Your Hockey Night in Canada Announcers and Open Thread

Pittsburgh vs. Toronto, 7PM, CBC/NHL Network
Play by Play: Jim Hughson
Color: Craig Simpson
Inside the Glass: Glenn Healy
Host: Elliotte Friedman

Montreal vs. Edmonton, 10PM, CBC
Play by Play: Mark Lee
Color: Kevin Weekes
Host: Scott Oake

More People Watch Movie About Hockey Than Actual Hockey

There’s this weird thing about being a hockey fan.  Every time some good news about the NHL has you up, you get knocked right back down by something else.

Earlier today, we noted how the NHL game on VERSUS did twice the audience of some football league this week (more on that Monday).  Well, now we’re knocked back down by news about the Wayne Gretzky documentary “King’s Ransom” on ESPN.  Do your thing, Neil Best:

“Kings Ransom,” the first of 30 documentaries in ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, attracted only 645,000 viewers Tuesday – according to the Sports Business Daily – after getting a bad break when the Tigers-Twins playoff game lasted 12 innings, overlapping the film’s time slot.

Yep.  A documentary about Wayne Gretzky drew more viewers than an actual hockey game.  Sigh.  It’d be interesting to see how both would have done had Twins-Tigers not headed to that extra inning epic, which kept me from watching either.

Premiere of Second-Rate Football League No Match For Hockey’s Drawing Power

A lot of conjecture has been made about whether or not the UFL can make a name for itself in the sports world.  Well, not really, but let’s pretend there has been.  The league had it’s first test with it’s premiere game on Thursday featuring California and Las Vegas.  The stadium looked pretty empty, and the ratings were pretty poor.  John Ourand said on Twitter this afternoon that the game drew 220,000 viewers.  Compared to 405,000 for Washington-Philadelphia this Tuesday.

So, you know, bow to your new hockey overlords and such.