On May 14, when the league reported that CBC was averaging 1,860,000 viewers through the first two rounds of the playoffs, I couldn’t figure out why my calculations were only showing 1,835,000 over the same span of 37 telecasts. That is, until I discovered that the NHL and its broadcasting partners were presenting somewhat distorted numbers – in their favour of course – when issuing periodic updates about how “well” this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs have been doing in the television ratings department.
Take April 27 as an example. On this date, the public broadcaster issued a press release to announce that its round one average audience was 1,422,000. On average, CBC claimed that its Senators-Penguins series drew 2,000,000 per game, its Kings-Canucks matchup brought-in 2,031,000, its Avalanche-Sharks duel attracted 825,000, and its Bruins-Sabres tilt interested 736,000. But anyone bothering to take out a calculator and determine a weighted average for the four series (each of which lasted six games) would find that these numbers do not average 1,422,000 but, rather, 1,398,000. Even worse for CBC, the Senators-Penguins series really drew 1,965,000 viewers and not the rounded 2,000,000 figure, meaning that the public broadcaster’s true average audience for the first round was only 1,389,250 as opposed to the inflated 1,422,000. CBC’s generous arithmetic attributed an extra 32,750 viewers per game than were really watching. Over the entire 24-game sequence, this amounted to an aggregate audience overestimate of 786,000 – more than the average for the Bruins-Sabres series! No wonder the NHL reported a 1,860,000 average after two rounds as opposed to the 1,835,000 that I had calculated!
Fast forward exactly one month to May 27. This time, the NHL says that, through the first three rounds of the playoffs, CBC is averaging 1,950,000 viewers per game. Even if we take the inflated 1,860,000 figure as an accurate starting point after two rounds, the NHL’s numbers are still over the top. CBC’s third round coverage consisted of the entire Eastern Final, which drew an average of 2,673,000 over five games, and one game in the Western Final, which drew 1,257,000. Weighted with the 1,860,000 figure after two rounds (37 telecasts), these numbers only produce an average of 1,940,535 after three rounds (43 telecasts) – not 1,950,000. But, of course, the 1,860,000 figure was an over-estimate to begin with – using the real figure of 1,835,000 after two rounds would yield an average of 1,919,023. Again, this represents more than an “extra” 30,000 viewers per game.
The NHL and its broadcasting partners should be ashamed of themselves for publishing these twisted figures. Journalists should equally hang their heads for not having enough integrity to get out a calculator and verify a few numbers.
TONIGHT’S GAMES
No games scheduled
Showing posts with label San Jose Sharks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Jose Sharks. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Third Round Statistics
Unlike earlier rounds in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the third round of the spring tournament contained no barrage of network press releases announcing record audience after record audience. So it’s not that surprising that viewership numbers from the most recent round were unable to keep up with the pace set by its predecessor:
RDS continued to lead the pack with a 0.556 Audience per Household (“APH”) figure for the specialty channel’s coverage of the Canadiens-Flyers series. But the channel’s 1,667,000 average audience for the series was unable to beat the 1,746,000 average and 0.582 APH that was recorded during the preceding Canadiens-Penguins matchup. Likewise, CBC’s 0.206 APH and 2,673,000 average audience for the Canadiens-Flyers fell short of the 0.211 APH and 2,747,000 eyeballs for the Canadiens-Penguins. With the series involving the Flyers lasting only five games compared to the dramatic seven game affair with the Penguins, it’s not surprising that viewership wasn’t at quite the same level. Throw in the fact that Philadelphia doesn’t have the same marketing power of a Sidney Crosby, and both RDS and CBC should be relatively pleased with their numbers for this third round series. Nonetheless, both networks must be wondering what could have been if the Canadiens had prevailed and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
Now the other third round series was a little strange from a number of perspectives. First, the Blackhawks-Sharks tilt was split between two Canadian networks, with TSN providing coverage of the first three games and CBC televising the balance of the series. Second, the series involved games at wildly different times, with the first contest being played on a Sunday afternoon, the second on a late night Tuesday, the third on a primetime Friday, and the fourth on a Sunday afternoon again. Finally, the series was a four game sweep, meaning that only one of the games was played in the traditional prime time slot. All of this, not surprisingly, meant lower ratings than would have otherwise been possible. The joint effort between TSN and CBC only earned a 0.129 APH and an average of 1,287,000 viewers – behind every series in this year’s playoffs involving a Canadian team, including a trio of first round matchups.
Just like in the earlier rounds, afternoon games in the third round received less viewers than their evening counterparts, with the Blackhawks-Sharks experiencing a percentage decline in the single digits, while the Canadiens-Flyers saw a 24% drop:
The above “NBC Effect” table shows that, on average, a playoff game loses about 15% of its audience when it gets moved to daylight hours for the American broadcaster. It’s a good thing for CBC and RDS that each game of the Stanley Cup Final is an evening start.
THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES:
Tonight
Blackhawks at Flyers - Game 4, 8 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Saturday
No games scheduled
Sunday
Flyers at Blackhawks - Game 5, 8 p.m. (NBC)/(CBC)/(RDS)
RDS continued to lead the pack with a 0.556 Audience per Household (“APH”) figure for the specialty channel’s coverage of the Canadiens-Flyers series. But the channel’s 1,667,000 average audience for the series was unable to beat the 1,746,000 average and 0.582 APH that was recorded during the preceding Canadiens-Penguins matchup. Likewise, CBC’s 0.206 APH and 2,673,000 average audience for the Canadiens-Flyers fell short of the 0.211 APH and 2,747,000 eyeballs for the Canadiens-Penguins. With the series involving the Flyers lasting only five games compared to the dramatic seven game affair with the Penguins, it’s not surprising that viewership wasn’t at quite the same level. Throw in the fact that Philadelphia doesn’t have the same marketing power of a Sidney Crosby, and both RDS and CBC should be relatively pleased with their numbers for this third round series. Nonetheless, both networks must be wondering what could have been if the Canadiens had prevailed and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
Now the other third round series was a little strange from a number of perspectives. First, the Blackhawks-Sharks tilt was split between two Canadian networks, with TSN providing coverage of the first three games and CBC televising the balance of the series. Second, the series involved games at wildly different times, with the first contest being played on a Sunday afternoon, the second on a late night Tuesday, the third on a primetime Friday, and the fourth on a Sunday afternoon again. Finally, the series was a four game sweep, meaning that only one of the games was played in the traditional prime time slot. All of this, not surprisingly, meant lower ratings than would have otherwise been possible. The joint effort between TSN and CBC only earned a 0.129 APH and an average of 1,287,000 viewers – behind every series in this year’s playoffs involving a Canadian team, including a trio of first round matchups.
Just like in the earlier rounds, afternoon games in the third round received less viewers than their evening counterparts, with the Blackhawks-Sharks experiencing a percentage decline in the single digits, while the Canadiens-Flyers saw a 24% drop:
The above “NBC Effect” table shows that, on average, a playoff game loses about 15% of its audience when it gets moved to daylight hours for the American broadcaster. It’s a good thing for CBC and RDS that each game of the Stanley Cup Final is an evening start.
THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES:
Tonight
Blackhawks at Flyers - Game 4, 8 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Saturday
No games scheduled
Sunday
Flyers at Blackhawks - Game 5, 8 p.m. (NBC)/(CBC)/(RDS)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Disjointed Third Round
Of the three rounds played so far in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the third round has been, by far, the most awkward for viewers and broadcasters – particularly in regards to the Blackhawks-Sharks Western Final. The series lasted the minimum four games but managed to rotate between three different broadcasters and three different start times, of which only one was in prime time. The complete audience ratings haven’t been disseminated yet, but it’s a good bet the numbers will be all over the place.
In terms of broadcasters, TSN had the rights to the first three games of the series and the specialty channel announced that it would use Chris Cuthbert and Pierre McGuire to call the action. But this wasn’t entirely accurate because NBC televised the first game in the U.S. and, for whatever reason, whenever NBC televises a game for which TSN holds the Canadian rights, TSN uses the NBC feed. So viewers in Canada got NBC’s Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk for game one, TSN’s Chris Cuthbert and Pierre McGuire for games two and three, and then the series shifted to CBC where Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson called the action for game four. Hughson and Simpson would have continued to work the remainder of the series had it not been a sweep but, with the Blackhawks winning in four straight games, the top duo at Hockey Night in Canada was limited to calling only one game in the third round – and it was an afternoon contest to boot - not exactly a ratings bonanza for CBC.
Speaking of afternoon contests, the Blackhawks-Sharks series had two of them. In fact, the series comprised more afternoon games than prime time telecasts: Game one was on a Sunday afternoon (not good for TSN's ratings), game two a late night Tuesday (not good for TSN's ratings), game three a prime time Friday (much better for TSN's ratings), and game four back to a Sunday afternoon (back to poor ratings - this time for CBC). Throw in another afternoon contest for game four of the Canadiens-Flyers series (again, bad for CBC), juxtaposed against prime time starts for its other four contests (much better for CBC), and everyone had to have been scratching their heads as to why there wasn’t more consistency with start times. In all fairness to the NHL, the remainder of the third round was all scheduled to be played in prime time and promised to deliver a string of large audiences – the only problem was that both series were over too quickly for any of these games to actually get played. And so, don’t be surprised if the ratings we see in a few days aren’t quite as strong as those to which we have grown accustom - they certainly won't be consistent.
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No games scheduled
In terms of broadcasters, TSN had the rights to the first three games of the series and the specialty channel announced that it would use Chris Cuthbert and Pierre McGuire to call the action. But this wasn’t entirely accurate because NBC televised the first game in the U.S. and, for whatever reason, whenever NBC televises a game for which TSN holds the Canadian rights, TSN uses the NBC feed. So viewers in Canada got NBC’s Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk for game one, TSN’s Chris Cuthbert and Pierre McGuire for games two and three, and then the series shifted to CBC where Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson called the action for game four. Hughson and Simpson would have continued to work the remainder of the series had it not been a sweep but, with the Blackhawks winning in four straight games, the top duo at Hockey Night in Canada was limited to calling only one game in the third round – and it was an afternoon contest to boot - not exactly a ratings bonanza for CBC.
Speaking of afternoon contests, the Blackhawks-Sharks series had two of them. In fact, the series comprised more afternoon games than prime time telecasts: Game one was on a Sunday afternoon (not good for TSN's ratings), game two a late night Tuesday (not good for TSN's ratings), game three a prime time Friday (much better for TSN's ratings), and game four back to a Sunday afternoon (back to poor ratings - this time for CBC). Throw in another afternoon contest for game four of the Canadiens-Flyers series (again, bad for CBC), juxtaposed against prime time starts for its other four contests (much better for CBC), and everyone had to have been scratching their heads as to why there wasn’t more consistency with start times. In all fairness to the NHL, the remainder of the third round was all scheduled to be played in prime time and promised to deliver a string of large audiences – the only problem was that both series were over too quickly for any of these games to actually get played. And so, don’t be surprised if the ratings we see in a few days aren’t quite as strong as those to which we have grown accustom - they certainly won't be consistent.
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No games scheduled
Friday, May 21, 2010
Last Hurrah for TSN
After more than a month of furious action on TSN, the curtain closes tonight on the specialty channel’s coverage of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs with game three of the third round Blackhawks-Sharks series from Chicago. This spring has seen the network establish a number of hockey milestones and, even though luck sometimes played a part, those involved with the station should give themselves a pat on the back for a job well done. In chronological order, the network can report these impressive numbers:
- TSN’s coverage of the first round Canadiens-Capital series ranks as the most-watched playoff series ever on the specialty channel with an average audience of 1.8 million viewers over seven games. Game two of this series earned TSN its highest NHL playoff audience ever at 2.1 million viewers . . . that is until this figure was surpassed in game seven of the same series with an audience of 2.8 million.
- The network ranked first, fourth, fifth, and seventh in APH ratings in the first round, despite the fact that TSN selected its series in the third, fifth, seventh, and eighth draft spots.
- The specialty channel’s game seven coverage of the second round Flyers-Bruins series earned the network its highest audience ever recorded for a game not involving a Canadian-based team at 2.1 million.
- TSN’s game one coverage of the third round Blackhawks-Sharks series, which drew an audience of 1.225 million (not including NBC viewers), earned the highest APH for any afternoon game played throughout this year’s playoffs at 0.136 – beating even CBC’s game two afternoon coverage of the Canadiens-Penguins series (again, not including NBC viewers).
The most telling milestone from above was the second bullet point – even though the network selected its first round series from a position of weakness in comparison to rival CBC, the specialty channel was rank ahead of the public broadcaster in many of the APH ratings. In fact, after removing the three first round series in which Canadian teams participated, TSN ranked first, second, and fourth for the remaining all-American matchups with CBC placing third and fifth. So, whereas CBC will always benefit from its near-stranglehold on Canadian teams in the playoffs, viewers appear to prefer TSN when the playing field is levelled and Canadian content is no longer part of the equation. This either means that (a) TSN does a better job than CBC in selecting the all-American series, thereby attracting more viewers than CBC, and/or (b) TSN delivers a better overall broadcast than CBC, thereby attracting more viewers than the public broadcaster. Either way, the NHL on TSN team deserves the credit.
THIS WEEKEND’S GAMES:
Tonight
Sharks at Blackhawks - Game 3, 8 p.m. (TSN)/(RDS)
Saturday
Flyers at Canadiens - Game 4, 3 p.m. (NBC)/(CBC)/(RDS)
Sunday
Sharks at Blackhawks - Game 4, 3 p.m. (NBC)/(CBC)/(RDS)
Monday (Victoria Day)
Canadiens at Flyers - Game 5, 7 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Monday, May 17, 2010
Third Round Confirmations
So the third round got underway yesterday and, as expected, broadcasting executives and NHL schedule makers didn’t really throw fans any curve balls (pardon the baseball pun). As anticipated, NBC elected to go with the all-American matchup between San Jose and Chicago twice but was also forced to reluctantly accept one game between Montreal and Philadelphia. CBC, for its part, is covering the entire Canadiens-Flyers series and, as I forecasted, is opting to go with Bob Cole in the booth. As for Jim Hughson, he will work the Sharks-Blackhawks series beginning with game four, after TSN concludes its coverage of the first three games. Now that TSN doesn’t have multiple series to cover, Chris Cuthbert will work alongside Pierre McGuire for the specialty channel’s remaining broadcasts – which just goes to confirm my much earlier belief that it should have been Cuthbert as the network’s top play-by-play man, and not Gord Miller, calling the Canadiens-Capitals in the first round.
The Montreal Canadiens have heavily impacted TSN’s playoff coverage this year. In the first round, it was the presence of the Canadiens on TSN that gave the specialty channel its highest hockey ratings in the network’s history. But the continued presence of the Canadiens – now on CBC – has since had the opposite effect for TSN. The specialty channel has not yet released its ratings for the second round, but one can only imagine that they won’t come close to what CBC has been reporting: A whopping 4.239 million watched game seven between the Canadiens-Penguins on CBC alone, with another 2.417 million watching on French-language RDS – that means there weren’t too many people left to watch game six between the Flyers-Bruins on TSN, which aired at the same time as game seven of the Canadiens-Penguins series on the other networks.
And the news doesn’t get better for TSN. The Canadiens are still alive in the third round and will still continue to rack-up ratings for TSN’s competitors. Even more frustrating for the specialty channel, two of the three games it does get to broadcast in the third round start at non-peak times – a Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock and a Tuesday night beginning afterhours at 10 o’clock. CBC, on the other hand, will have the Canadiens at 7 o’clock each night – except for Saturday, when the game will be played in the afternoon to accommodate U.S. television. Notwithstanding the bad foot on which the playoffs started for CBC, the public broadcaster has to be pretty happy with how things have since turned around.
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No games scheduled
The Montreal Canadiens have heavily impacted TSN’s playoff coverage this year. In the first round, it was the presence of the Canadiens on TSN that gave the specialty channel its highest hockey ratings in the network’s history. But the continued presence of the Canadiens – now on CBC – has since had the opposite effect for TSN. The specialty channel has not yet released its ratings for the second round, but one can only imagine that they won’t come close to what CBC has been reporting: A whopping 4.239 million watched game seven between the Canadiens-Penguins on CBC alone, with another 2.417 million watching on French-language RDS – that means there weren’t too many people left to watch game six between the Flyers-Bruins on TSN, which aired at the same time as game seven of the Canadiens-Penguins series on the other networks.
And the news doesn’t get better for TSN. The Canadiens are still alive in the third round and will still continue to rack-up ratings for TSN’s competitors. Even more frustrating for the specialty channel, two of the three games it does get to broadcast in the third round start at non-peak times – a Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock and a Tuesday night beginning afterhours at 10 o’clock. CBC, on the other hand, will have the Canadiens at 7 o’clock each night – except for Saturday, when the game will be played in the afternoon to accommodate U.S. television. Notwithstanding the bad foot on which the playoffs started for CBC, the public broadcaster has to be pretty happy with how things have since turned around.
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No games scheduled
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Fog Clears on Third Round
Last night’s stunning Canadiens victory in game seven over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins confirms the third of four participants in the next round of the playoffs. Although the NHL schedule makers will have to wait until Friday night’s game seven between Philadelphia and Boston before publishing the dates and start times for the third round games, we already have a pretty good idea of what the schedule will look like and what the implications will be for the various broadcasters.
Obviously, CBC will be showing the entire Canadiens series – regardless which team they face – and the ratings promise to be huge. However, because game 7 of the Flyers-Bruins series goes Friday night, the eventual winner of that tilt will not be able to begin the next series against Montreal until at least Sunday, meaning CBC won’t get the Habs for the traditional Saturday night timeslot. The other series between Chicago and San Jose – which will be split between CBC and TSN – also can’t get underway until at least Sunday because the San Jose arena has a prior commitment on Saturday. Thus, there will be no Saturday night hockey this weekend.
NBC resumes its playoff coverage on Sunday afternoon after a long hiatus and then continues coverage the following weekend with games on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. So, unless the NHL schedules the Blackhawks-Sharks on back-to-back afternoons (which is highly unlikely given the travel distance between the two cities), there won’t be any Saturday night hockey next weekend either. Of the three NBC telecasts, the U.S. network will probably have to take the Canadiens series at least once because of the back-to-back phenomenon, meaning that CBC will have to cope with a minimum of one afternoon game for the marquee series.
It could go either way – but look for Bob Cole to call the Canadiens series for the public broadcaster with Jim Hughson working the Blackhawks-Sharks. Cole, who rarely travels to the west coast, has done a great job covering the Canadiens – particularly the games in Montreal – and it would certainly make financial sense for him to stay out east, given that he lives in Newfoundland. Jim Hughson calls British Columbia home – only a short distance from San Jose.
Meanwhile, before TSN gets to its limited third round coverage, it has the privilege of televising game seven between the Flyers and Bruins. With the Flyers looking to win the series after trailing 3-0, the specialty network may very well be in for another ratings bonanza . . . but nothing like what the network's sister station RDS is going to attract for the Canadiens third round presence.
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No games scheduled
Obviously, CBC will be showing the entire Canadiens series – regardless which team they face – and the ratings promise to be huge. However, because game 7 of the Flyers-Bruins series goes Friday night, the eventual winner of that tilt will not be able to begin the next series against Montreal until at least Sunday, meaning CBC won’t get the Habs for the traditional Saturday night timeslot. The other series between Chicago and San Jose – which will be split between CBC and TSN – also can’t get underway until at least Sunday because the San Jose arena has a prior commitment on Saturday. Thus, there will be no Saturday night hockey this weekend.
NBC resumes its playoff coverage on Sunday afternoon after a long hiatus and then continues coverage the following weekend with games on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. So, unless the NHL schedules the Blackhawks-Sharks on back-to-back afternoons (which is highly unlikely given the travel distance between the two cities), there won’t be any Saturday night hockey next weekend either. Of the three NBC telecasts, the U.S. network will probably have to take the Canadiens series at least once because of the back-to-back phenomenon, meaning that CBC will have to cope with a minimum of one afternoon game for the marquee series.
It could go either way – but look for Bob Cole to call the Canadiens series for the public broadcaster with Jim Hughson working the Blackhawks-Sharks. Cole, who rarely travels to the west coast, has done a great job covering the Canadiens – particularly the games in Montreal – and it would certainly make financial sense for him to stay out east, given that he lives in Newfoundland. Jim Hughson calls British Columbia home – only a short distance from San Jose.
Meanwhile, before TSN gets to its limited third round coverage, it has the privilege of televising game seven between the Flyers and Bruins. With the Flyers looking to win the series after trailing 3-0, the specialty network may very well be in for another ratings bonanza . . . but nothing like what the network's sister station RDS is going to attract for the Canadiens third round presence.
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No games scheduled
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Networks Hold Their Breath
Will Canadian television see the return of the Jets next season? Will CBC get Canadian content in the third round of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs? Will TSN get any content? Will NBC be shutout from its marquee player? Answers to these and other questions could begin to appear as early as tonight.
On the ice, the Vancouver Canucks host Chicago in game six of their second round playoff series. A win by the Blackhawks would eliminate Vancouver and produce an all-American Western Conference Final between Chicago and San Jose. Under such a scenario, TSN would be contractually permitted to air a handful of third round games and NBC would have the luxury of not having a Canadian team drain ratings – at least for one series. But should the Canucks force and eventually win game seven, and should the Canadiens win the game seven they’ve already forced in their series against Pittsburgh, both Conference Finals would involve Canadian teams. Under this scenario, CBC would have exclusive coverage of both third round series, TSN’s playoff coverage would be over for the year, and NBC would have to choose between two series it doesn’t want – both absent of star players Sidney Crosby and previously eliminated Alex Ovechkin – before having to possibly consider the network’s worst nightmare: An all-Canadian Stanley Cup Final. This evening’s action will go a long way in determining if such a scenario could ultimately prevail.
But the action is not only limited to the rink. About 30 minutes after tonight’s opening faceoff between Chicago and Vancouver, another high drama event is scheduled to get underway in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. On the agenda at tonight’s city council meeting is the NHL’s demand that the municipality cover the Coyotes operating losses for next season. Should the city refuse, a likely albeit not guaranteed outcome, the stage would be set for the return of the Winnipeg Jets. Montreal and Vancouver may be the only Canadian teams still alive in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the biggest street party of all may be elsewhere in the Great White North.
Whatever the results of this year’s playoff bracket, both this country and its broadcasters have reason to be optimistic about the future.
TONIGHT'S GAME:
Blackhawks at Canucks - Game 6, 9:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
On the ice, the Vancouver Canucks host Chicago in game six of their second round playoff series. A win by the Blackhawks would eliminate Vancouver and produce an all-American Western Conference Final between Chicago and San Jose. Under such a scenario, TSN would be contractually permitted to air a handful of third round games and NBC would have the luxury of not having a Canadian team drain ratings – at least for one series. But should the Canucks force and eventually win game seven, and should the Canadiens win the game seven they’ve already forced in their series against Pittsburgh, both Conference Finals would involve Canadian teams. Under this scenario, CBC would have exclusive coverage of both third round series, TSN’s playoff coverage would be over for the year, and NBC would have to choose between two series it doesn’t want – both absent of star players Sidney Crosby and previously eliminated Alex Ovechkin – before having to possibly consider the network’s worst nightmare: An all-Canadian Stanley Cup Final. This evening’s action will go a long way in determining if such a scenario could ultimately prevail.
But the action is not only limited to the rink. About 30 minutes after tonight’s opening faceoff between Chicago and Vancouver, another high drama event is scheduled to get underway in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. On the agenda at tonight’s city council meeting is the NHL’s demand that the municipality cover the Coyotes operating losses for next season. Should the city refuse, a likely albeit not guaranteed outcome, the stage would be set for the return of the Winnipeg Jets. Montreal and Vancouver may be the only Canadian teams still alive in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the biggest street party of all may be elsewhere in the Great White North.
Whatever the results of this year’s playoff bracket, both this country and its broadcasters have reason to be optimistic about the future.
TONIGHT'S GAME:
Blackhawks at Canucks - Game 6, 9:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Better Not Be Late for Overtime
I’m admittedly not watching much of the Bruins-Sabres series, what with it running on CBC directly opposite the Canadiens-Capitals on TSN. But last night, with the Capitals defeating the Canadiens in regulation, I caught the Bruins-Sabres overtime periods. They were as good as overtime gets, with chances end-to-end, starting with a Sabres power play that did everything but score, immediately followed by a Bruins shorthanded breakaway. And it’s a good thing for CBC that the two goalies were up to the challenge, because the public broadcaster spent a little too much time on a Peter Mansbridge news update and missed the first 30 seconds of the first overtime period. Could you imagine how embarrassing it would have been for Hockey Night in Canada had the game been decided in those opening 30 seconds? Yikes!
Last night’s game notwithstanding, early goals in the extra frame are very much in vogue in this year’s playoffs. It only took Washington’s Niklas Backstrom 31 seconds to beat Montreal’s Jaroslav Halak in game two of the Canadiens-Capitals series last Saturday night, and Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly was credited with the overtime winner at the 51 second mark of game three of the Avalanche-Sharks series earlier this week. O’Reilly’s heroics were the result of San Jose’s Dan Boyle trying to backhand the puck behind his own goal, only to have it deflect off O’Reilly’s body and into the net. You can’t get a more unlucky bounce in overtime . . . unless, of course, you’re the network executive who decided to stay with a news update for an extra minute and missed the whole thing.
In hindsight, CBC was fortunate to have picked the right game in which to make such a significant timing blunder. But the network is playing with fire if it lets it happen again.
TONIGHT’S GAMES:
Flyers at Devils – Game 5, 7 p.m. (TSN)/(RIS)
Senators at Penguins – Game 5, 7 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Blackhawks at Predators – Game 4, 8:30 p.m. (TSN2)/(RIS – joined in progress)
Avalanche at Sharks – Game 5, 10:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Last night’s game notwithstanding, early goals in the extra frame are very much in vogue in this year’s playoffs. It only took Washington’s Niklas Backstrom 31 seconds to beat Montreal’s Jaroslav Halak in game two of the Canadiens-Capitals series last Saturday night, and Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly was credited with the overtime winner at the 51 second mark of game three of the Avalanche-Sharks series earlier this week. O’Reilly’s heroics were the result of San Jose’s Dan Boyle trying to backhand the puck behind his own goal, only to have it deflect off O’Reilly’s body and into the net. You can’t get a more unlucky bounce in overtime . . . unless, of course, you’re the network executive who decided to stay with a news update for an extra minute and missed the whole thing.
In hindsight, CBC was fortunate to have picked the right game in which to make such a significant timing blunder. But the network is playing with fire if it lets it happen again.
TONIGHT’S GAMES:
Flyers at Devils – Game 5, 7 p.m. (TSN)/(RIS)
Senators at Penguins – Game 5, 7 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Blackhawks at Predators – Game 4, 8:30 p.m. (TSN2)/(RIS – joined in progress)
Avalanche at Sharks – Game 5, 10:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
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