Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Optimus Prime]

You’re about to be treated to an explosive spectacle, Pens v. Flyers will be special although I'd rather see them meet in the 2nd or 3rd round.
Van v. LA will be good as well and Nashville v. Detroit promises not to disappoint.

Canucks finished first overall and earn the Presidents' Trophy however 3 of the last 6 recipients have been bounced in the first round.

New York Rangers limped in to the playoffs riding a 3 game losing streak, Lunqvist has 3 severely bruised fingers and is unable to hold his stick, look for Ottawa to bounce these clowns in an upset, Tortorella knows it, even took a 20K fine while throwing the kitchen sink. Going 6-4 over the last 10 games smells like an upset to me.

[lineygoblue]

I think the Wings are done. Nashville in 7.

[Tony G]

Wings take it in 6 but are knocked out in the next round 4-0

[Optimus Prime]

Back to the battle of Pennsylvania....prelude, yesterday last game of the season for both teams. There was only one fight -- Harry Zolnierczyk of the Flyers went after Vitale, presumably because of his hit on Briere, and was pummeled for his trouble....We haven't seen a "dago beatdown" like this since the Godfather!

BTW "Dirty Harry" Zolnierczyk was busted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for his role in the production and distribution of a pornographic video involving an underage girl in 2007.

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[Mike]

I'm not very bullish on the Wings' chances against the Preds. We may be about to witness the changing of the guard in the Central as Detroit is surpassed by Nashville and St. Louis. I actually expected this to happen years ago after Yzerman retired and the salary cap went into effect. We got another 6 years or so of really good hockey but that level of dominance can't be sustained forever. It's why 2009 meant so much to me. That was the last hoorah and I knew it at the time.

[Hannibal]

It looks like the NHL has adopted the NCAA basketball tournament approach and is putting all of the games on channels that you can get without buying Center Ice.

[Optimus Prime]

Don't really see the value in buying it. The feeds are from local broadcasts, poorly produced and the commentators usually know very little or nothing about hockey. Often they head off on meaningless tangents and it seems at times can't wait for the game to end.

So in reality, you mute the broadcast and watch an analog or digital picture that is NOT broadcast in High Def so you end up with a pale square floating on your 65 inch HDTV, it is insulting.

[Hannibal]

Most if not all of the Center Ice games are in HD nowadays.

There are a handful of local announcing pairs around the league that are as good as or better than the national guys in the USA. Versus actually has a few really good crews. Unlike ESPN, they lift their crews from the local markets instead of just plucking the next in line guy off of Sportscenter to do play-by-play that he has absolutely no business doing.

[Optimus Prime]

No Comcast Miami, no HD, had it last year, demanded a refund. Versus is good but you can't beat CTV or CBC in Canada. Often, you will get US broadcasters picking up the Canadian feed, which is always the case for World Jr. Tournament. In fact the local Florida Panthers' games are broadcast via the SunShine Network here and are not in HD, really sucks.

[Mike]

It looks like the NHL has adopted the NCAA basketball tournament approach and is putting all of the games on channels that you can get without buying Center Ice.

What do you mean? The games are either on NBC Sports, CNBC, or regular NBC. I love the new setup. Every game of the playoffs will be available with the exception of a couple that are on NHL Network which I don't get on Time Warner. I do have an HD channel for CNBC too so I'm all set.

OP, I have the same problem with the MLB package. I was all set to get it last year then I watched the free preview and none of the games were in HD. I called up Time Warner and the chick said HD isn't available in all areas. WTF? I don't live in rural Idaho. Speaking of how fucked SD sports is, the Padres don't even have a local TV contract. Their old one expired last year and Fox launched a Fox Sports San Diego channel that NOBODY gets. The entire opening weekend wasn't on TV locally and it was blacked out on MLB Extra Innings because it's supposed to be on locally. LOL. Good thing I'm not a Pads fan.

[Hannibal]

Every NCAA tourney game is available without a pay package now. I think that it's the right move. I have long suspected that it is a false economy to make a small hardcore group of people pay for something while sacrificing all of that exposure.

[Hannibal]

Oh, and you dudes need to get DirecTV like yesterday.

[Mike]

Oops. I read your original post wrong. I thought you said "can't" get without buying Center Ice. ITA the new broadcast schedule is great.

[Paul L]

Oh, and you dudes need to get DirecTV like yesterday.

And pay $100+/month sans premium channels? Done with that garbage.

[Optimus Prime]

This dude had Direct TV, it rains so hard in south Florida that my signal kept getting disrupted with cascading for extending periods of time, besides Comcast broadband high-speed can't be matched....I do loathe them all.