NHL on Versus
As (judging from the ratings) very few of you have noticed, the NHL's national cable contract is through something called "Versus"- the network formerly known as "OLN" or "Outdoor Life Network." Besides hockey, they have the Tour de France, bull riding, and shows where people get involved in horrible crashes filmed on blurry amatuer videotape. It's not exactly Tiffany's of TV stations. Buuuuuuut, they do a pretty good job with hockey- it's nice to know it's on every Monday and Tuesday, they have post-game and pre-game shows, some decent hockey people doing the games, and the production values have gotten better and better. However, their game selection can be frustrating at times.
Tonight for example, which game is on? Chicago "versus" (hence the name) St. Louis. Chicago is 16-7-5 (37 points) St. Louis is 12-19-7 (31 points). Neither team has a big-name star, young up and comer, and they rank (out of 30 teams) 26th (Chicago) and 30th (St. Louis) in offense. They also share in common the fact that both teams have already fired their coaches to try and turn around what would be yet another lost season. Ok, so these teams stink- maybe they were stuck, and there wasn't a better game in that slot? Not so much.
I'll be watching (bless you, NHL Center Ice package) Anaheim (26-7-8 for 62 points) at Detroit (24-9-5 for 53 points) instead. Anaheim is first in points and first in offense (led by sure Hall of Famers Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne) in the Conference- Detroit is third in points and fifth in offense while they have given up the fewest goals in the league (thanks to HOF goalie Dominink Hasek and stalwart defenseman Chris Chelios.) Detroit is 13-3-3 at home, Anaheim 13-5-2 on the road. Something has to give there. Plus, it is Steve Yzerman night, where the Red Wings are retiring the sweater of their long-time captain, one of the leagues all-time greats, both on and off the ice. Pretty much if you don't like this game, you don't like hockey. So why the awful Chicago-St. Louis game? I don't know, and I have not heard back from my e-mail to Versus yet, but I know it's not the best one to sell our beautiful game.
Tonight for example, which game is on? Chicago "versus" (hence the name) St. Louis. Chicago is 16-7-5 (37 points) St. Louis is 12-19-7 (31 points). Neither team has a big-name star, young up and comer, and they rank (out of 30 teams) 26th (Chicago) and 30th (St. Louis) in offense. They also share in common the fact that both teams have already fired their coaches to try and turn around what would be yet another lost season. Ok, so these teams stink- maybe they were stuck, and there wasn't a better game in that slot? Not so much.
I'll be watching (bless you, NHL Center Ice package) Anaheim (26-7-8 for 62 points) at Detroit (24-9-5 for 53 points) instead. Anaheim is first in points and first in offense (led by sure Hall of Famers Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne) in the Conference- Detroit is third in points and fifth in offense while they have given up the fewest goals in the league (thanks to HOF goalie Dominink Hasek and stalwart defenseman Chris Chelios.) Detroit is 13-3-3 at home, Anaheim 13-5-2 on the road. Something has to give there. Plus, it is Steve Yzerman night, where the Red Wings are retiring the sweater of their long-time captain, one of the leagues all-time greats, both on and off the ice. Pretty much if you don't like this game, you don't like hockey. So why the awful Chicago-St. Louis game? I don't know, and I have not heard back from my e-mail to Versus yet, but I know it's not the best one to sell our beautiful game.
posted by Scott L. Stuart at
3:55 PM
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