Saturday night, as the New Jersey Devils took on the San Jose Sharks, the sellout crowd of 17,000 and change saw the Devils, as is customary in hockey, wait behind their net for players to change so they could develop a play. This is quite boring, so the 17,000 decided to boo them soundly every time while their Sharks failed to forecheck. It flabbergasted announcers Mike "Doc" Emrick and Glenn "Chico" Resch, but I say 'go ahead.' It's like in baseball, when a pitcher keeps throwing back to first. It's something you have to do, but so what? If we find it boring, I say jeer it all you want. Because of their raucous and devoted fans, San Jose is quickly turning into a very valuable market for the NHL. A Stanley Cup in the 4th largest TV market in the U.S. (that is, if they can unite the entire bay area) would certainly look good in the papers.
Brett Hull is joining The NHL On NBC when it returns January 6th. He will be a studio analyst. This is a smart move by the Peacock and should make for good TV if they don't limit him to gliding around the rink at 30 Rock. NBC better be smart, and let Hull say whatever he wants. He's a natural for TV -- just watch this commercial of him promoting Mike Modano's All-Star Campaign.
Why is everyone so damn excited about the Boston Bruins all of a sudden? Last I checked, they still reside at the bottom of the Northeast Division. If you head to Versus.com and watch their Week in Review (an internet exclusive and reason No. 1,430 why Versus' NHL Coverage trumps ESPN's) you would think, from what Brian Engblom is saying, they had risen to the top of the East. Same with the other team he features in the Calgary Flames. Let's talk about a team really rising up ... like, say, the first place New York Islanders? How about the unexpected Colorado Avalanche? But let's talk about two last place teams some more.
A great feature on Alexander Ovechkin in this week's Washington Post Magazine. It documents his childhood growing up in Moscow, and talks about his rise to fame in the NHL. This is exactly the type of thing that is needed to promote the game. Talk about these people who play the game. Because that's who they are. They're not mega millionaires who clamor for attention. They're mega millionaires who have stayed humble even through fame.
The Eastern Conference, for a second straight year, is dominating the NHL points race in the early going. Out of the Top 20 scorers in the league, the first 13 play in the East, and 17 of the Top 20 total. The top scorer from a team that doesn't play its home games in California comes all the way down to number 28 (Edmonton's Petr Sykora, 12-12-24). However, the adverse effect comes in when it comes to the goaltending categories. Thirteen of the Top 20 G.A.A leaders are from the West. And in cross-conference play? The West is 26-19-7 vs. the East. Which, realistically is 26-26. What am I trying to prove here? Things are pretty even in the NHL!
The fascination with black hockey players for the sake of them being black has to stop. FSN New York's Devils telecasts, usually one of the more credible ones in the league, shamelessly did it twice during the Devils' most recent western road trip. First it was Georges Laraque in Phoenix. OK, so Georgie's an enforcer, a fun guy to be around. Still, no player is worth spending an entire period talking about. Next, in the aforementioned San Jose-New Jersey game on Saturday, they must have cut to Mike Grier at least five times without any impetus to do so. I'm all for the NHL being diverse, but I'm also against the NHL pandering to a supposed minority audience which, to be frank, is almost nonexistent anyway.
If you're interested in fun hockey video, check out the video gallery at HockeyOK.IT, the official website for the various Italian hockey leagues.
-SFM-
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