead broadcast team of Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury.

In addition to that, VERSUS will be airing the Heritage Classic, live from Calgary, at 6:00 PM ET, giving hockey fans an unprecedented triple-header, broadcast nationally and with all the bells and whistles. It’s something that I don’t think has happened in my lifetime, and I can’t imagine happening any prior time in history. February 20th will be an exciting day, cheers to NBC and VERSUS for giving their all for puckheads.

The complete NBC/NHL press release is after the jump.

McDonald’s Becomes Presenting Sponsor of Hockey Day in America

NEW YORK (JANUARY 19, 2011) ─ The National Hockey League® (NHL) today announced that McDonald’s USA has renewed as League partner in the United States. As part of this agreement, McDonald’s has secured the position of title sponsor for Hockey Day In America – a six-hour celebration of the sport of hockey on NBC, and will serve as sponsor of the 2011 NHL All-Star Game in Raleigh, NC amongst other unique brand extensions.

 

McDonald’s Re-Ups with the NHL

As the relationship between the NHL® and the world’s leading food service provider is extended, McDonald’s USA will continue to create meaningful integrations at the League’s major events through the conclusion of the 2010-11 NHL season. As part of the agreement, McDonald’s USA will support NHL media (NHL Network™ and NHL.com) and League rights-holders (NBC and VERSUS). A charitable component will also be included. The NHL’s monetary and in-kind contributions in support of Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®), McDonald’s “Charity of Choice,” and the Ronald McDonald House® Program will help improve the health and well being of children and their families.

 

“The quick service restaurant category is an important one to reach a broad audience, and as McDonald’s major sports League partner, the possibilities of what we are able to achieve together are limitless,” said Keith Wachtel, NHL Senior Vice President of Integrated Sales. “It’s a marriage between two great brands that will provide unique activations as well as community support.”

 

“The National Hockey League is a strong and relevant partner and offers our brand unique ways to connect with our customers,” said John Lewicki, Director of Sports Marketing, McDonald’s Corporation. “At McDonald’s, we strive to bring our customers some of the best sports properties around, and through this continued relationship, we’re excited to bring fun, new extensions to hockey fans.”

 

As part of its activation at the 2011 NHL® All-Star Game in Raleigh, McDonald’s will sponsor the “Kid Zone” at NHL Fan Fair™ and bring back its popular “In the Lineup” program where 12 lucky youth hockey players get the opportunity to meet and stand along side the NHL All-Stars on the ice before the game begins. McDonald’s also will be the presenting sponsor of the Accuracy Shooting contest at this year’s Honda NHL SuperSkills® Competition.

 

Hockey Day In America Presented By McDonald’s

The NHL and NBC Sports will celebrate America’s passion for hockey with the inaugural Hockey Day in America presented by McDonald’s on Sunday, February 20.

 

With six hours of coverage (Noon-6 p.m. ET) – which will include four NHL games – hosted from Millennium Park’s outdoor ice rink in Chicago, NBC Sports will tell the stories that demonstrate this country’s affinity for hockey – from hockey parents who chauffeur pee wees to practice before sunrise to the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships in Minnesota, played by amateurs amidst arctic temperatures, to ‘celebrity’ hockey played by actors and producers in Los Angeles to inner-city hockey in Washington, D.C. that has made a difference in the lives of countless children and young adults.

 

NBC Sports will broadcast four NHL games featuring eight teams from some of the most avid U.S. hockey markets. The first three games will be broadcast regionally with staggered starts. All viewers will begin the day with the same game before some viewers are taken to their regional game. The staggered starts allow for live look-ins of the other regionalized games during intermissions. The fourth game, Pittsburgh at Chicago, will be broadcast nationally. All games will be streamed live on NBCSports.com.

 

“Hockey Day in America” is part of “Hockey Weekend Across America.” Launched by USA Hockey in 2008, “Hockey Weekend Across America” is a nationwide initiative to celebrate the game and those involved at all levels and to expose hockey to new audiences.

 

Previously this NHL season, McDonald’s activated around the 2010 NHL Compuware Premiere games in Helsinki, Prague and Stockholm, and the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic®.

 

About McDonald’s

McDonald’s USA, LLC is the leading foodservice provider in the United States serving a variety of wholesome foods made from quality ingredients to millions of customers every day. More than 80 percent of McDonald’s 13,700 U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated by local franchisees. For more information about McDonald’s visit www.mcdonalds.com

 

About Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) corporation, creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. Through its global network of local Chapters in 52 countries and regions, its three core programs, the Ronald McDonald House®, Ronald McDonald Family Room® and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile®, and millions of dollars in grants to support children’s programs worldwide, RMHC provides stability and resources to families so they can get and keep their children healthy and happy. All RMHC-supported programs provide a bridge to quality health care and give children and families the time they need together to heal faster and cope better. For more information, visit www.rmhc.org, follow us on Twitter (@RMHC), or like us on Facebook (Facebook.com/RMHC Global).

 

About the NHL

The National Hockey League, founded in 1917, is the second-oldest of the four major professional team sports leagues in North America. Today, the NHL consists of 30 Member Clubs, each reflecting the League’s international makeup, with players from more than 20 countries represented on team rosters. According to a Simmons Market Research study, NHL fans are younger, more educated, more affluent, and access content through digital means more than any other sport. The NHL entertains more than 250 million fans each season in-arena and through its partners in national television (VERSUS, NBC, TSN, CBC, RDS, RIS, NASN, ASN and NHL Network™) and radio (NHL Radio™, Sirius XM Radio and XM Canada). Through the NHL Foundation, the League’s charitable arm, the NHL raises money and awareness for Hockey Fights Cancer™ and NHL Youth Development, and supports the charitable efforts of NHL players. For more information on the NHL, log on to NHL.com.

 

 

Five Things That Will Happen and Six Things We Predict Will Happen as a Result of the Comcast-NBC Merger

As you all know, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve the merger between Comcast and NBC yesterday. What does that mean for hockey, and sports media in general? Well, there are some things that we know for almost certain, but much is left up in the air. So, I’ll give you the concrete information of what we can expect, and then guess a couple of other things. First, what’s basically set in stone:

1. NBC Sports Executive Producer Dick Ebersol will assume control of both VERSUS and all Comcast Sportsnet affiliates, as well as the Golf Channel. Ebersol, according to many reports, has long wanted his own sports network to tinker with, and will finally get his chance, rebranding VERSUS (more in a bit) and Comcast Sportsnet in his image of what a 24-hour sports network should be. Now, VERSUS has already begun taking steps at forming an identity in the past year alone. Note the 24/7 bottom line has made VERSUS look more up to snuff almost instantly. A hockey studio show was a long ago must. Also, one has to wonder if VERSUS and The Golf Channel might begin to share (again, more shortly) as NBC and TGC own much of the PGA season already.

2. VERSUS will get a name change and a makeover to fit the NBC Sports brand. Kind of curious to see what they come up with. NBC Sportsnet sounds a little messy but works off the Rogers Sportsnet template. NBCS? SNBC? Who knows for now. Also, likely say goodbye to VERSUS’ graphics package when all that goes down, as their production will look more like an NBC production.

3. VERSUS and NBC will begin sharing some events, and VERSUS will likely provide supplemental coverage for NBC events . Once again, this will likely mean some form of golf programming migrating to VERSUS, while it affects very little on the hockey side, as VERSUS has the same lead hockey announcers as NBC (plus McGuire) and other than McGuire, all of NBC’s hockey talent appears on VERSUS. What it may end up meaning is that VERSUS/NBC will work to beef up each other’s college football content. Will NBC end up getting a piece of the Mountain West? Will VERSUS score itself a Notre Dame telecast or two? How will the next NFL negotiations involve an NBC/VERSUS partnership? Many questions will need answering.

4. NBC/VERSUS will become an equal partnership, akin to ESPN/ABC. That all but certainly means …

5. NBC and VERSUS will likely make a joint bid for the new NHL TV rights. ESPN can offer so many different platforms for hockey, that VERSUS and NBC would almost certainly partner together to offer just as much for the NHL.

5 Predictions

1. VERSUS and NBC will attempt to outbid ESPN, TBS and FOX in the next baseball contracts. While NBC would likely want a piece of everything the next time it is available, baseball makes the most sense for VERSUS as it has the gaping hole in it’s schedule during the summertime. NBC hasn’t had baseball on it’s schedule since 2000, and would have to move around football for some World Series games (or vice versa) but it would be most important to have a second major league in VERSUS’ stable.

2. With VERSUS’ talent available already, NBC will return to regionalizing hockey in the new deal. I’m not convinced we won’t be seeing this sooner rather than later. Hockey Day in America is asking NBC to regionalize for the first time in three years, will it be VERSUS talent that gets drawn upon for that weekend? Anyway, I think this makes more sense than the Game of the Week format, to be honest. While, yes, NBC is garnering the same ratings for one game that they did for free, to truly grow the game and become a national sport, they have to get more of the southern and western teams involved, and regionalizing is the way to do that.

3. NBC will bid on a NFC or AFC conference package, and use VERSUS to bid for Sunday Night Football. This would be a true test of Comcast’s deep pockets, and give one corporation control of almost 50% of the NFL’s games. While I doubt the NFL would take both it’s primetime showcases to cable (admittedly, this becomes less likely now that ESPN secured MNF) it would work a lot better for NBC in general. Instead of having to come up with a completely new primetime schedule after football leaves in January, they would have new programming airing on Sundays in primetime, with powerful football as a lead-in. It’s something FOX and CBS have used to great success with The Simpsons, Family Guy and Amazing Race in past years. Then, VERSUS gets it’s big football showcase every week. Also, it doesn’t interrupt NBC’s World Series coverage if they were to bid on that.

Here’s why it might work. There have been rumors that ESPN may take a Wild Card round game in the new Monday Night Football deal, therefore leaving NBC with (potentially) only 1 Wild Card game leftover in the Sunday Night package. Why not make Wild Card Saturday an all cable affair, since ESPN at worst has proven itself capable of drawing incredible audiences for big name events, and give one to VERSUS and one to ESPN? Risky, but the NFL can do anything, anywhere that it wants.

4. VERSUS/NBC will either enter a joint partnership to create a conference TV network, or try to bid on the next BCS rights.

5. VERSUS/NBC will attempt to use the NHL to add a little prestige to one of it’s other cable networks, possibly Universal Sports, with a “Game of the Week” package, that’d be blacked out in home markets until Universal Sports reaches certain subscriber levels.

6. Comcast-NBC will take control of the NHL Network.

How do you think the Comcast-NBC merger will affect the NHL on TV? Leave some of your predictions in the comments thread. Regardless of what happens, we’re entering a bit of uncharted territory in the months ahead.

HockeyHighlightDome, Night 6: Overtime vs. On the Fly

Night 6, Tuesday, January 18

NHL Overtime, 11:00 PM ET, VERSUS

Host: Bill Pidto, the original host of NHL2Nite, long ago back in the mid-90′s. Now he hosts Rangers telecasts on MSG and occasionally works this show. Overall, I find him to be the most competent host of the ones they use, if not the biggest personality.

Analysts: The always friendly Ken Daneyko and the always insightful Eddie Olczyk. Daneyko called Mike Fisher “Mike Underwood.” Heh.

Lead Story: The multitude of moves made by the San Jose Sharks, who were a big story last night as well. Good to see that, even though they aren’t as even-handed in picking their games, VERSUS is using their studio show to cover the league coast-to-coast. If we introduce every team to a national audience, then we can get the national NHL audience to watch them when they actually play on VERSUS. At least that’s my theory, but why would you watch a team you know nothing about?

Lead Highlights: Of course, it is Detroit and Pittsburgh, as it should have been the VERSUS game tonight. If it isn’t for NHL Network, I’ll be shocked. I’d be surprised if this didn’t come in the Top 10 of all-time in ratings for FS Pittsburgh, as Penguins fans watch in droves for the big contests. As there are 10 games tonight, Overtime is surprisingly bare bones in the initial highlight package. Anyway, second consecutive night VERSUS isn’t leading with their night’s telecast.

Non-Highlight Footage: We were shown press conference footage from the Red Wings instead of the victorious Penguins, due to Detroit’s crippling injury bug. This was followed by a discussion of penalty shots (more later) and a breakdown of Brooks Orpik’s play. Leading into the second game of the night (Washington/Philadelphia), we saw the poor numbers of the Capitals top forwards in the prior 20 games. Caps/Flyers got the video board technology treatment as well. Boston/Carolina saw Olczyk standing at the telestrator screen.

An interview with Jason Pominville from VERSUS reporter Bob Harwood was shown after the network’s coverage of that game.

Interviews: None. Would have liked to have seen a hit with Eric Staal and/or Nicklas Lidstrom from their selection as captains of the All-Star teams.

Time Spent on Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin: The Pens record without Crosby was briefly mentioned during the highlights. Daneyko referred to the Penguins as overpowering Detroit “even without the great Sidney Crosby.” As I said before, we saw Alex Ovechkin’s statistics in the past 20 games, along with fellow Capital star Nicklas Backstrom.

Spreading the Love (West Coast Coverage): As noted above, talk about the San Jose Sharks led off the show. The latest game started at 9:30 PM ET tonight, so there was only one game that might not have had a chance to get discussed in it’s entirety by the VERSUS crew. The Kings problems were discussed in detail around the show’s mid-point.

Features: Ken Daneyko, whenever he is on the show, likes to break down the fights of the night, this time it’s been branded as a “Fight Club” segment. I like this idea, as it seems to be the one segment of the show that’s playing heavy to the folks who love the rougher side of hockey.

Also, we saw a brief retrospective of Willie O’Ree’s first game on the 53rd anniversary which was a good little touch. Mark Messier’s 50th birthday was not really worthy of an additional retrospective, comparatively.

Hmph, Stupid Guardian Project.

Controversial Material: “Dumb” and “awful” were the adjectives the two analysts assigned to the Scott Nichol hit, which cost the defenseman four games in a suspension. There was a brief discussion of how there should’ve been additional penalty shot calls during the Pittsburgh/Detroit game, and showed side-by-side footage comparing what happened on both plays.

Also, Max Pacioretty’s injury during the Canadiens/Sabres game was considered very serious, I was surprised it was merely grazed over in the highlight package.

NHL On the Fly, 1:00 AM ET, NHL Network

Host: David Amber is back for the second straight night.

Analysts: Kevin Weeks, whose first line in the show was “E-I-E-I-O”

Lead Story/Highlights: Penguins/Red Wings, the absolutely correct choice. Honestly though, the more I hear the NHL Network going with narrated highlights instead of unnarrated highlights, the less I enjoy it. I don’t know why, but I simply like having two different shows having two different formats. I know they keep it for some of the highlights but it just doesn’t really work for me. Interestingly enough, Boston/Carolina and Buffalo/Montreal were 2nd and 3rd, while Flyers/Caps went 4th.

Non-Highlight Footage: They went straight into the rest of the show after the highlights, kind of strangely. They went directly to the All-Star captains stuff, and also showed the Fantasy Draft rules, as they continue to try and get everyone on board with this sort of thing. With 10 games on the slate and a big story to cover, it was a lot of just strictly highlights on this show. Also, cool that NHL Network is going to do their own Mock Draft the night before the actual draft.

Interviews: Nicklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal almost immediately appeared for hits with their comments about their new role as captains for the game. It’ll be interesting to see who they pic, and this will be a real risk for the NHL to try, but it could pay off wonderfully though. NHL Network also showed a lot of the players around the league’s opinions. VERSUS merely went with the analysts’ opinion. I think NHL Network definitely got the victory in this one. Just to top it off, they showed their full interview with Staal and Lidstrom side-by-side later in the show. VERSUS should’ve done something like this.

Also, sigh, a birthday interview with Mark Messier.

Time Spent on Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin: After the first commercial break, they showed Sidney Crosby’s comments on his potential to appear in the All-Star game. It was good to get an update on Sid the Kid’s condition, something we haven’t gotten since the week it was supposed to take him to get back has gone by.

Spreading the Love (West Coast Coverage): The first Western game wasn’t in the show until 26 minutes in, with Los Angeles/St. Louis, and the Nichol suspension wasn’t discussed until shortly before that moment. They went on through the Western Conference for the rest of the show, however, I’d rather see them mix it up just a little bit more, especially with Vancouver/Colorado being a legitimate, marquee match-up in the West this year.

Features: Darren Dreger came in to talk about the controversy with regards to Sidney Crosby potentially boycotting the All-Star Game, which was proved to be, essentially, an opinion. They also discussed Crosby’s “longshot” potential for an appearance at the All-Star Game.

Another big coupe for NHL Network was having local Philadelphia columnist (and a Comcast employee) Tim Panaccio to talk about Paul Holmgren’s contract extension and potential moves for the Flyers as the trade deadline draws near. I don’t recall VERSUS even mentioning Holmgren’s new contract.

Also, how did the NHL’s own network get out of doing this Guardian Project nonsense?

Controversial Material: The Pacioretty injury was focused on by On the Fly a little bit more than VERSUS, another advantage for them on this night. VERSUS also ignored the Crosby controversy, while NHL Network hit on it bright and fairly early in the show, and they had the NHL’s best “insider” in Dreger at the studio to talk about it.

TSN2 Jumps Into the Nightly Hockey Show Pool with That’s Hockey 2Nite

With the NHL’s cable partner in America finally launching their own late-night hockey show, it seems fitting that the league’s cable network up north will also be jumping into the fray beginning in February, but with a bit of a twist.

TSN will launch That’s Hockey 2Nite, a nightly companion series to it’s regular NHL coverage and the pre-game show That’s Hockey, starting February 1st at 11:00 PM ET on TSN2, the network’s supplemental network which seems to be positioning itself as an American version of ESPN2, instead of just a place for alternate feeds that TSN didn’t have room for.

Steve Kouleas, a former host for 13 years at The Score, joins TSN to become the regular host of the show. He’ll be joined on the panel by TSN/ESPN analyst Matthew Barnaby, as well as former NHL referee Kerry Fraser, who will be making his television debut. He will join the show starting on Tuesday, February 2nd.

This launch will cement all the NHL’s cable partners with a nightly hockey wrap-up show. In addition to That’s Hockey 2Nite, VERSUS currently airs NHL Overtime Monday-Thursday at 11:00 PM ET, while the NHL Network has it’s On the Fly: Final airing after hours of studio highlights every night at 1:00 AM ET.

Your Announcers and Open Thread For Habs/Sabres

Montreal vs. Buffalo, 7:30 PM ET, VERSUS
Play by Play: Sam Rosen
Color: Billy Jaffe
Reporter: Bob Harwood

NHL Net US To Air CHL Top Prospects Game on Tape Delay

NEW YORK (January 18, 2011) – Hockey fans in the United States will get a glimpse at many of the players who will be selected early on in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft when NHL Network U.S.™ broadcasts the 2011 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on tape delay on Thursday, January 20, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Rogers Sportsnet and RDS will air the game live in Canada from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Wednesday.

 

The 20-man rosters for the Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game were chosen by NHL General Managers and the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau and include 18 players from the Ontario Hockey League, 13 from the Western Hockey League, and nine from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The game comes just nine days after NHL Central Scouting’s release of its mid-season rankings.

 

22 of the top-ranked 30 skaters will participate in the game including eight of the top 10. Among them are No. 2-ranked C Sean Couturier of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, No. 3 C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Red Deer Rebels and No. 4 C Jonathan Huberdeau of the Saint John Sea Dogs. Number-one ranked LW Gabriel Landeskog of the Kitchener Rangers will not participate in the game due to injury.

 

There are five U.S.-trained players that have been selected to play in the game — Brandon Saad of the Saginaw Spirit from Gibsonia, PA, the eighth-ranked North American skater; Shane Prince, Ottawa 67s (ranked 35th from Rochester, NY); Colin Jacobs, Seattle Thunderbirds (ranked 40th from Coppell, TX), Vincent Trochek, Saginaw Spirit (ranked 42nd from Pittsburgh, PA) and Shane McColgan, Kelowna Rockets (ranked 102nd from Torrance, CA).

 

The game also features players from nine countries outside of North America. No. 2 goalie Christopher Gibson (Finland), No. 8 goalie David Honzik (Czech Republic), No. 24 Tomas Jurco (Slovakia), No. 20 Nicklas Jensen (Denmark), No. 34 Rickard Rakell (Sweden), No. 74 Tobias Rieder (Germany), No. 17 Vladislav Namestnikov (Russia), No. 6 Sven Baertschi (Switzerland), No. 39 Xavier Ouellet (France).

 

The 2010 event was held in Windsor, ON, and featured all 17 CHL players that were selected in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. That list included current NHL players Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins, Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Cam Fowler of the Anaheim Ducks, Alexander Burmistrov of the Atlanta Thrashers and Taylor Hall of the Edmonton Oilers, who earned Player of the Game honors before being chosen first overall in June. In addition to Hall, eight other NHL stars have participated in the Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game before being selected first overall — including Chris Phillips, Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Marc-Andre Fleury, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares.

 

Full coverage of the 2011 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game and 2011 NHL Entry Draft can be found on NHL.com.

 

Programming Schedule on NHL Network U.S. for Thursday, January 20

Noon NHL Live!

2:00 p.m. 2011 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game

4:00 p.m. NHL Power Play

6:00 p.m. 2011 Legends Classic From Heinz Field

7:00 p.m. NHL Hockey: Pittsburgh Penguins at New Jersey Devils

9:30 p.m. NHL On The Fly

 

It’s Official: FCC OK’s Comcast-NBC Merger

Once again, from the Washington Post:

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, allowing for a joint venture that puts a vast library of television shows and movies under the control of the nation’s biggest cable and broadband Internet service provider.

 

Together, the companies have 16.7 million broadband subscribers, about 23 million cable customer and dozens of lucrative channels such as USA, Bravo, MSNBC and CNBC.

 

In a 4-to-1 vote, the FCC determined the deal was in the nation’s public interest and assigned a number of conditions to the venture to ensure that Comcast shares content with cable competitors and gives other networks fair access to its customers.