Your Announcers and Open Thread For Night 40 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Chicago vs. Philadelphia, Game 4 (CHI Leads 2-1), 8:00 PM ET

National TV (US): VERSUS (HD)
Play by Play: Mike Emrick
Color: Eddie Olczyk
Reporters: Bob Harwood and Billy Jaffe

National TV (Canada): CBC (HD)
Play by Play: Jim Hughson
Color: Craig Simpson
Inside the Glass: Glenn Healy
Reporters: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake

National TV (Canada-French): RDS (HD)
Play by Play: Pierre Houde
Color: Benoit Brunet

International TV: NHL International (HD)
Play by Play: Dave Strader
Color: Joe Micheletti

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CSN Mid-Atlantic to Air Games 3-5 of Calder Cup Final

Bethesda, Md. (June 4, 2010) – Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, the region’s leading source for television and online sports coverage, announced it will deliver live television coverage of Games 3, 4 and 5 of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Finals between the Hershey Bears, the Washington Capitals’ top minor-league affiliate, and the Texas Stars.

Comcast SportsNet’s live game coverage of the best-of-seven championship series will feature Hershey’s three road contests from Cedar Park, Texas, which are scheduled for Monday, June 7 at 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 9 at 8:30 p.m. and Friday, June 11 at 8:30 p.m., if necessary. The broadcasts will feature Hershey Bears play-by-play announcer John Walton and Gregg Mace, who will serve as color analyst and sideline reporter.

The 2010 Calder Cup Finals began on Thursday, June 3, with Texas taking a 1-0 series lead after defeating the Bears 2-1 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. Hershey hosts Game 2 of the series on Saturday, June 5, at 7 p.m. The Bears are making their fourth appearance in the Calder Cup Finals in the past five seasons and earned last season’s AHL championship, marking their second title in four seasons and 10^th overall.

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic – the official sports network of the Washington Redskins, Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, D.C. United, Atlantic Coast Conference and Colonial Athletic Association – delivers more than 500 live sporting events per year, along with Emmy Award-winning news, analysis and entertainment programming, to more than 4.6 million homes throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Comcast SportsNet’s digital portfolio, highlighted by CSNwashington.com, is the region’s leading source for online sports news and information.

Comcast Sports Group operates 10 sports networks that deliver 2,400 sporting events annually and sports news and analysis to more than 50 million cable and satellite homes.  Comcast Sports Group’s networks are: Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, Comcast SportsNet California, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, Comcast SportsNet New England, Comcast SportsNet Northwest, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, SNY, The Mtn. – Mountain West Sports Network, and CSS.  Comcast Sports Group also manages New England Cable News (NECN), the nation’s largest regional news network, and The Comcast Network, based in Philadelphia and Washington, which delivers community-oriented programming.  For more information, see ComcastSportsNet.com.

Watch Kevin Smith Play Street Hockey

On a tip from Kevin’s Twitter, on Saturday Wayne Gretzky’s website will be televising the annual Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament that Kev and his Askewniverse Gang participates it.  You can watch the opening ceremonies from 1-2:30, Kevin’s game from 2:30-3:30, and chat with Kevin from 3:30-4.  Enjoy.

CBC Audience Down For Game #2

From William Houston:

In Canada, the CBC’s audience for Game 2 was down from the first game. The telecast was watched by 2.775 million. Game 1 drew 3.164 million.

It is Time For Ron vs. Gary: The Primetime Special

So we all saw the video from Wednesday night.  It was horrifying.  It was awkward.  It was excruciating.  It was cringe-worthy.  It was quotable.

It was… in a sentence, all the things that make television a wonderful medium.

If you don’t what I’m referring to yet, I’m talking about NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s semi-annual summit with Hockey Night in Canada host/Hero Ron MacLean.  They duke it out on Hockey Night at least twice a season, and it never ceases to be confrontational, trashy, uncomfortable, and above all things entertaining.  It was almost as good as the amazing game both the Flyers and Blackhawks put on Wednesday night.

So why not take that and make it a program?  The CBC needs to cash in on the buzz of the Gary/Ron battle royales and do an hour-long primetime special.  Do it just before the season, do it just after the season.  Put Bettman and MacLean in a studio, with an audience watching.  Have Elliotte Friedman set up as the referee, and let them just hash it out.  Give MacLean 30 minutes to bring up whatever he wants to bring up with Bettman, and give Bettman the last half hour to take on his newfound love of criticizing MacLean’s broadcasting abilities and siding with the players.

This seems doable, doesn’t it?  It’ll never air in America, because we can’t even get the Don Cherry movie or that show where skaters and former NHLers do figure skating, but it’ll live on in YouTube fame forever, and that is all that really matters.