Hockey Night Regains Its Shine

CBC did a solid job with last night’s telecast from Montreal. Unlike the earlier broadcasts in the series (particularly those from Pittsburgh), which were filled with awkward pauses, mispronounced names, and an overall sense of disjointedness, last night’s show brought CBC’s strong points to the forefront and transformed its weaker links into mere footnotes.

Part of this had to do with luck, part with guts, and part with pure talent. On the lucky side, the network does its best with a fast game such as last night in which whistles are rarities. The quick pace means that there’s plenty of action to describe and analyst sidekicks Garry Galley and Glenn Healy have fewer opportunities to interrupt the flow. When they do add their two cents, the gap between comments usually means they’ve had enough time to prepare something intelligent. In terms of guts, both Glenn Healy and first intermission star Don Cherry were right on the mark for taking the officiating crew to the cleaners for inconsistent penalty calls throughout the game. And as far as sheer talent goes, last night was just another reminder that no one does a better job than play-by-play man Bob Cole when the game is on the line and the energy level through the roof (“It's out! IT – IS – OUT!!!”).

Time will only tell if CBC’s strong performance was an exception to the rule or a sign of things to come.

THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES:
Tonight
Bruins at Flyers - Game 4, 7 p.m. (TSN)/(RDS)
Blackhawks at Canucks - Game 4, 9:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Saturday
Canadiens at Penguins - Game 5, 7 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Red Wings at Sharks - Game 5, 10 p.m. (TSN)/(RDS)
Sunday
Canucks at Blackhawks - Game 5, 8 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)