The NHL is in line for some thrillers over the next two days. They have Sydney Alexander Crosby vs. Ovechkin game 7 tonight. They get the storied Detroit Red Wings in Hockey town in Game 7 on Thursday Night. They get the resurgent #1 seed Boston Bruins in Game 7 on Thursday night. Everything is great in Hockeyland, how could they mess anything up. Oh but of course NHL & Versus can. How? Look at Thursday nights schedule.
You might be thinking "Oh look Versus is carrying both the Red Wings vs. Anaheim Ducks game and the Bruins vs. the Carolina Hurricanes game. The Nation will get to see two great hockey games, everything is great." But take another look, notice something about the timing of these games. Yep, they're only an hour a part. That means that if you really want to watch the Bruins game and not the Red Wings game than unless you get NESN, there will be no soup for you until the Red Wings game is over. In the best case scenario if you're a Bruin or Cane fan outside of the local market you will only miss a period and a half. In the worst case scenario, the Red Wings game could go into several overtimes and you could theoretically not see one second of live action of a game 7.
Why would you schedule two game that close together? Does the NHL purposely want to piss off people that want to watch their game, ie me? Over the past few games the Celtics and Bruins have played at the same time, each time I've opted to spend the bulk of my viewership on the hockey rather than the basketball. Now, I won't even have that option and who knows if by the time 9pm rolls around I even remember to turn on Versus when the Celtics wraps up.
I can understand the desire to not have the Bruins and Celtics games both start at 7 pm but you have two game 7s. Game 7 is by far the best thing hockey can offer and instead of staggering them so that both games can be watched in their entirety you decide that only deserves secondary status. Decisions like this are what continue to put hockey on the back burner of America's sports landscape.
You might be thinking "Oh look Versus is carrying both the Red Wings vs. Anaheim Ducks game and the Bruins vs. the Carolina Hurricanes game. The Nation will get to see two great hockey games, everything is great." But take another look, notice something about the timing of these games. Yep, they're only an hour a part. That means that if you really want to watch the Bruins game and not the Red Wings game than unless you get NESN, there will be no soup for you until the Red Wings game is over. In the best case scenario if you're a Bruin or Cane fan outside of the local market you will only miss a period and a half. In the worst case scenario, the Red Wings game could go into several overtimes and you could theoretically not see one second of live action of a game 7.
Why would you schedule two game that close together? Does the NHL purposely want to piss off people that want to watch their game, ie me? Over the past few games the Celtics and Bruins have played at the same time, each time I've opted to spend the bulk of my viewership on the hockey rather than the basketball. Now, I won't even have that option and who knows if by the time 9pm rolls around I even remember to turn on Versus when the Celtics wraps up.
I can understand the desire to not have the Bruins and Celtics games both start at 7 pm but you have two game 7s. Game 7 is by far the best thing hockey can offer and instead of staggering them so that both games can be watched in their entirety you decide that only deserves secondary status. Decisions like this are what continue to put hockey on the back burner of America's sports landscape.
Comments
Playoff hockey in Hi-Def is pretty much the most entertaining sport you can watch.