Your TV Guide and Open Thread for Night 27 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs
May 12, 2009 8 Comments
Here we go, 2-3 nights remain in Round 2.
7:00 PM ET, Boston vs. Carolina, Game 6 (CAR Leads 3-2) National TV (US): VERSUS (HD)
Play by Play: Rick Peckham
Color: Billy Jaffe
Reporter: Bob Harwood
National TV (CANADA): TSN (HD)
Play by Play: Gord Miller
Inside the Glass: Pierre McGuire
Regional TV (BOSTON): NESN (HD)
Play by Play: Jack Edwards
Color: Andy Brickley
Reporter: Naoko Funayama
Regional TV (CAROLINA): FS Carolinas (HD)
Play by Play: John Forslund
Color: Tripp Tracy
10:00 PM ET, Detroit vs. Anaheim, Game 6 (DET Leads 3-2)
National TV (US): VERSUS (HD)
Play by Play: Dave Strader
Color: Darren Eliot
Reporter: Lindsay Soto
National TV (CANADA): TSN (HD)
Play by Play: Chris Cuthbert
Inside the Glass: Ray Ferraro
Regional TV (DETROIT): FS Detroit (HD)
Play by Play: Ken Daniels
Color: Mickey Redmond
Reporter: Mickey York
Regional TV (ANAHEIM): Prime Ticket (HD)
Play by Play: John Ahlers
Color: Brian Hayward
Reporter: Bill MacDonald
Puck The Media 
Rick Peckham has apparently lost most of his voice.
Not that I’m writing the Red Wings off just yet – it’s not looking good at 2-0 – but you just HAD to know that if the NHL scheduled two game 7’s simultaneously, both series would have to go 7 games. At least they’ve got the Boston-Carolina game starting at 8 ET, but still, this league just cannot catch a break (I mean, it’s great to have THREE game 7’s, but the prospect of missing most of a single 7th game is frustrating).
At least we can’t pin the blame for this on Versus.
Well I will write them off because the game is over. Too bad for Versus and the NHL it doesn’t look good again. For the second round in a row we will have 2 game sevens going on at one time. Again the question of a second network has to be pointed out. This is the NHL’s fault not Versus. That being said does anyone know for sure yet if Versus will join Carolina-Boston in progress after Anaheim-Detroit? Also any ideas on if there was a reasoning behind not having 3 days of game 7’s to avoid this? NHL got screwed with not having 2 true west coast teams I know.
Yes, time to write off the Wings in this one.
Anyway, the real problem here isn’t necessarily with Versus, as I see it (I’ll cut them some slack for a moment), but with the league. You’re right on, Scotty – why not three days of game 7’s? With three eastern time zone series, there’s no way to get this right otherwise. And even if you do have Center Ice and can watch both games on Thursday, you can’t really watch both games, except for frantically switching back and forth until the first is over.
Taking a look at how the NBA does it (because even though their playoffs are mostly a snooze-fest, they get it right), they have three game 7’s scheduled for one day (Sunday), the other for a Monday. BUT – those three game 7’s are on a Sunday…when they could very neatly stack them three in a row, starting in the afternoon, with no overlap barring an overtime game.
God, logic just KILLS me.
The very least, the start times on Thursday should be 7 and 8 PM ET so there is less overlap.
Sorry I am an idiot as pointed out already B’s game is on at 8.
I really hope the NHL is learning things from their mistakes this playoffs and fixes them in the future. Also something I suggest everyone looks at how odd the Finals Schedule is. Friday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday late afternoon, Tuesday. And Games 6 and 7 are during the NBA Finals. Game 6 should be over by the time the NBA starts but… I just don’t get it, and a note on this the Finals don’t start til June 5th. And there is about a week between Game 7 of the conference finals and the start of the Cup Finals. My point there would be time to have 3 days of Game 7’s. I mean heck with this schedule have 4 days for Game 7’s.
I wonder if the NHL isn’t too concerned about conflicts because they are hoping that conflicts like this will push more people to purchase the NHL Center Ice so they can watch the game of their choice when there is a conflict.
Of course no one can actually watch two games at once, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘brain trust’ is more concerned about making a few extra bucks on NHL CI…