The Appalling Lack Of Consistency Of The NHL's Discipline System

As I am sure you all know by now, Aaron Rome knocked out Nathan Horton in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, sending Horton to the hospital and Rome to the dressing room early. Horton's out for the series with a severe concussion. Rome is out for the series with a four-game suspension. On the surface, it may seem like a fair punishment and just desserts for Rome, who may have done permanent damage to Horton's playing career. But in Gary Bettman's NHL, unfortunately, this exposes a much deeper problem.

There is no doubt that Aaron Rome hit Nathan Horton way late. But what happens if the hit did not have that nasty result? Chances are Rome would just get a 2-minute interference penalty and it would never be spoken of again. While a counterfactual argument, it is at least worth a thought here. Remember the violent hit where Zdeno Chara sent Max Pacioretty into the stanchion? Remember how many games Chara got? Yep. Zero.

Bad hit. Awful result. Zero game suspension.

News That Is Sure To Surprise You: The NHL Favors NBC Over CBC

Stunning. I know. But it is quite clear that by what the NHL is doing on Saturday, they care much more about NBC and their American audience than CBC and hockey's Canadian audience, even though hockey is a much bigger sport in Canada than it is in the United States. So what has Garry Bettman done this time? Well....Hockey Night In Canada won't exactly be Hockey Night in Canada this Saturday. Instead, it will be Hockey Afternoon In Canada. From The Hockey News.

If there were ever any doubt the NHL has almost no regard for Canadians and the network that broadcasts games to them, let there be doubt no more. The league’s decision to cater to NBC by having Game 4 of the Montreal-Philadelphia Eastern Conference final at 3 p.m. Saturday is nothing short of an outrage.

You see, the Saturday night slot for Hockey Night in Canada is sacrosanct. The last time the league pulled this, in Game 2 of the first round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Canadiens, CBC lost 800,000 viewers. There are those at CBC who reckon that number will be up well over one million for this one. That’s because Canadiens aren’t hard-wired to watch hockey on a Saturday afternoon and, as it turns out, they won’t all watch it regardless of what time it’s on.

Nice, eh? The league gives priority times to a network that would probably draw about the same numbers as it would if it showed old strongman competitions or tractor pulls at the same time. Meanwhile, people in British Columbia get treated to Hockey Morning in Canada, all in the name of catering to American viewers. To add insult to injury, NBC had apparently originally planned to not air any of the games in Montreal during the playoffs, but has since backtracked on that decision.

And don’t think the people at the CBC aren’t incensed at how they’ve essentially been told by the NHL they’re second-class citizens. You’d think the NHL would realize the CBC recoups that $110 million it gives the league with ad revenues, but again, you’d be wrong. Cutting out that many viewers by putting the game on in the afternoon puts a serious dent in the rates CBC can charge advertisers, so it makes far less money. And if you think the NHL will make that up with increased revenues from advertisers on NBC, you’re dreaming.

And when it comes to league-wide hockey-related revenues, something that should get the league’s attention, just how many more $10 beers does the NHL think it’s going to sell by putting a game on at 3 p.m. as opposed to 7 p.m.?

When games are played in Montreal, traditionally Reseau des Sports gets first priority in terms of camera positioning, intermission guests and access to the teams. CBC is second and NBC is third. In all other Canadian cities, CBC gets top priority and in all American cities, top priority goes to NBC, with CBC second in the pecking order.

Some at CBC are anxious to see what the pecking order will be for Saturday’s game. Chances are, though, they’ll show up at the rink on Saturday to find out the league is rolling out a red carpet and hiring a marching band for NBC and they’ll have to be pleased with getting Ryan O’Byrne as an intermission guest.

I can't say I disagree with anything here. CBC has been partners with the NHL since the days of yore and they completely disregard them for a network that has proven countless times that it does not give two shits about hockey. But alas, that is Gary Bettman and his hard on for the United States. After all, since when has Gary Bettman ever cared about that huge island landmass northeast of the United States?

WE'RE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS!!!

I can't figure out what is a bigger crime. A shootout determined a playoff team or the Flyers nearly lost in regulation because of a goal from a guy with 2 girls names.

But it does not matter to me right now BECAUSE THE FLYERS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They may not have much of a future, but they have snowball's chance at glory in the present. Backs against the wall, they came through. Jody Shelley (still pissed off that he has the cruelest parents in the world) took out his anger, frustration, and years of being picked on out on the Flyers by once again scoring on us in the first period.

It was 1-0 Rangers then, but from that moment on, the Flyers flat-out outplayed them. Lundqvist was huge for the Rangers, but if you did not know better, the rest of the Ranger team was invisible because the Flyers proceeded to outplay the Rangers in every facet of the game.

They dominated every stat through 2 except the only one that mattered: the scoreboard. This was not a day for moral victories. This was win or go home. And the Flyers were not winning.

But then an amazing thing happened with about 10 seconds left in the period. The only Ranger forward that bothered to show up today (and coincidentally, the only Ranger forward wearing a tutu underneath his jersey) got hammered (no, I don't mean it like that, though that probably will happen as early as tonight in bed) into the boards by Jody Shelley. It was at that point where I would normally say "fuck you, Jody Shelley" but seeing as numerous straight guys who have seen his name online have already tried, it would have been a pointless exercise for me to say so.

The 3rd period started and I'm not going to lie. I did not think we had a chance. Henrik Lundqvist was standing on his head all game long. The last goalie to do that against us was Jaroslav Halak and that game resulted in a shutout win for the Habs. This looked like that game. The Flyers were just not going to be good enough tonight.

But then something amazing happened. Jeff Carter stole a pass on the power play. He gave it to Hartnell who attempted his 4354th cross-ice pass of the year. But unlike the other 4353, this one connected. Before you knew it, there was a puck in front of the net and Matt Carle was there to send it home and ultimately after a few more tense minutes of hockey, send the game to overtime.

A curious thing happened in overtime. The Rangers stalled. They did not want the game to end in overtime. They wanted what the rest of the hockey world dreaded: a shootout.

They had the advantage. After all, 10 times out of 10, who would you rather have in a shootout? One of the best regulation and shootout goalies in the league, or Brian "Don't Call Me Bobby" Boucher.

The Flyers took the early lead in the shootout, but in the bottom of the 2nd round, Parenteau tied it up. 1 round left. Tied at 1. We've seen this story before. This is where the Flyers choke. This story has played out before. The Flyers are not a good shootout team, the Rangers are. The Flyers last few weeks have been choking. The Rangers these last few weeks have been coming from behind and surging. This was merely a microcosm of that.

But then, something unprecedented happened. The Flyers broke the cycle.

More specifically, Claude Giroux and Brian Boucher broke the cycle.

First, Giroux skated in alone, deked, held up, fired, and sent it flying through a ginormous Lundqvist five-hole. Brian Boucher then stoned the last chance for the Rangers, represented by Olli Jokinen, and just like that it was over.

The Flyers are going to the playoffs.

I REPEAT, THE FLYERS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After outplaying them for 65 minutes of hockey, the Flyers proceeded to beat the Rangers at their own game in the shootout and they are the #7 seed in the 2010 NHL Playoffs. As a result of that and the Devils beating the Sabres, the Flyers will play the Devils in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. They met in a playoff series 10 years ago. I think we all remember how that one ended.

Anyway, it is at this point that I would say Jody Shelley can suck it, but once again, he's already done so numerous times. I would be wasting yet another sentence. So instead, I will just tell you that the schedule of games will be announced later tonight and thus, I will hopefully have that up by the end of the night, if they release it too late, then you can expect it sometime late tomorrow morning. But for now, here are the highlights of tonight's thriller.



GO FLYERS!!!!!

Gary Bettman's Email Revealed

Click on the image for larger. The hilarity is worth it.



(Hat tip: Down Goes Brown)

Pens/Wings Game 7 Was The Most Watched NHL Game In 36 YEARS!!!

Wow!!! I knew that the numbers for Friday night's hockey game was going to be high, perhaps the highest in quite some time, but I never imagined that we would be going back 36 years for this. Holy cow! From NHL.com

Friday night’s deciding Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on NBC Sports was the most-watched NHL game in 36 years (5/10/73, Stanley Cup Final Game 6 on NBC, Montreal-Chicago, 9.4 million) drawing an average of 8 million viewers. Overall, the series averaged 5.6 million viewers for the five games on NBC, the best since 2002 on ABC (three telecasts, Detroit-Carolina, 5.8 million average viewers).

Friday’s Game 7 earned a 4.3 rating and an 8 share, the best for a series-ending game in six years (6/9/03, Game 7, Anaheim-New Jersey, 4.6/8).

NBC Sports’ Game 7 finished No. 1 for the night in every category including viewership and household ratings.

Just incredible. And so much for the low ratings of having a Game 7 on a Friday and no one watching. Yeah, we were wrong. People watched this game. And just for comparison's sake, according to TVbythenumbers.com, Game 5 of the NBA Finals averaged 9.6 million viewers. And while that is higher, talk about a close gap between 2 sports where such a close gap should not exist. And to think that this game accomplished this feat on a Friday night without the constant promotion from ESPN. Good for hockey and good for the NHL. And it is nice to see that after the nightmare that was the Lockout a few years ago, hockey has rebounded and is now bigger, better, and stronger than ever. Given the same series, I don't think this could have happened in the late 90s and early 2000s before and the year or 2 following the lockout.

And wait, weren't people saying a few weeks ago that no one was going to watch this series because it was a re-match of last year's Stanley Cup??

Gary Bettman PWNS Us Again......Sort Of.

The night could have and should have been much better and I'm sure they would have been without the NBA interfering, but that being said, Tuesday night was the best night for hockey this season and for hockey, the numbers that NBC drew were staggering. From Puck the Media

Thanks to the Programming Insider, we now know that the NHL drew 5.45 Million Viewers and a 2.2 among Adults 18-49. That was #3 in total viewers and #2 for the night in the demo. The game peaked with a monster (for hockey) 6.96 Million Viewers and a 2.8/8 in the demo at 10PM. It was at it’s weakest in the 8PM half-hour with 4.53 Million Viewers and a 1.8 in the demo.

Overall, this probably shouldn’t ever happen again, and we hope NBC and the NHL have learned their lesson. But hockey fans should be proud that they stood up for their sport (or sat down on a couch for it) and drove the NHL to it’s highest ratings of the season.

Not bad......not bad at all. And this also does not take into account the people such as Mookie and RJBO and I'm sure many others who receive CBC and watch that broadcast instead of the NBC one. So all in all, while the numbers certainly do not compare with what the NBA drew which drew an 8.7/14, for hockey those numbers that they drew should be damn good and hockey fans (and maybe even Gary Bettman and NBC) should be proud of they accomplished.

And seeing as this will likely be the last post until the live blog tonight, I would just like to remind you that there will be a live blog tonight of Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Come ready and don't forget to bring the funny!

NHL Playoffs Day 43 And NBA Playoffs Day 41 Live Blog (Where Gary Bettman is Sitting At Home Getting Drunk And Wearing A Crosby Jersey)

Tonight's games......

Game 6: Detroit @ Pittsburgh 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Game 3: Los Angeles @ Orlando 9:00 (ABC - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Enjoy the game and leave comments in the blog below. That is unless you're a troll named Nathan and/or a sports reporter from Pittsburgh and/or Orlando and/or you're Tyler and/or Tom and/or one of his other 4,390,901 aliases Nathan Brice employs to try to shut down blogs.

Gary Bettman And The NHL 1, Everyone Who Made Fun Of Him For Putting Game 4 On The Same Day As NBA 0

(Ed note: Sorry for getting this up late to you. I had nothing prepared Sunday night and after a long day of work yesterday, I decided I would just take the day off from blogging yesterday.)

So maybe Gary Bettman was not as dumb as we think. If you recall a while back I said that Game 3 of this year's Stanley Cup Finals was the highest rated program on Versus ever. Well that is no longer the case. That honor now belongs to Game 4 of this year's Stanley Cup Finals. Yes, the same Game 4 that was held on the same day of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Yes, it actually garnered more viewers than Game 3 of the Stanley Cup which had no basketball running up against it. From a Versus Press Release via Puck The Media.

VERSUS, the exclusive cable television home of the National Hockey League (NHL), garnered a 2.8 national HH rating and averaged 3,448,431 viewers for its Game 4 telecast of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final on Thursday, June 4, when the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings at Mellon Arena to even the series 2-2. The game, which peaked at a 3.4 HH rating between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m., was the highest-rated and most-watched Stanley Cup Final game on cable since 2002. VERSUS, for the 8:00-10:45 p.m. time period, was the top-rated cable network in the country among all key male demos.

VERSUS’ coverage of Game 4 was highest-rated and most-watched telecast ever in network history, beating the previous high set just two days earlier on Tuesday, June 2, for Game 3 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final (2.6 HH rating and 2,955,348 average viewers). Compared to the average of VERSUS’ two Stanley Cup Final telecasts last year (1.9 HH rating and 2,479,977 average viewers for Games 1 & 2), the network saw 42-percent growth in HH ratings and a 30-percent increase in viewership for the two telecast average of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final (2.7 HH rating and 3,211,572 for Games 3 & 4).

And while those numbers certainly do not compare to the numbers that the NBA draws for its finals, that is not what Gary Bettman is worried about. As long as there is a growth in his numbers, despite the fact that 10 million people are watching the Lakers annihilate the Magic, he could careless. So as the title says:

Gary Bettman, Versus, and the NHL: 1
Everyone who laughed at him and never thought that anything like this was possible: 0.

Once again, Game 4, the game that conflicted with the NBA, was watched by more people than Game 3, the game that had no conflict at all!