To End the Week: Chico Resch, Emmy Approved

Perhaps we’re going against the grain of public opinion here, but we love Chico Resch.  Even if we weren’t Devils fans, how an you not enjoy him?  Working with Doc Emrick on Devils telecasts, the two are hilarious, informative and passionate.  So Chico is a little for the home guys every now and then, what local analyst isn’t?  Obviously, we’ve met him in person and seen what a nice guy and fantastic storyteller the man is, so we’re biased.  But Chico deserves a lot more respect than he gets currently.

Which is why we’re happy to say that Resch, for the first time as Devils analyst for MSG Plus/SportsChannel/FSN, has been nominated for a New York Area Emmy.  Fang’s has the whole list, which includes Isles play-by-play man Howie Rose getting recognition in the play-by-play category.  We sure hope Chico wins.  We’re Mets fans too, so rooting against Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez is rough.  But who cares?  Chico gets no respect, I tell ya, and it’s high time he got some.

That’s it for us this week.  Curl is in on Saturday, we’ll see you Monday.

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Your Announcers For Hockey Day in Canada

Montreal vs. Ottawa, 3:00 PM
Play by Play: Bob Cole
Color: Gary Galley 

Vancouver vs. Toronto, 7:00 PM
Play by Play: Jim Hughson
Color: Craig Simpson and Greg Millen

Edmonton vs. Calgary, 10:00 PM
Play by Play: Mark Lee
Color: Marc Crawford and Gary Galley 

Your Mid-Day YouTube Compulsory: ABC Once Showed Hockey

Mike Emrick and Brian Engblom call Game 5 of the Dallas-Colorado series in 2004 on ABC.

VERSUS Finally Hypes Bruins-Sharks Ratings

NEW YORK, N.Y. (February 13, 2009)-VERSUS, the network that celebrates real competition and the exclusive cable television home of the National Hockey League (NHL), earned a .5 national HH rating for the San Jose Sharks/Boston Bruins telecast on Tuesday, February 10, making it the most-watched regular-season game ever among households (377,589), beating the Pittsburgh Penguins/Detroit Red Wings 2008 Stanley Cup Final re-match on November 11.  The game was also the most-watched regular season game ever on VERSUS among Men 25-54.

Locally, Boston received a 3.1 HH rating and the San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose market delivered a 1.3 HH rating, making VERSUS the #1 and #2 rated cable network in the markets, respectively, during the time period.  

VERSUS continues to see dramatic gains in viewership for the 2008-09 regular season as compared to the same time period last year.  Through 38 games, VERSUS has garnered a 29-percent increase in household impressions, 30-percent growth in total viewership and substantial viewership growth among all key male demos: Men 18-34 (up 74%), Men 18-49 (up 58%) and Men 25-54 (up 51%).

Bruins-Sharks Not Most Viewed VERSUS Game Ever, Still Does Pretty Darn Good

From Sports Media Watch:

The 550,000 viewers is not the most ever for an NHL regular season game on Versus, as has been reported. In October, Maple Leafs/Red Wings drew 573,000 viewers.

Paulsen, who runs SMW, and I discussed this earlier today, and we did figure out that it was the top rated game in VERSUS’ NHL history, but it is not the highest viewership.

Top 5 VERSUS NHL Games in Viewers This Season:

1. Maple Leafs-Red Wings (October 9th, 7:30 PM): 577,000 viewers
2. Sharks-Bruins (February 10th, 7:00 PM): 550,000 viewers
3. Penguins-Red Wings (November 11th, 7:00 PM): 526,000 viewers
4. Red Wings-Stars (January 12th, 8:00 PM): 491,000 viewers
5. Penguins-Rangers (January 5th, 7:00 PM): 481,000 viewers