Guess who's stopped caring about the NHL? That's right, VERSUS.
Remember all that great programming VERSUS used to air before and after NHL playoff games last year? Like that awesome documentary show "Legends of Hockey." Boy that was interesting. I could watch that 35 times (based on how many times VERSUS re-ran it, I probably did) and not get bored with it. What else? There was that hilarious show "The Tournament." Kind of "The Office"-style comedy with hockey parents substituted for Dunder-Mifflinites. There was a show about Jordin Tootoo's upbringing, and Mark Messier running a leadership camp. All that stuff was so interesting. It not only enhanced the experience for the diehard like myself, the best part was that you could be a novice and learn so much about the sport, and then enjoy Stanley Cup Playoff hockey.
Well, that stuff is gone. VERSUS will be airing none of that during this year's NHL postseason, something a VERSUS PR rep even clarified for me. This is very fishy to me. I'm convinced that there are some issues between the league and the network. Even the NHL's inadequacy to put on a good TV product couldn't be keeping the NHL Network in the U.S. (You know, the one Comcast is contractually bound to bring us) from us. There's been no "official" announcement even made about the NHL and VERSUS's supposed renewal through next season. Everyone around the game who I talked to over the weekend agreed with me -- something is definitely not right in VERSUS-land.
If the relationship between network and league are rocky, ratings have never been better. Both Buffalo-Pittsburgh on Tuesday, March 13 and Pittsburgh-NY Rangers on March 19 set ratings records for a regular-season NHL telecasts on the network. While a 0.4 might not sound like much, those are essentially ESPN's averages for the NHL for its last three years broadcasting hockey. ESPN2's average was a 0.2, which has been VERSUS' NHL average this season. We aren't losing eyes on the television sets, we're just losing exposure to the casual fan. It took NHL fans a while, but they've found VERSUS. Let's see if they'll have to search again next year.
Super-zoomed in cameras are not the answer to the NHL's television problem. Just because we're getting closer to the ice with the angle does not give you a better view of the game, it worsens it. Watching New Jersey-Florida from Sunrise on Saturday, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Grinding along the boards was a mystery, a few goals were out of sight. Tell you what: Put the camera wherever you want, use the crowd noise at the games (especially this time of year) to put the casual fan in the arena. Putting the camera in the 10th row and zooming in is not the solution.
The NHL on NBC provides us with a chance to hear numerous substitute announcers, be it at the play-by-play spot or the analyst's role. Steve Goldstein is a pro already at the radio level, subbing for Dave Strader on Panthers broadcasts. Steve Cangalosi, usurping Doc Emrick's usual post, is nowhere near a pro. If you think Emrick overuses the word "Drive!"...well, you've never heard Cangalosi. According to him, everything is either a "drive," or a "sharp-angle shot." Former NHL defenseman Brent Severyn is a big improvement on Brian Hayward with the Ducks. It just goes to show you that with hockey announcers, it's completely random in terms of who's good and who isn't.
This Week in the NHL is a great listen for the hardcore hockey fan. New York Rangers TV voice Sam Rosen hosts a 40-minute (hour-long with commercials) look around hockey. He brings in every authority on the coolest game to help analyze what's going on around the sport. Bob McKenzie discusses rumors and hot-button issues. Doc Emrick does a weekly feature on the history of the game. Pierre McGuire and Darren Pang (OK, they can't all be winners) debate the week's biggest issues. Rangers PA announcer Joe Tolleson recaps the plays of the week. Everything you need to know about this great league can be heard on This Week in the NHL, on NHL.com, iTunes, or if your lucky enough, your local Westwood One station.
This is just another example of how hockey fans have had to learn to hunt for their coverage. In addition to "This Week," NBCSports.com has some great videos each week of its coverage. Ray Ferraro, Brett Hull, Pierre McGuire and Eddie Olczyk all do web-exclusive rants each week, and show off various features on NHL players. That's all in addition to their 30-minute web-only pregame show. VERSUS.com does a weekly review and a weekly preview that varies in quality, but is worth the five minutes it takes to watch. If you're still hungry for hockey, go to KuklasKorner.com's "Everything Hockey" section. It will take you to NHL websites, blogs for every team, podcasts, historical sites, and anything else you could ever need to know. Paul Kukla and his merry gang of bloggers again show why, in comparison to the rest of the web, it's the hockey fan's only true online must-see.
-SFM-
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